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A rotary hammer with a chipping bit should be adequate and easier to handle (especially in small area).
You can buy a pretty good one for about $300... or rent it for the day.
We actually did this last year...had crappy 6" white tile in foyer (somewhat large area) put down on cement slab. Now, I consider ourselves self-doers. However, this is one job I would never do again. It was labor intensive, messy and overall hard. On top of that, since we were putting down hardwoods in its place, we had to make sure the surface was as smooth as possible. Wasn't easy. Can't tell you how many trips we made to Home Depot looking for something, anything, to rent that would help. Nothing was perfect. If you are going to just put carpet back down, won't be as bad. Good luck.
It isn't a terrible job but it is messy and the tiles can be sharp. Make sure you wear jeans/pants and be careful when you pick it up. The first time I broke up a tile floor I wore shorts and ended up with little cuts all over my legs. Then again I can get pretty wild with a sledgehammer It's great fun if you are frustrated, lol.
If there is a lot of mortar/thin set left on the floor after you remove the tile you can either chisel it up or grind it down.
The difficulty is in the origional installation... if your tile is set on Deck Mud then you should get a rotarty hammer drill and chip the tile up like recomended in a previous post. Don't sledge hammer on deck mud because you stand a chance of cracking the slab which will be good to retile on, unless if you want to go to the subfloor then sledg away
I ripped out some horrible 1980's peach colored tile out of a small bathroom. It is labor intensive and I definitely advise wearing safety goggles or even a full face mask. I used a sledge hammer to start then moved on to this tool Home Depot sells called a....Floor Bully (something like that). It is a really messy job but you can do it.
It is pretty labor intensive. I also agree wear safety goggles. Tile is freaking sharp! It flies and will cut you. A while back hubby and I were watching some DIY tv show. I can't remember the name of it but it was basically people not knowing what the heck they were doing. So they start breaking up their bathroom. The woman walks in with a hammer and starts slamming the wall with it. Hubby and I were just remarking how stupid that was (because of experience) and a moment later the woman was holding her face. When she looked up at the camera she had a huge gash on her cheek. The people had to stop the demo and take her to the ER for stitches. You can do this but it will take a while and do it safely!
A neighbor advised using a towel over tile, and then begin hammering away, then chisel. But I'm beginning to think this might be worth paying a pro to do.
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The people had to stop the demo and take her to the ER for stitches. You can do this but it will take a while and do it safely!
