Removing floor tile advice please

[DianeH]

We are redoing some floors. We have an area of about 6x6 of tile (12x12) which we need to remove. Can anyone advise on the easiest way to do this?

Thanks
Diane

 

[sernow]

What type of tile?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We are redoing some floors. We have an area of about 6x6 of tile (12x12) which we need to remove. Can anyone advise on the easiest way to do this?

Thanks
Diane

Assuming this is ceramic tile, you'll probably need to do it with a hammer and chisel. Wear kneepads, safety glasses, and gloves.

After some tiles are removed it may be easier to chisel underneath the tiles to remove them. Or not - it depends on the adhesive.

If this is linoleum tile, your first step needs to be to test the tile to see if it contains asbestos. If the tiles contain asbestos, you should have the job done professionally by a licensed asbestos abatement contractor.

 

[bobcat]

Assuming this is ceramic tile, you'll probably need to do it with a hammer and chisel. Wear kneepads, safety glasses, and gloves.

After some tiles are removed it may be easier to chisel underneath the tiles to remove them. Or not - it depends on the adhesive.

If this is linoleum tile, your first step needs to be to test the tile to see if it contains asbestos. If the tiles contain asbestos, you should have the job done professionally by a licensed asbestos abatement contractor.

You may also have some kind of cement board under the tile. This is laid down under the tile to keep it from moving .

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

You may also have some kind of cement board under the tile. This is laid down under the tile to keep it from moving .

You're right. I forgot about that because I've never had to deal with cement board - in all of the tile projects I've done, the tile was either laid on wood subfloor or in grout on top of wood. (And in one case, the wood underneath the floor had completely rotted, so that the only thing supporting the floor between joists was reinforcing wire mesh that had been embedded in the grout.)

If there is cement board, the cement board will probably have asbestos if the board was installed prior to about 1985.

 

[DianeH]

Thanks....they are ceramic tile....on a subfloor....installed in 1997ish. Guess we'll be busy this weekend.

Diane

 

[camachinist]

I removed a couple hundred sqare feet of ceramic tile with my air chisel and a wide flat blade. Think of that gun body repair people use to cut and shape metal on cars. Worked great, with the caveat that our tile were set in mortar on concrete. Given the size of the job, I would've killed myself doing it by hand.

Pat

 

[ronandjoan]

What bout linoleum tacked down with mortar

There are 3 layers with mortar between two and on bottom layer too- any advice, thanks

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Thanks....they are ceramic tile....on a subfloor....installed in 1997ish. Guess we'll be busy this weekend.

Diane

I'm guessing then that they were laid down on the subfloor using epoxy adhesive. Chisel away!!!

Work the grout areas as much as you can. If you start attacking the tiles directly, they tend to shatter into shards. But unless you can easily get to an edge of a tile, you may need to shatter one or two to get started.

After you get an opening, first try striking along the grout directly opposite an open edge. With luch, the force of the chiseling will dislodge the entire laterally, into the open area. If that doesn't work, try drivling the chisel laterally underneath the tile along the open edge. With luck the tile will then pop upward. If not the tile might crack from the bottom and come out in pieces. When it doesn't come up cleanly, chisel out the clumps and areas that remain stuck to the floor.

12'x12' isn't that big an area to do by hand.

Oh - it's probably a good idea to put on a dust mask as well. Not to protect yourself from inhaling dust (fitted masks are the only masks that are effective against dust anyway), but to keep you from inhaling or ingesting any fine shards.

 

[DianeH]

The tile is gone. What a job though. The tile were set onto a supfloor which was glued and nailed onto the other subfloor. Just glad its over. Now we start to prep for the laminate! Yippee!