Kitchen is all tiled need some advice

jimmylaine

hi guys

just need some advice, sorry if this sounds like a dumb / stupid question i have no diy skills...

my very very old kitchen is tiled (those square tiles not modern ones)from skirting to ceiling, it must have been done some time in the 70's early 80's.

and i was just wondering how i would go about getting them removed and maybe something a bit more modern done...

lee111s

Get a screwdriver/old chisel, a wallpaper scraper, a hammer and get to work!

Depending on the adhesive used you may pull some of the wall of with the tiles. If so it'll need skimmed before retiling.

cattie

Well, you can either remove them yourself using something like a hammer & chisel or even a paint scraper & hammer if they are not heavily stuck on. Or you can get somebody in to do the job & to re plaster the wall & then retile the areas you want tiling. Removing the tiles yourself first will make the job a bit cheaper than paying somebody to do this part of the work.

trailingspouse

If you're doing it yourself, protect the surrounding area with a dust sheet (if you're not re-doing the whole kitchen, you don't want bits of tile scratching your units/cooker/worktop etc etc. Also, wear safety glasses and gloves, as broken tiles can ping in any direction and can be very sharp.

The trouble is, once they're off, you'll be left with a very rough wall - impossible to just tile over. You might have to bite the bullet, remove all the units, take the tiles off, get someone to skim the walls for you and then put the units back up. Quite a big job.

If you just don't like the colour, I think you can get tile paint - might be a good short-term solution if you're not wanting to re-do the whole thing.

jimmylaine

thanks for the replies everyone...

horsechestnut

You can actually tile on top of the existing tiles without removing them.

lee111s

horsechestnut wrote: »

You can actually tile on top of the existing tiles without removing them.

Possible if it's just one wall but if there's edges on show such as a half tiled wall then it'll look naff.

Even if it were just one wall I'd rather take the time and do a proper job.

wallbash

i have no diy skills...

So we need a simple solution

A) get some professional help , tiles off . wall repaired , new tiles ....costly

tile on top

half tiled wall then it'll look naff.

Tile all , need not look naff.
Tiling if taken slowly and methodically , is not difficult

All comes down to cost.

scottishblondie

Having recently removed floor to ceiling tiles in my BF's kitchen, I'd recommend a sturdy scraper rather than a chisel. We found that the chisel ended up just chipping away at the tiles, whereas the scraper could get right underneath and break up the adhesive so the tiles mostly came off whole. The wall was a mess though - we weren't fully tiling the walls so had to get the walls replastered.

plumb1_2

if the tiles are solid, well stuck to the wall. The de-grease, prime and over-tile.