Flooring Tile - Removing Ceramic Tiles

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View Full Version : Removing Ceramic Tiles


coreillyfam
01-24-04, 11:15 PM
I have over 1000 square feet of 12 x 12 ceramic floor tile in my home installed on a cement slab with thinset. The tile was installed by subcontractor to builder about 6 years ago. Over the past couple years large pieces of the grout have come out and "most" of the tile has a hollow sound when you tap on it. When you walk on some pieces of tile moves slightly.

The builder and subcontractor accept no responsibility. It appears I must remove or reset a substantial amount of the tile. I have two questions:
1) Is there a glue product that I can apply to the loose tiles and reset them without causing them to be higher than tiles that were not reset?
2) If I have to remove all the tiles what is the best way to remove the tiles that have not come loose?


Daniel Wachtel
01-25-04, 05:38 AM
What condition is the floor in under the loose tile? Is there any evidence of the slab cracking? Are the loose tiles in a common area (all touching) or are they randomly spaced?

coreillyfam
01-25-04, 07:57 AM
There is no evidence of slab cracking near loose tiles. The most noticable loose tiles are in the high traffic areas but you can check almost anyplace and tiles have hollow sound when tapped. Interestingly, before we moved in, we had tile contractor (same contacator who did original installation) extend the tile installation into another room and a hallway. All of those tiles appear tightly adhered to surface. One of my dilemmas is that I will have to remove those tiles as well since I won't be able to match them with replacement tiles. Generally speaking, how difficult is it to remove tiles that are well secured and what tool(s) or equipment would you use?


floorman
01-25-04, 01:09 PM
if the tile are that hollow and coming off the floor now then they should be that hard to remove.Sounds like they used mastic or something that was not good like it had went past the shelf life or something.

Any way rent you a good roto hammer at a rental center and get a 2" flat chisel with it and go to town.Get gloves and safty glasses cuase it will put an eye out and /or cut you.

Scrape floor smooth and then get back to us and we'll take it from there:cool: