How to Remove Ceramic Tile When Connected to Cement

It's possible to remove ceramic tile when connected to cement.

Ceramic tile is a durable and long-lasting floor surface for kitchens, bathrooms, hallways and even outdoor areas around your house. These tiles come in a wide variety of styles and shapes, meaning you can match ceramic tile to just about any location. In certain installations, ceramic tile is installed over a cement or concrete subfloor and held in place with mortar or any number of adhesive products. These adhesives make it difficult, but by no means impossible, to remove ceramic tile connected to cement.

Things You'll Need

• Prybar
• Crowbar
• Hammer
• Rotary cutting tool
• Mortar cutting blade
• Grout removal tool
• Grout removal tool blade
• Shop vac
• Wooden shim
• Plastic shim
• Chisel
• Safety equipment

Instructions

1. Remove anything on top of the ceramic tile, including furniture.

2. Remove the molding along the walls by prying it off with a crowbar or hammer. Use caution so you don't damage the wall itself. To help protect the wall, use a small wood or plastic shim as a brace for your prying instrument.

3. Attach a mortar blade to a rotary cutting tool. Saw out the grout from around the edges of the tile in the corner of the room. Use a grout saw and blade if you do not have a cutting tool. Continue until the corner tile is cut free on every side from the grout.

4. Insert the edge of a pry bar or crowbar underneath the tile edge and pry the tile upwards. If you want to remove the tile in one piece, try prying a little on each side until the tile pops out of the mortar or pulls away from the adhesive connecting it to the cement.

5. Remove any tile pieces still attached to the cement with a chisel and hammer.

6. Clear up any debris with a shop vac.

7. Repeat the process of sawing away the grout and prying up the tiles, using the shop vac to clean as you go. Depending on the strength of the mortar or adhesive tying the tiles to the cement subfloor, this could go fast or very slowly.

Tips & Warnings

• You can rent special tile-removing power jacks at hardware stores if you find that the tiles are hard to remove.

• Wear the proper safety equipment, including goggles, gloves and long-sleeved shirts when removing ceramic tiles connected to cement.

References

• Ask The Builder: Tile Grout Removal
• This Old House: Removing Ceramic Tiles