Removing floor tiles - how to?

[Lily House]

Hello all,

I am about to start a DIY make-over of my PPOR family room. I'm removing the cacky green carpet and replacing it with a floating timber floor. There is chipboard under the carpet.

There are two doors in this room, and in front of each door there is an area of tiles. I need to remove these tiled areas along with the carpet.
I'm not sure how I go about doing this? Is it just a matter of using a chisel and hammer and chipping it away? Or is there a special tile-remover type of tool that will make this job easier? The tiles are large if this makes any difference.

Thanks
Lily

 

[yo yo ma]

Or is there a special tile-remover type of tool that will make this job easier?

Try a jackhammer! We recently tried this with no luck and had to tile over the top of them.

 

[Lily House]

a jackhammer!

Thanks for your reply Yo Yo Ma. So even with a jackhammer, you couldn't remove your tiles?
I only have a few tiles to remove, but now I'm starting to worry.
If anyone else has a suggestion (I'd love to hear from anyone who has had success removing floor tiles themselves), please let me know.

Thanks
Lily

 

[carrots]

Hi lily house,

We renovated last year and had to remove the floor tiles in the entire kitchen area. My husband used a hammer drill with a chisel bit(apparently you can turn the drill bit off and it just hammers) worked really well although if we were to do a large area again we would definately use a jack hammer - would be much quicker. We just bought a cheap ozito hammer drill (I think that is right, can check for you though if you need me to) cost around $60.

Hope this helps,

Carrots.

 

[BruceW]

Definitely go down the Ozito Rotary Hammer (STS) drill path. Will save you heaps of time. I have used the same one numerous times now. It should only be about $60-$70 at bunnings. Spend a little extra (prob about $20-$30) and get an additional (wide) tile bit. Once you get the hang of it, you'll rip through them..

Ozito is a cheap low quality brand, but if you burn it out within the warranty period take it back to them and they'll just give you another one..

 

[Cartoon]

a big old flat head screw driver and a hammer hehehehehehhee

 

[PrimeCommercial]

Kennards/Active/National Hire and get a small kanga hammer with a wide chisel bit.

 

[granev]

If you only have a few to do a hammer and chisel doesnt take that long once you get started - the first one is the hardest - true

My partner and I did our entire kitchen and family room this way , so a few tiles is nothing.

 

[gerd.]

Hi Lily

Allowing for chipboard to also be the flooring under the tile.

The tiles may have been stuck down directly to the chipboard, if so this would mean that when the tiles are removed some of the chipboard will also come up.

If tile underlay ( cement sheeting ) has been used it's quite easy to remove tiles & underlay in one go.
A couple of chisels can be hammered under the underlay apart fare enough to allow a spade to be used to pry up the underlay & tiles.

Gerd

 

[Lily House]

Many thanks Carrots, Bruce W, Cartoon, Shady, Granev and Gerd,
I now have a plan of attack:
(1) establish whether tiles are glued directly onto chipboard or an underlay.
(2) Try removal with chisel(s) and hammer.
(3) If tiles are stubborn, buy a cheapy (Ozito) hammer drill or hire one.

I'm feeling a lot more confident now. Thanks everyone.


Lily

 

[NWDinkgreve]

Many thanks Carrots, Bruce W, Cartoon, Shady, Granev and Gerd,
I now have a plan of attack:
(1) establish whether tiles are glued directly onto chipboard or an underlay.
(2) Try removal with chisel(s) and hammer.
(3) If tiles are stubborn, buy a cheapy (Ozito) hammer drill or hire one.

I'm feeling a lot more confident now. Thanks everyone.


Lily

We did exactly what you are doing with our home, we ripped up the carpet and tiling to replace it with timber floating floors. We removed about 6 sqm of ceramic tiling that needed to be removed so we could put floating timber flooring down. The problem I had was the tiling was on concrete. First I tried a cold chisel and hammer which didn't work very well. Next I hired a jack hammer from kennards hire which was working but the dust it created was HUGE! Finally I looked through the yellow pages for tile removal services, hired the professionals to come in for $100, they had all the tools PLUS A VACCUM SYSTEM attached to it which sucked up all the dust. There was virtually no dust at all that escaped into the house. This can be a real problem as dust can get into all sorts of places that you don't want it to get into.

It's also important to get it completely flat as even the smallest bumbs left over will be felt while walking over the the floating floors. Also spend just that little bit extra to get a quality underlay as it makes all the difference. If you are not installing the floating floor yourself, try and get the installer to have minimum joins and what joins are placed in it, joins in the smallest door ways. From the 95sqm installed at our home we had only one join at the entry to the study so it can be achieved. You just need to give the edges where it buts up to the wall a few more millimetres space for movement. This is necessary for colder and hotter climates as the flooring will contract and expand naturally. One last thing, the skirting boards need to be shorter or taller depending on the height of the ceiling. Good luck with it.

