Things You'll Need:
- Long handled floor scraper (or a roofing shovel)
- Eye protection
- Stiff bladed putty knife
- Grout saw (or rotary tool and carbide tipped bit).
- Hammer
- Gloves
- Cold chisel
-
Step 1
Remove ceramic tiles set with mastic on a concrete base by first breaking up the grout around them (with a hammer and cold chisel) and then breaking the tiles with a sledgehammer. After the tiles are broken, slide a long handled floor scraper under the edge of the tiles and push forward. The pieces of tile should peel off the concrete base.
-
Step 2
Scrape off any mastic residue.
-
Step 3
Clean and vacuum the area and level the concrete.
-
Step 1
Use a power-chipping hammer available from tool rental centers to first break up the grout around a single tile, and then work your way under the tile itself, breaking it up. Once you have removed the first tile, move on to the others. The job is easier if you start at an edge or a transition rather than in the middle of a tile bed.
-
Step 2
Clean the area as best you can and then level the floor with concrete specifically designed to bond with old concrete.
-
Step 1
Removing tile set on a backer board base requires removing both the tiles and the backer board.
-
Step 2
Start at an edge or transition and remove the grout around a single tile (hammer and chisel) and then break up and remove the tile itself.
-
Step 3
Remove three or four tiles in a section so that your have an area about six inches by six inches of the (now beaten up) backer board exposed.
-
Step 4
Use a hammer to pulverize the backer board so it can be removed and you have an opening revealing the sub floor.
-
Step 5
Slide a long handled floor scraper (or a flat tipped or roofing shovel) about six inches under the backer board but above the wooden sub floor, then push forward while lifting and turning the shovel.
-
Step 6
Continue lifting up the backer board by sliding the shovel under it, until the board (and the attached tiles) has all been removed.
-
Step 7
Repair any gouges made to the subfloor and then level it.
-
Step 1
Removing an individual tile is much easier than trying to remove and entire tile bed.
-
Step 2
Use a grout saw (or a hammer and chisel) to remove the grout all around the damaged tile.
-
Step 3
Break up the damaged tile by carefully striking it with a cold chisel and a hammer.
-
Step 4
Slide a stiff bladed putty knife under any pieces of tile that stick to the base and pry them off.
-
Step 5
Clean up and repair the base in preparation for installing the replacement tile.
Comments
SuzieGirl said
on 10/8/2008 I live in Louisiana where is almost never snows. However, after the snow we had last Feb our kitchen ceramic floor separated or popped away from the house foundation. (It snowed one day and hot out the next). It was the whole area under the kitchen table next to a window. We are assuming the change in weather made the separation occure. At any rate we were able to remove the tiles under the table area easy, however the rest of the kitchen that had surrounding walls is very hard to get up. We have covered it up for now and have put the project on hold. Is there an easy way to separate the tiles from foundation of the house? Why did the tile separate like that. Thanks!
Andy said
on 11/27/2007 You may have yourself quite a challenge. Hopefully what you've got there is thinset (which is a form of mortar). You can probably pour a new concrete pad right on top of it if you first apply a bonding agent to the floor. (Below I'm giving you a couple of links to web sites of companies who make bonding agent products.)
If you've got mastic under your tiles, you could have a real job getting it off. I've heard of people heating it with a torch and scraping it a bit at a time and I've also heard about people grinding it off. Either way, it isn’t fun to get rid of.
Have you considered just putting some wooden subflooring over the area and leveling it before you put down your new floor?
www.lambertusa.com/adhesive/
www.ugl.com/drylokMasonry/patching/bondingAgent.php
ashley1224 said
on 11/26/2007 My husband and I are removing the old tile in the bathroom. We took out the old vanity and found a 1 1/2 inch difference, the bottom, under the vanity is concrete. Then there is the tile on the very thick stuff underneath. We are having a very hard time trying to remove the stuff underneath, we are not sure if it is thinset or mastic? But I read in one of the steps that you can get most of it off and then level it with some sort of concrete that bonds to old concrete? Can you please be more specific.
ejmasuda said
on 6/24/2007 Sorry, should have clarified: green stone backsplash. It's textured, too.
ejmasuda said
on 6/24/2007 My wife and I are looking at removing the really bad green stone tile in our kitchen. One question: how do I know what kind of base it's set in? We bought the house with this reno and aren't sure how the installed them.