tips please for removing tiles from bathroom

maryjane01

We are getting a new bathroom put in, and the wonderful tiles we bought that we thought were white, turn out to be a putty coloured light grey when they are up against white walls and white grout:eek:

The tiles were still nice and we thought it wasn't going to be a problem, but now we have the floor down we realise the colours do not look good next to each other and instead of being annoyed by it forever more, we are biting the bullet and retiling the shower enclosure. We have a tiler doing the job but we thought we might try and take the tiles off ourselves.

Any tips for removing tiles? They went up only 2 days ago if that makes any difference.

poppyolivia

we did that with the upstairs bathroom but the tiles had been there for awhile. I just put an old blanket down in the bath so i would'nt chip it and then I went for it!!!! There was chunks of plaster coming off everywhere! But I filled it myself and the new white tiles were put up (by myself) and it looks really good. I even went down to the kitchen and did the same there so it didn't put me off. I think since yours has only been up 2 days it should be easier depending on the adhesive you used.... maybe its not quite set(?) The hardest part is getting the hard adhesive off the plaster but even that isn't too bad or maybe I was just lucky. Good luck anyway and get started..... be brave!!!:D

Hariboy

Hello,

I have just took a load of tiles down in my bathroom, you should find a claw hammer (or a resonably large screwdriver) good enough for prising the tiles off. One thing to watch out for maybe that the adhesive has not had time to "go off" and may still be a bit sticky, so if you don't want to spend ages with JIF getting adhesive off the floor/out the bath you may want to put down an old blancket.

Good luck

tawnyowls

Wear goggles, long sleeves and trousers - as poppyolivia says, chips fly everywhere, and they draw blood! If you have a bolster (see here: http://www.diydata.com/tool/brickwork/bricklayers.php), that's usually the best thing to get them off. Just put blade in behind top of tile, tap bolster handle with hammer, and with luck, that will knock the tile off in one piece - a chisel or a screwdriver tends to put a bit too much pressure on one place and breaks the tile. If you do get them off intact, and don't allow them to sit on each other so any still-sticky adhesive gets onto the front of the tiles, you might be able to sell them.

SPARKY16

dont know if this would be any good but we just tiled over exisiting tiles with new ones
worked a treat !!

Lord_Gardener

I agree that gentle tapping with a bolster works - did for us and most came off whole!!!