 

[Olly]

NWDinkgreve

Would your advice also apply to removing tiles that have been stuck to a sheet of fibrous cement as this is a job I have in front of me in the next couple of weeks.

Also what type of specialist did you use? A tiler? Or is there such a thing as a tile removerer?

Ta
Olly

 

[BKR]

I have to agree with most of the others. I do kitchen removals and have done alot of floors as an extra while I'm there. If the tiles are on masonite or fc sheeting then I use 2 small pry bars (from bunnings around $6 each) hammer them under the sheet about a foot apart, pry it up and use a long crowbar to get right under and lift the sheet. If its masonite alot of the time you get the whole sheet. If its fc sheeting then you get bigger chunks which are easy to carry out.
If the tiles are on concrete I use the Ozito hammer drill, it cost me $67, 3years ago and is still going strong. I've jackhammered for 3-4 hours and it never stops. Great value for money. The only problem will be the glue used. It can come off easy or it can be like concrete itself, if thats the case your going to need a grinder to get it smooth. Taking up the tiles makes a small mess but the grinder makes a huge mess so you need a vacuum on it.
I have stopped doing the floors now and just recommend ppl get the professionals in as they have all the equipment but I don't know what they charge.
In Brissy there are a few and they go by the name Floor strippers. There is A1 tile removal, Tims Floor Stripping and Strip-a-floor. Tims must be doing alright as they have 5 trucks running around now. I can't say how good or bad they are but I know theres a few companies out there.

Hope it all goes well for you,
Chris

 

[gerd.]

On occasions I have been asked to remove Slate flooring and / or Quarry tiles.

If they have been laid on cement sheet I cut the floor into manageable panels.

To do this I use a wet cutting saw, set to a depth that will cut just to the bottom of the sheet.

I then use BKR's method to remove the panels. This reduces the wait of the pieces, reduces dust to a minimum, it stops the kick boards & other parts of the kitchen from being scratched as the panels are easy to handled,the panels are also easily stacked for removal.

Gerd

 

[ffc1883_1996]

Try a jackhammer! We recently tried this with no luck and had to tile over the top of them.

yo yo ma,

Was your project a success? We’re looking to tile over our old 1970s tiles with something new in our PPOR.

Big house. Big job. But our friends say they the original tiles look like they’re from an Indian Reasturant.

Regards - Ben

 

[Tizzy]

This is a very useful thread and I hope Lily House will forgive me for tagging on and asking about the following.

I have 150 sqm of terracotta tile on a concrete slab. Its very uneven and impossible to clean so we are considering replacing this with ceramic tile (so need an even finish). Is this a leave it to the experts job? The quote for the professionals to remove it is $5,500.

 

[Lily House]

Thanks NWDinkGreave (welcome to the forum), Chris and Gerd, for sharing your experiences. Much appreciated. It never occurred to me that there would be tile removing businesses, though it makes sense now that you point it out. That now adds point (4) to my plan (if all else fails, pay an expert to do the job).

Olly, Ben and Tizzy. Good luck with your respective questions and renovations. Tizzy, $5,500 is a scary number. Might be worth having a go yourself, if you have the time of course, if it will save you thousands. Good luck.


Lily

 

[gerd.]

Hi Tizzy

$5,500.00 for 150 Square Meters works out at $36.66 per Square Meter not over the top if the end result will give a level surface to tile on.

Assuming that the difficulty of cleaning the uneven surface refers to the tiles themselves not having been laid in a workman like manner. One option would be to grind the terracotta tiles with a terrazzo polisher and seal. This method would only work providing all the tiles are well & truly stuck in place.

Gerd

 

[Tizzy]

At the risk of my darling husband reading this thread, lets just say he has a "rustic" style that is all of his own. We bought the recommended amount of tile adhesive and then went back three times for more. Unfortunately, they are very stuck down. Also, we used heaps more grout because the grout lines are 20-25 mm give or take a bit.

Gerd the tiles themselves look lovely. They have that mellow tone only hand made mexican terracotta can. The cleaning issue is with the limestone coloured grout. Given that it is very wide there's lots of it. It's just plain uneven & grubby. Presumably because its basically a sponge. We should have used a grey grout.

 

[BKR]

Tizzy,

I would have a go myself to save that money but its up to you. A couple of things to note if you do it are:
1. I would hire a jackhammer with a tile blade as an Ozito would take to long to do it and its bit/blade is to small.
2. Make sure you/hubby can handle the jackhammer as they are heavy and you will be there for a long time.
3. What are you going to do with the tiles. They weigh alot so its either trips to the dump with a trailer or a skip bin.

In brissy if I took it to my normal tip it would be $83/tonne but if I go to the concrete/tiles/brick tip, which is next door, they charge $10/trailer (which can be 1-1.5 tonnes in mine)

Hope it goes well,
Chris