Remove Ceramic Tile Flooring
Poor you. I should send you a sympathy card right now. Ceramic tile flooring is tough to remove. Not only is the stuff bonded crazy-hard to the subfloor or backerboard, but the tiles rarely come up in one piece. Pray that the person who installed the tile did a bad job, because that will make your tile removal project a bit easier.
A few things in life besides death and taxes are certain: you will not be able to preserve the tiles and reuse them; you absolutely need safety glasses; mortar will come up in equal amounts with tile; and there is no one way to remove ceramic tile flooring.
Note: Safety glasses are big deal with tile removal. Just observe this idiot in the stock photo. You can tell he’s just play-acting at removing his tile, because he’s not wearing his goggles. If he is really removing tiles, then I predict that in less than 30 minutes he’ll be making a trip to urgent care…
Tools and Materials
- Masonry chisel
- Hammer
- Safety glasses–preferably the goggle type with side protection
- Gloves
Procedure for Removing Ceramic Tile Flooring
- The first thing you need to do is get an edge to the tile. If you can start near a threshold, so much the better. If you can’t find an edge to the tile, then make one. Start by chipping out grout from between any two tiles.
- Now that you have an edge, keep the masonry chisel at a low angle to the tile and tap away with moderate force.
- Removing ceramic tile is a slow process, requiring extreme patience.