If you want to do some redecorating for your bathroom or your kitchen, you may want to remove the tiles. You need to be careful not to hurt yourself or not to damage the surface behind the tiles, especially if you are planning on placing new tiles there.
The best way to go with the tile removal is to hire a tiler who is also a tile remover and get this job done properly. However, if you want to save some money on your tiling work, you can get your tile removal yourself.
Here are the general steps for ceramic tile removal:
If this is just the first step toward your new tiling work, you need to continue preparing the surface for the new tiles. You may need a new subfloor or a new underlying. But, if you don’t need them, you can just thoroughly wash the tiling surface, sand it and make it perfectly levelled.
To remove the wall tiles, you need to go through two steps:
As you already know, grout is the material that fills the space between the tiles. If you want to do your tile removal properly, you first have to go through the grout removal. This is what takes up the most of your
time.
There are some tools that are created especially for this type of work. They can speed up the grout removal process and even help you do that more precisely. This is important because it means you will be able to protect the layers beneath the tiles, like drywall.
Grout removal tools can be manual and rotary. The manual tools look like an ice pick. They are thin enough to fit in between the tiles. There is also a heat gun that you can use with this type of tool because it can loosen the grout so you can remove it more easily. Rotary tools are actually grinding the old grout away.
Your best tool for tile removal is the plain old, wide-blade putty knife. You need to find the loosest tile on your wall and start from there. Tap it and loosen it enough until it breaks off. Some people even use the hot iron to remove that first tile so that the glue loosens.
Once you locate the loose tile, you need to use the putty knife to pry the tiles away from the wall. Once you have that one tile off, the rest of them will follow more easily, because you can access them with no effort.
However, this may not work with all tiles. Those tiles that are bound by thinset or mortar are more difficult to remove than this. They require breaking them and scraping them off, which is very difficult and back-breaking work.
When removing tiles, you need to make sure that you have taken all the safety precautions. Dangers of tile removal include the fine dust and bits of grout that fill the air. Wear a face mask and enable good air circulation so that this dust can leave the room.
Needless to say, broken tiles will have sharp edges, as well as tile shards. These are all things to watch out for and wear protective gear for.
If you are in luck, your wall tiles will come off easily, leaving no trace behind. However, if you are not, and most people aren’t that lucky, there will be some of that tile adhesive on the walls. If you plan to tile over that surface again, those leftovers need to go. Usually, this means that you will have to get rid of:
Thinset is based on cement. That is why you cannot hope to remove it with heat or water. You will need to grind it off. For this purpose, it is the most effective if you use an oscillating tool. Carbide rasp works the best for the thinset removal.
Mastic resembles glue more than thinset. That is why you will not have such a hard time removing it because you can probably get away with simply scraping it off with your putty knife.
DIY tile removal can probably save you money on your redecorating process. Still, once you remove the tiles and get the debris out, call a professional tiler to finish the job. Get different quotes from Australian tilers and choose the best one to get that job done.
