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How to Remove Ceramic Tile (known to work on cement floors, unsure if this should be practiced on wood joists):
1) Get a sledgehammer you can comfortably swing. Doesn't have to be huge, just needs some heft. Place it gently on the tile floor near a wall. Place goggles and mask near sledge.
2) Pick a fight with your spouse.
3) Return to kitchen, slam on mask and goggles, pick up sledge, and beat the crap out of the floor. Keep beating until you strain something.
4) Get a beer.
5) Dispose of the large pieces of tile (there will be a lot of debris!). Shop-vac the smaller pieces and cement dust (make sure you have a good filter on that shopvac).
6) Rest
7) Repeat steps 1-6 until floor is clear of tile.
I can personally vouch for this method. Works perfectly. Tiles shatter. Shards fly. There could be blood involved. But it's satisfying work!
And Threerun, wow, I've never seen a floor come up that clean! I wonder if the installers ever heard of this cool stuff called thinset?? Some people use it to adhere tile to a floor... crazy!!
Wait, you're going to fast...
I understand steps 2 & 4 but you lost me on the other steps.
So is it safe to to say that most likely I won't be able to to salvage any of the tiles? The tiles are in really great shape and I sorta wanted to use them
in our laundry room. But it seems like it's going to be a ****** just getting them off!!!
No, sorry, you're not likely to salvage the tiles. They SHOULD be stuck thoroughly either to cement, cement board, or to a membrane like Ditra. They should be attached using thinset. Think of something like cement mix -- it should be covering every inch of the back of your tile and nearly impossible to get off.
You're ahead, though, in that you already know of a tile style you like for your laundry room. One less thing to worry about figuring out in a showroom. But you will want new tile.
#1 is pretty important, so try to get that one going. In the absense of a sledge you can bang on them with a big hammer, but you'll want thick gloves, the shards will fly. But after you get through that and you start #2, the rest of it should flow pretty easily.
I've been able to salvage some tiles - about a 2/3 ratio of whole to broken tiles by chiseling around the bottom VERY carefully. In this case I had no extras and wanted a few just in case because the tiles are used elsewhere in the house.
They were on a cement foundation subfloor and the tiles weren't so bad to remove compared to the thinset. That stuff was stuck on there. It took an air hammer and LOTS of time to get that stuff off. I'll farm that out next time. Whoever installed the tile really knew what they were doing. Great for the previous owners 17 years ago when it was built, bad for me in 2009 trying to remodel the place.
We have several tiles missing from our kitchen floor from where the previous owner pulled out a built in table and I was hoping to be able to pull some up from the closets which use the same type. Would you say then that it is not worth the risk (of them just breaking and ending up with two areas with mismatched tiles)? I have looked but not been able to find matching tiles.
Last edited by Sandhillian; 11-02-2009 at 01:42 PM..
Reason: add
I've been able to salvage some tiles - about a 2/3 ratio of whole to broken tiles by chiseling around the bottom VERY carefully. In this case I had no extras and wanted a few just in case because the tiles are used elsewhere in the house.
They were on a cement foundation subfloor and the tiles weren't so bad to remove compared to the thinset. That stuff was stuck on there. It took an air hammer and LOTS of time to get that stuff off. I'll farm that out next time. Whoever installed the tile really knew what they were doing. Great for the previous owners 17 years ago when it was built, bad for me in 2009 trying to remodel the place.
I think the thinset should have been adhered to the tile just as well as they were to the cement. Sounds like the installer DIDN'T know what they were doing. From what I understand, when you see that, it's likely the installer spread out the thinset but spread too wide an area before setting the tiles; it was probably starting to dry and set already before they put the tiles down. Your tiles can crack and pop off if that happens. But, then again, if it lasted 17 years, musta been good enough.
Sandhillian, where have you looked? Some tiles are carried for years by a distributor. You probably won't find them at home depot, but maybe someplace like Daltile. Shoot, you can even browse Daltile's collection online; maybe you'll find your tile, if it's porcelain or ceramic. Odds are you wouldn't ever get an exact match, because production methods will change even if you get the same series of tile, but you might get really, really close if they're still making your style. I don't think it's *likely* that you'd get good tiles from your closet, but it's *possible*. If you were to try, I'd suggest that you try it at a time when you are totally prepared to replace that closet floor or live with a patch job if you can't! Also, have you searched your garage/basement/attic? Sometimes when people finish a tile job they put the leftovers someplace and leave them to gather dust in a corner. No reason to take them when they move out. You might have a box of the tiles still sitting around someplace you don't know about....
The tile I tore out had the thinset stuck to the bottom of the tile, but not so much the floor. But the installer didn't use the proper substrate either, so the job I pictured wasn't that tough. Thank God.
I've busted out tile on concrete before, and although tough- totally doable. I'd say I'd rather beat and scrape the crap out of tile than rip out little hunks of particle board underlayment ripe with 40 years of dog / cat / insert type of previous owners pets urine. Blech.
Thanks, Jenlion. The table was removed from the kitchen between the last inspection and the closing leaving a small area without tile. We live in a one story cement house and have looked everywhere in the house for extra tiles as well as many tile stores. I will try Daltiles online though.
Hammer drill. Grinder. Wet/Dry vacuum with a filter that resembles a water bong. The same type of filter is used on drywall sanding machines so you don't cover your entire house in dust. A respirator with new filters.
Oh boy this is not a easy job. Hubby and myself just got thru ripping out old ugly 8" tile, and we both put in 18" porcelain tile in a 50 ft long entry, which was a pin in the neck. No easy way of doing this but patience does prevail. We rented one of those machines from home depot, and that worked so much better then he and i trying to do it on our own. that drove me nuts. From breaking the old tile, to tearing up rug the cleanup process after wards, which is a mess, cleaning the cement really good. Putting in the new tile then the border took almost 2 weeks, it came out so beautiful. i cannot believe we did the job ourselves, AND saved us a bundle at the same time. I would rent a tool that makes it a lot easier on you unless you already have some tools that would work, but we also thought that we did, and on our own, they would not budge. GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND YOUR PROJECT.
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