How to Remove a Ceramic Tile
And when we say “remove a ceramic,” the operative word here is “a.” As in: one tile, a single tile. Uno. The funny thing is that remove a tile—often it’s cracked because something heavy has dropped on it—is harder than removing a series of tiles.
Why? Because the trick is to preserve the surrounding tiles. Your magic wand for this trick is something called a grout saw.
To remove all the times, it’s destruction time. To remove one tile, it’s like brain surgery…
Items You Need to Remove Ceramic Tile
- An old nailset
- Strong putty knife
- Painter’s tape
- Safety glasses
- Concrete or cold chisel
Steps to Remove Ceramic Tile
- As long as your bad tile is attached to surrounding tiles, any pressure you place on it may transmit to these other tiles.
- Apply two layers of painter’s tape to the surrounding tiles. This tape will protect these tiles from scratches and chips.
- Put on your safety glasses. You will need them. Scratch out the grout around your bum tile with the grout saw. This will take time, so be patient. With your first slip of the grout saw, you will see why you taped down the perimeter tiles.
- Place the pointed end of your nail set in the center of the bad tile. You will have to sacrifice a nail set for this, because this action tends to blunt the end.
- Tap the nailset until a crack forms in the tile.
- Use your concrete or cold chisel to tap chip away the tile from the center outward. This is very important.
- Tapping from the outside-in will most likely damage the perimeter tiles.
- Your first order of business is to get rid of that tile. Don’t worry about the mortar underneath yet.
- With the tile fully removed, use your putty knife to scrape out the thinset mortar. Be sure to get every last piece, because even the tiniest bit of remaining mortar will disturb your replacement tile.