Removing Ceramic Tiles

Ceramic tile removal can be an easy task, provided that the tile is attached to a cement board. In the recent past, mostly ceramic tiles are installed over cement board. In case ceramic tiles in your house were installed many years ago, it is possible that the tile is fixed on a concrete base. Removing ceramic tiles installed on concrete, requires heavy muscle power and an equally heavy hammer. The task is quite difficult one.

Proper precautionary measures need to be taken while removing ceramic tiles because when they are hammered, the broken pieces with sharp edges fly around in different directions and can hurt you badly. Therefore, use of safety goggles is a must to provide protection to the eyes and masks are required so that the tile dust does not go into the mouth or nose.

Removing Ceramic Tile Grout
Removing dried grout from the area surrounding the ceramic tiles makes the job of ceramic tile removal easier because then, the ceramic tile is not bound. Start from any one corner or end of the ceramic tile flooring or wall. Never begin the work of removing the ceramic tile from the middle of the floor or wall. Take a putty knife and move its sharp edge around the tile in a way such that the grout material is broken into powder form. Electric tools that are fitted with grinding wheels can serve the same purpose. Follow the same method on each tiles one by one.

Removing Ceramic Tiles
While you are removing ceramic tile, you should not try to save the cement board because it will waste out a lot of time. Moreover, you are not sure whether the entire cement board can be saved or not. It can get cracked when you hammer the tiles and cannot be used further. So it is a much better option to remove the cement board along with the ceramic tile. Place the blade of the putty knife on the edge of the tile in such a way that the knife is almost parallel to the flooring or the wall surface. Hit the other end of the knife gently with a hammer. As a result, the tile will be detached from the underlying board and will be thrust out. The most important part of this step is that each tile requires a varying degree of force for its removal. Some of them need heavy hammering and in some others a mild hammering will be just enough. Once all the tiles are taken out, the cement board becomes visible, which can be disintegrated by beating with a hammer. Care should be taken that hammering does not cause any damage to the subfloor below it.

Removing the Residue of Ceramic Tiles
To carry out this work, you require a floor scraper with a long handle. Clean up all the broken pieces of tiles, cement boards, adhesive and grout residue using this scraper. The nails that were used to fix the cement board over the subfloor may pose a problem during this task. If you move the scraper carefully, you can avoid these nails. Finally, you can use vacuum cleaner to clean the surface. Once you have completed the cleaning of the debris, sand the surface of the subfloor using a sander to obtain a smoothened surface. Your floor is ready and you can buy a new set of tiles and install them on the floor.

While removing ceramic tiles from walls, care should be taken that any electrical outlets and water lines do not get damaged in the process. Now, you know that removing ceramic tiles is a time-consuming job and you need to have a lot of patience. If the area covered with ceramic tiles is a very large or work needs to be done on a number of floors or walls in your house, it is advisable to take the help of professionals.