Bathroom/Shower Room Tiles-removal of..

Roman_Camel · 2 February 2006 at 12:28PM

W e are thinking of revamping our en-suite shower room,which will involve removing all the tiles in the shower.Bearing in mind the house is only 11 years old is there an easy way of removing these or is it just brute force and the involvement of a hammer and flat edged chisel? I obviously want to cause the minimal damage to the wall as it is going to be re-tiled.

cattie · 2 February 2006 at 1:21PM

It's possible to tile the existing tiles if you don't want all the mess & hassle of removing the old ones.

Other than that I think you'll find you need the hammer & chisel. If the adhesive hasn't been piled on, you may find you can ease quite a few of them off without damaging the plaster underneath.

tanith · 2 February 2006 at 1:47PM

We are just finishing the same job in our bathroom and toyed with the idea of tiling over the tiles but decide to just whack off the old ones... silly me thought the weight of all those tiles plus the ones already up might have the whole room crashing down into the kitchen..... well hubby said I was silly anyway......

It was a bit of a mess and hard work as the whole bathroom was tiled floor to ceiling...luckily they came off reasonably easily without causing too much damage and too be honest it didn't matter too much that the walls were a bit rough in places as we just adjusted the amount of adhesive behind the new tiles...
Be careful to cover up any fittings and fixtures you are keeping as a falling lump of tile and adhesive is easily heavy enough to crack a shower tray or basin....

Good luck

tanith

silverbirch_3 · 2 February 2006 at 2:12PM

Hubby removed our bathroom tiles a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately all the plaster came with them leaving us bare brick!!! We then had to have it all replastered and are now waiting for it to dry out before we can retile. So beware, it may not be as straight forward as you think.

Roman_Camel · 2 February 2006 at 2:37PM

Thanks for advice.

Being a relatively new house with a lot of plasterboard I am rather worried about attempting this.If its anything like putting shelves up then I am in for a bit of a job.

busymumof3 · 2 February 2006 at 3:08PM

I have removed all the tiles in my kitchen, bathroom, en-suite, and small loo in the last few months. I discovered a fab tool in B&Q for the purpose. There are two makes Harris and Harrington and there are 2 sizes 4" and 6", and you can also buy replacement blades. Cost about £5-£6 from memory. I found the Harringtom one was more robust. The only thing you have to be a bit careful of in the hammer wearing away the rubber covering on the metal handle. After completely wearing through the first one, I used a plastic type mallet.

I found it really excellent for the job and I am no DIYer. Thought I'd give it a go myself and really surprised myself for once by finishing the job and not paying anyone else to do it! The joiner was also impressed at the speed the tiles came off.

I wouldn't recommend tiling over the top of tiles myself. Having done it once I think there certain places you can always tell. Also I never want a floor to ceiling tiled room again so it wasn't an option.

We also have a newish house with all plasterboard walls. I think the trick is that this blade is thin enough to get immediately behind the tile without puncturing the plasterboard at all.

I would recommend doing it before new fitting go in. I was a bit paranoid having to finish taking off the kitchen tiles after the new worktiops went on!

Lucie_2 · 29 March 2006 at 10:03AM

I'm resurrecting this thread to see if anyone has any more advice for me regarding tile removal?
I'm a bit nervous of damaging the wall beneath the tiles & having to have the whole room replastered. The guy installing the new bathroom & doing the tiling will do it for me, but it will be an extra days labour, so I'd prefer to do it myself & save the cash.
Any advice will be gratefully received, no matter how basic - I have never done this before so even if it's obvious to you, it won't be to me!
busymumof3's tool from B&Q sounds good, but it doesn't actually tell me what it is or where to find it? is it branded as a "tile removing tool"??

tanith · 29 March 2006 at 10:12AM

Lucie I reckon that there is really no way to tell how easily your tiles are going to come off unless you try it... some come off real easy and some are a !!!!!!... I would say that most of ours came off without damage but the others brought a big lump of plaster with them.. until you try it no one can really predict which way yours will go....as I said before we rough plastered the bigger holes (remember I never did this before) and then used the tile adhesive to level up the tiles it looks like we tiled on a perfectly flat wall and my son in law assured me this is what tilers do when the client is not watching.... :eek:

not sure what that tool is maybe you could ask at B & Q.......

Good luck and by the way my bathroom looks splendid now .....

I'd show you a pic but can't figure out how...... :rotfl:

NastyMatt · 29 March 2006 at 10:17AM

You're looking at brute force really. Hammer and chisel.. if you can try and make sure you get as close to the tile as possible but if the adhesive wants to take the plasterboard with it there is not a lot you can do.

It's a nice "finish" you are after.. if you take just the tile you'll have lumpy adhesive stuck to the wall..

It's trial and error really

Last job I did the tiles came away easily and the surface was as clean as the day it was made!! Which is a bit worrying that the tiles weren't stuck on in the first place properly!

My Dad's a builder and he removed some tiles in a bathroom the other day and the walls were 6 tiles deep! :eek: The owners now have a bigger bathroom

The_Bargain_Hunters · 29 March 2006 at 10:40AM

Hi,
I have just had a new bathroom fitted and I did not want tiles as I hate cleaning grout! So we had "Mermaid" panels put in the shower and it looks fantastic! The "Mermaid" Panels are completly waterproof floor to ceiling, easy to clean and come in a variety of colours and designs, we chose a dark grey slate for a natural look, they are about an inch thick, you can get cheaper ones, but these will last the next 20 years!!!!! :j
Have a look here http://www.norske-int.co.uk/pages/gallery.html

beverleyhills · 29 March 2006 at 10:55AM

Depends on how well the original job was done. If the tiles are the original ones dating from when the house was built, they may come off fairly easily. The tilers would have done the job in the minimum amount of time.

One trick to remove tiles is to drill a hole in the centre of each tile and hit it gently so it cracks which helps to ease removal.

The argument for tiling over existing tiles is that you have a flat surface to work on.

Just had tiles removed from the bathroom which DH did 20 years, he does a job to last!
We had the walls replastered as he was persuaded to paint most of the walls this time. We have wet board in the shower.

Bathroom/Shower Room Tiles-removal of..

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