Floor Tile Removal

[Stu]

Anyone had a go at removing ceramic floor tiles?? After hearing it is $25 a sq mtr to remove tiles I am contemplating doing it myself. Any methods you have tried I would like to hear about and also how sucessful they were.
Cheers

[Gaza]

$25 a sq mtr to remove tiles

Thats a joke!!!
Go to the big B and buy one of those $69.00 rotary hammer drills then buy a large chesile bit for it. (bit will cost around $30.00)
Plastic up and tape all doorways where you do not want dust to go and get a few buckets to carry the rubbish out.
If it is a large area maybe hire a larger demo hammer.

[maglite]

I used a brickies bolster chisel and a club hammer.....gave the grout lines a couple of really hard whacks and it seemed to lift the tiles easily(mosaics) might be a tad harder with larger tiles.

The right forearm feels a lot tighter than my left in my shirt sleeves too............was i stiff, sore and lopsided for a few days......you bet.

Go the hammer drill and chisel bit!!!

[Arron]

I did what Gaza suggested. Went to Bunnings and bought a $65 rotary demo hammer. Its on its third day of hard work and is starting to sound a bit worn out - but it has paid for itself already as they are $61 per day to hire. Anyway, it has a 2 year warranty. For $12 I bought an offset spade shaped sds chisel, thinking it would be good for tiles. If the tiles are really tough though, the straight chisel that comes with the hammer is the best.

I also did one floor by hand held hammer and chisel - never again.

Arron

[macca2]

I too have used the bolster chisel and hammer method.. The tiles ( 6''x6'') come up easy, but how do you get the floor clean of old adhesive before laying new floor.
It is along and hard,arm braking job with the bolster.
Will the elcheapo rotary hammer help here.

Macca

[Stylesy]

how do you get the floor clean of old adhesive before laying new floor

Macca,
The tiler who recently did work at my place just used a wide scraping blade on a pole (and that's my technical term for it) which I guess you can hire if need be. It seemed to clean the floor up fine enough for him to lay the new tiles on. If the old adhesive is really stuck on there you can also hire concrete "mowers" or grinders - they come in hand held or walk behind models, though I think they're expensive to hire.

[Dan_574]

I ve removed 300x300 tiles off a slab with a shovel, easy on the back. Just crack them with a lump hammer and scrape the shovel levering up if needed. Just wear glasses.

[Justtess]

I removed tiles from kitchen, bthrm & toilet using the chisel & hammer method from chipboard floors. It is hard work but doable - had to remove concrete and 'chicken wire' stuff, plastic and staples (lots of staples). I am going to be dumb and do the same in the laundry, the other way sounds better though. But if I can do it anyone can! I also found out about the dust factor the hard way.

[julianx]

Macca,
The tiler who recently did work at my place just used a wide scraping blade on a pole (and that's my technical term for it) which I guess you can hire if need be.

You can buy these from any reasonable tool store or hardware