how to remove mosaic tiles off without damaging skimmed plasterboard?

[Stephen]

I have a kitchen that has breezeblock walls. On this there is dot and dabbed plasterboard. This plasterboard has been skimmed.

The previous owners have managed to remove the old tiles sucessfully and then retiled using mosaic tiles. These mosaic tiles appear to be 15mm by

15mm.

8 by 8 of these tiles appear to have a hessian back to them (obviously designed to make tiling easier in the first place)

I have a requirement to remove these mosiac tiles. However, no matter how careful I am, I cannot get the tiles and tile adhesive to seperate cleanly without damaging the plasterboard.

I find that the skim plaster is coming off with the tiles taking the paper off the PB too. In extreme cases, the plasterboard is coming away with the tiles leaving me with holes in the plasterboard.

I can see myself having to remove the PB completely from floor to ceiling and fitting new sheets.....

Anyone suggest a method that actually works?

Stephen

[The Medway Handyman]

I've come across this problem a couple of times. I couldn't find an answer that didn't involve re boarding.

[Dave Liquorice]

You must be going some to be break holes in the plasterboard. Gently gently with a broad (2 to 3") sharp thin scraper worked into the joint and ease the tiles away. Slow mind ...

On the stubborn bits have you tried soaking the stubborn bits with water with a drop of detergent and leaving for an hour or two? If the adhesive use was a waterproof cement based one it won't make any difference but a normal tile adhesive will soften a bit, if it does gentle steaming might be quicker than passive soaking.

If time is an important factor stop faffing about and just rip the lot down, then reboarding and skiming will be quicker. Though that depends on how good you are at skimming and if you'd need to get a man in.

[jgh]

If you're going to retile, you can get a good skim finish as an amateur as you don't need to get a polish on it. I was quite impressed with what I was able to do to prepare a wall for tiles.

Fully agree with ripping it down and replacing, though.

jgh

[Rick Hughes]

nope .... re-skim the board ... or you may have to replace the board if face damaged (likely) Plasterboard - horrid stuff, did all my place with Fermacell .. no such problems.

[Tricky Dicky]

You can tile directly onto plasterboard without skimming. In fact a greater weight per square metre can be achieved than tiling onto skimmed board.The British Gypsum site book recommends tiling directly onto the background ie . plasterboard rather than skimming.

Richard

[JimK]

Mmm true but maybe they look forward to when its retiling time.... Iow reboarding time...

Jim K

[Tricky Dicky]

It's my experience that no matter how you do it, removing tiles from plaste rboard walls, is that lumps of adhesive get left on or the plaster skim com es off or both. Re-skimming such a damaged wall can be difficult for the am ateur and obviously expensive to get a professional in. Considering that ti ling is generally a long term wall covering and plasterboard is relatively cheap, re-boarding as Dave the Medway Handyman suggests is in my eyes a mor e favoured option especially when you consider it's adhesion qualities as m entioned in my previous post.

Richard

[meow2222]

I cant believe what you ask is possible. Even if you managed it somehow, yo u'd be left with such a dog's dinner that you'd only waste more time levell ing it all. Just replace tha PB, and as someone has said, no point skimming before tiling. Its also an opportunity to improve insulation if exterior. You could also reboard with cement board if you want water resistance, or t o be able to remove tiles from it one day.

NT

[raskell]

replying to The Medway Handyman, raskell wrote: I work with mosaic (website reference

) and you will have a hard time removing all of them without damaging. If some pieces are needed to be replaced you can use chisel to take some off but it`s not guaranteed to be a great solution. I suggest to leave it as is

[tabbypurr]

2+ years late. Get yourself a sensible newsgroup portal/client, people have no end of problems with the place you're using.

NT