How to Remove Thinset from Concrete Floors
A tile installer bonds tile to a concrete floor with thinset mortar. The installer spreads wet mortar across the concrete's surface, then presses the tile into the thinset. Once the thinset dries, the tile will not move. To replace the tile after the thinset dries, an installer must remove the tile and thinset. If the tile installer prepared the concrete slab correctly, the thinset mortar usually breaks free from the tile and sticks to the concrete's surface. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Drop cloth
- Plastic sheeting
- Masking tape
- Leather work gloves
- Safety glasses
- Dust mask
- Ear protection
- Electric chipping hammer
- Chisel bit
- Broom
- Dust pan
- 5-gallon bucket
Instructions
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Protect all furniture in the room containing thinset with a drop cloth. Cover the room's walls and windows with a plastic sheeting, using masking tape to hold the plastic sheeting in place. The dust created while removing thinset covers the everything in the room and will not wash off paint with water.
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2
Put on leather work gloves, safety glasses, a dust mask and ear protection.
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3
Hold an electric chipping hammer equipped with a chisel bit at a 45-degree angle to the floor. A chisel bit held at a 45-degree angle slides across the floor's surface without digging into the concrete.
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4
Depress the electric chipping hammer's trigger. Wedge the chipping hammer's chisel bit between the thinset and the concrete floor.
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5
Push the chisel bit across the concrete floor, maintaining contact with the concrete as the small pieces of thinset break away from the floor. Run the chipping hammer in arm-length strokes, releasing the trigger after each stroke. Never keep the chipping hammer's trigger depressed without its chisel bit touching the floor.
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6
Scrape all of the thinset off the concrete floor with the chipping hammer, working from one end of the room to the other.
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Clean the debris from the concrete floor with a broom and dust pan. Place the debris in a 5-gallon bucket. Discard the debris.
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8
Inspect the concrete floor. Touch up the concrete floor with the chipping hammer, as needed.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
