How to remove old tiles from the floor

Updating the interior in the apartment is a pleasant but troublesome event. For example, when repairing a bathroom or kitchen, many questions arise: what to do with an old floor tile, can it be removed from the floor without damaging it, and is it worth it? Keeping the tiles unscathed may be necessary if you decide to make them in the kitchen or in the bathroom warm floor, and the current floor covering cost you a substantial amount or just completely you arranges. You can also give a second life to the old, but good-quality facing material, adapting it to a garage or cottage. In any of these cases, you will have to figure out how to remove the tile from the floor without allowing it to be damaged.

Following the step-by-step instructions, you can easily master all the steps of dismantling the old ceramic floor in the apartment and save the old tile. One has only to be patient, a little skill, dexterity, add industriousness, and the rest will follow.

Materials and tools for removing old coatings

Everything you need to work to remove the old flooring is in the hardware store. For tile dismantling will need:

• paint knife;
• chisel;
• chisel;
• hammer;
• masking tape;
• putty knife;
• dishes with water, sponge or spray;
• thin steel wire 20-30 cm long.

Do not forget about your own safety during work. We get:

• household gloves (preferably cotton);
• knee pads.

Tip. Starting work with an old covering, take care to protect furniture, decor items in the room, plumbing elements in the bathroom and toilet from dust, as well as flying ceramic fragments and pieces solution. It is advisable to cover them with a thick film, and curtain openings and doors with a damp sheet.

Estimating the scope and terms of work

It is immediately necessary to determine on which solution the tile is held. The complexity and complexity of the process, the time spent on the work and the efficiency of the applied efforts depend on this. After all, our goal is not just to get rid of the old flooring, but also to keep it whole.

As experienced craftsmen note, it’s quite possible to keep 80–90% of the dismantled old tiles intact.

So, the compositions on which the old tile is held on the floor can be as follows:

1. Cement-sand mortar. Most likely, it retains the floor covering left over from Soviet times. Made with high quality, honestly, but the tile is old, having lost its "relevance". If you decide to remove the old tile not damaged and reuse it, you need to prepare for a difficult, time-consuming process, stretched over time. Additionally, water-salt solutions will be required for prolonged wetting of the old cement base to make it loose and pliable. If this does not help much, you will have to look for a special acid-based solution for this purpose in the hardware store.
2. Tile adhesive. A modern material that has been used for 20–25 years, also having cement, but more plastic and easy to process. In this case, working with the floor is faster, requires less effort.

Tip. Before working, it is important to ensure that there are no hidden wiring or piping in the floor. If you moved to a new apartment, do not be lazy before dismantling to remove the baseboard around the entire perimeter of the room and examine the corners and suspicious blotches on the wall adjacent to the floor.

If the bathroom and the kitchen have underfloor heating, dismantle the tile with caution. It is easy to damage the electrical cable or pipes close to the floor. It is still unknown how the foreman laying down this system equipped the cables.

Eyes are afraid, hands are doing: technology for removing floor tiles

The sequence of work when carefully removing the old tile flooring will be as follows.

Step one

Delete grout between old tiles. It is more convenient to start work on the floor closer to the wall, from the edge. To do this, use a paint knife. We carefully clean the seams, taking care not to damage the edges of the tiles. Typically, grouting material is porous and unstable, easily amenable. To simplify the process, abundantly wet the seams with water using a sponge or spray gun.

Second step

After carefully removing the seams in the formed cracks, fill the water moderately (carefully: neighbors below) and wait a while. Let the solution be saturated with moisture and become loose.

Third step

Carefully begin to remove the first tile. To do this, carefully tapping the surface of the old tile with a spatula, groping for the weak sound characteristic of the base. In order not to crumble the old tile, it is advisable to wrap the edges with masking tape, and only then bring the chisel to the very bottom of the tile and gently tap with a hammer. We need to save the tiles, so no sudden movements, we do everything measuredly, careful strokes. The goal is to move the tile, not break it.

To facilitate and speed up the dismantling process, try using steel wire hooks. They are driven deeply with sharp ends on both sides of the tile into cleaned and dampened seams. A force is applied and the tile comes off, keeping the old ceramics intact.

This algorithm must be adhered to in the future, carefully removing the tiles behind the tiles, pre-wetting the base, pasting the edges with tape, observing caution without fussing. It will take a lot of time, but remember that your goal is to dismantle the tiled floor without damaging the material.

Tip. To clean the bottom of the tile from the glue residue after dismantling, you can use a sharp spatula dipped in water. A metal brush will help to complete the operation. The situation with cement is more complicated. You can not do without a container with water-salt solution, where the removed tile with the remains of cement will have to be soaked for several hours. Only after that with a spatula can you try to clean the cement outgrowth.

We hope that all of the above will inspire you on your own and boldly tackle the reconstruction of your living space. Have a good repair!