Help with removing bathroom tiles!

reetpetite

Can anyone PLEASE help me, I'm trying to remove bathroom tiles from the wall but I need to save some to do a repair job. Is there a trick to removing tiles so as they don't break? I cannot replace them as they are no longer in production.

andrew-b

Depends how well they were stuck on in the first place whether they'll come off cleanly. To stand the greatest chance to get a tile off whole what i'd do is get something like a paint scraper and gently tap it with a hammer all the way round the grout line of the tile you want to save. When you come to remove the tile (ie. when you have an exposed edge that you can get the scraper into) place the scraper so it's an angle as close to the wall as you can and tap with your hammer working your way around it slowly loosening the adhesive bit by bit (hitting the adhesive - not the tile). If your lucky it'll come off whole - be ready to catch it! Gloves and safety glasses recommended (i've cut my fingers on broken tile enough times and taken someone to casualty after flying bits of tile from my hammer and chisel ended up in their eye!)

Andy

Pretani

break a tile with a hammer, remove the broken tile. Get a small bolster or large screw driver, place it under the edge of the surrounding tiles and give it a smack with a hammer. If that doesn't work, try a wide mouthed bolster.

staffie1

...and be careful if it's a studded partition wall...!

27col

You may be lucky and find that the tiles will come off. In any event the use of a very thin and flexible paper scraper is probably your best bet. Tapped in as flat as possible. Do not try to pry the tile off, as then it is far more likely to snap. I am not sure that there is is any method that could be recommended as being a sure fire way of getting them off. I have had whole walls of tiles come off quite easily in the past. if you succeed in removing some for re-use they will clean up quite well if you put them in a bucket of warm water for a while. I find that you can normally get all the adhesive off with a wall scraper. As has been said, be ready to catch the tiles, as it is likely that if they do come, it will be with a rush. Best of luck.