Tiling question

L

Lin03

Registered User
Messages
30
Hi,

Just wondering how you would go about taking up floor tiles?
Is it a big job?

Thanks.
 
hammer and chisel

are they big tiles or small tiles
 
Tiles are small. The floor in question is upstairs and the tiler put down some ply before tiling. Maybe this can be ripped up?
 
As 2Pack says, hammer and chisel is the job. Make sure to wear a pair of goggles as chips off the tiles may fly.

We had to take up tiles on an old kitchen last year - those nasty honeycomb ones with the little square tiles in between. Can be tricky enough as most of the tiles broke so was slow-ish to get them up. Trick is to hammer the chisel in a good bit under the tile and they *should* pop up.

Getting the ply up was another matter! Had to get a crow bar under it and jump up and down on it to get it off. Again, it all splintered so we had to go at each piece a couple of times. For this part, make sure you wear gloves - we ended up with blisters on our hands

Have fun

D
 
Hi,

I have been using a chisel and lump hammer to remove tiles from our kitchen floor....i am not joking in saying that these tiles are almost an inch thick. I may as well be peeing in the wind as trying to use a hammer and chisel. Is there any other way to remove them?
 
You could hire a small breaker with a special chisel designed for removed tiles etc, most hire shops would stock these. But you need to do this carefully to avoid gouging the original concrete floor.
 
well yesterday I took up all the ones in the kitchen. I used an SDS drill with a chisel attachment. Went through the whole lot in a few hours. Works like a small jack hammer.
 
beldin said:
well yesterday I took up all the ones in the kitchen. I used an SDS drill with a chisel attachment. Went through the whole lot in a few hours. Works like a small jack hammer.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but what's an SDS drill? On a major learning curve here!
 
SDS explanation
http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/sds.htm

Basically they are a bit larger than ordinary electric drills. Reasonably cheap ones can be got in the likes of Argos. I use a JCB one from there and it works fine. If you can then get a wide chisel bit then it really helps take up the tiles.
 
SDS means special delivery system- it's a special type of chuck on heavy duty trade drills and breakers which holds the bit more securely than the standard "Jacobs" type chuck found on a regular drill.
 
Just to follow on, we had a guy look at the tiles last night and asked his advice on removing them..he told us just to tile over them as it would be much easier. We have the space in depth ie. the doors to the kitchen will still open okay. Is there any other disadvantage to this?
 
Carpenter said:
SDS means special delivery system
Click to expand...

hmmm... there's a bit of a debate on that.... I was buying one a while back and was researching them, ended up getting the Makita 2450T which is brilliant, can drill perfect holes in rocks with no effort.

But on what SDS stands for...
Slotted Drive System
Special Drive System

but since it was originally developed in Germany I think the most likely is
Steck - Dreh - Sitzt (insert - twist - stay)

Traditional hammer action drills work by vibrating the bit, no real hammer action at all... SDS drills actually impact the top of the drill bit, far superior. Impact rating is measured in Joules, my drill is 2.7 Joules per impact which is plenty for drilling and light tile removal, the biggest SDS drills, roadbreakers etc are about 9 Joules/ blow but they are very heavy...

Pneumatic roadbreakers would be even more powerful...

Cheers
Joe
 
Don't bother with the hammer and chisel - Use a sledge hammer to break them up with a quick short swings, otherwise a kango (which might be slower). Be sure to wear safety glasses
 
What should be done with the adhesive left after you take up the tiles.Should that be chiselled up as well?
Our floor has all the adhesive left and it is quite difficult to take up. Will it make any difference to a tiler.
 
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