M inimizing dust during floor tile replacement ?

Any tips on minimizing the dust that can be generated during a kitchen floor tile job? We currently have tile on the floor, installed before we bought the house, but it's chipped and not what we want as far as color, pattern, etc. I'm fine with the effort involved to remove the existing tile, but wanna minimize the dust that I've heard that can spread throughout the entire house. Any tips or suggestions? Thanks in advance for the help.

Reply to
AngryOldWhiteGuy
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"AngryOldWhiteGuy" wrote in news:ja6saq$7n0$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

"Wet" removal? Water is a wonderful substance to stop dust from spreading.

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

fan blowing out in the kitchen door

Reply to
hrhofmann

That's what I used when I "scraped", sanded, the parquet floors in one room. I found a 21" box fan in the trash, and ran it all day long while I ran t he sander and when I took breaks. After I finished and just as the dust seemed out of the room, the fan "burned up". Slowed to a stop and smelled like it was overheated.

But I ltoo lke the idea of water.

Reply to
micky

Doesn't take much- go to dollar store or recycle bin, and find a pump sprayer like for misting plants, or an old bathroom cleaner bottle, and keep spraying ahead of right where you are working. Don't let floor get covered with debris- do a couple square feet at a time, and fill up a couple five-gallon buckets as you go, while it is still damp.

Reply to
aemeijers

Dont worry about it. After you finish this job your house will need to be demolished. Thats when the dust will really fly. However the demolition crew should contain the dust to avoid pissing off the neighbors.

Reply to
homeowner#1301174

And don't forget to leave a window open on the 'upwind' side. You need to let as much air in as the fan is discharging with the dust.

You can rent a good fan. I've been lugging around a furnace fan that moves a heck of a lot of air. You can often get one for the asking from a HVAC guy with a little lead time.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

What dust? They aren't planning to grind it off, are they? Scraping off tile is going to give you lots of pieces but not much dust. If you are worried, hang some plastic over the entries to the kitchen.

Reply to
dadiOH

I also tried running an outboard motor in the bathtub, with a fan in the window. It was a very big bathtub in a 1930 luxury apartment building (affordable by me in 1970) , wide enough for a sawhorse to hold motor. The room filled up with black smoke within a few seconds, even with the fan on and other windows in the apartment open. (I don't think the fan was as big as the one I used for sanding dust.)

But it ran and later I took it to the water near Kennedy Airport.

Reply to
micky

Oh, it was a very old engine, and probably not adjusted right. When I got it outside, I guess the smoke just blew away. I didn't notice iit much.

Reply to
micky

Exactly what I was thinking. Don't see where dust is an issue with removing floor tile, unless it contains asbestos. Floor tile shouldn't raise much dust when it's removed, as long as you're scraping it off. If it's asbestos, then the small amount of dust generated would be an issue to deal with.

Another choice, if possible, would be to just put the new flooring over the tile.

Reply to
trader4

nce for the help.

I just read most of the replies and having just recently done just what you are asking about I can hopefully give you a complete answer.

It appears that most people answering have never removed tile floors put down with thinset. Sorry folks, you can't scrape it all off even with power scrappers. Even if you could, the amount of dust will still be an issue so you are going to have to deal with it.

First, be prepared with all the tools and equipment in advance and plan to stay with it until complete. You will need plastic sheeting, tape, fans, power chisel, vacuum and a power grinder with diamond grinder blade and vacuum attachment. You can use a long handled floor chisel but I tried one and then switched to a cheap Harbor Freight air chisel and found the going much faster and easier overall. Put everything you are going to work with in the room before you start to minimize the entering and exiting of the room.

Tape the plastic sheeting over all doors and if possible use a window to get in and out especially to remove the broken tile. Remove any thing from the room that you can to eliminate cleanup. Open the windows and place fans in each open window. You want to maintain negative airflow into the room. I turned on the fan to the central air to make sure I was pushing air into the room and exhausting out the windows. The window fans will help pull that air out quickly while still airborne.

Use the chisel to breakup and remove the tiles and as much of the thinset as possible but don't kill yourself trying to get it all with the chisel. You won't be able to really get a smooth uniform surface just using the chisel. Clean out the area after initial tile removal to get rid of all the loose material. Now comes the dusty part, especially if you don't have a vacuum attachment which I wouldn't recommend. Try to find a supplemental filter for your shop vac and put it around the regular filter. The idea is to use that filter to keep from clogging the pleated paper filter. Mine has a foam filter that fits around the pleated filter. It doesn't filter as completely as the paper filter but stops most of the heavy dust which is what you want.

Attach the shop vac to the grinder. This will probably require a special attachment since the hose for the shop vac will be larger than the attachment. I couldn't find an attachment so had to create my own which worked...sort of. Now, turn the window fans on HIGH, turn the shop vac on, put on a face mask with goggles and start grinding down that damn thinset until the floor is smooth and uniform. You will probably have to empty the vac several times and clean the filter too. Don't wait until its full unless you have lots of help to empty. Thinset is heavy.

Keep the fans going until you can see across the room and longer if you really want to clear the air. Finally, a bucket of water and a sponge will help with cleanup. Start at the top and work down. Mop the floor as the last step keeping the fans going until done. Don't forget to clean the fans when you are done along with replacing the filters in your shop vac. Oh, and my wife added that you should strip and place all clothes in the trash before using the shop vac on yourself. Just make sure the neighbors aren't watching.

The above worked well for me doing a kitchen and breakfast area that was covered with 14" tiles over concrete. There was no way to avoid dust but I did avoid getting it all through the house. Entered and existed the room through the windows until done. Taped the cabinets and pantry shut until everything was wiped down. Removed the blinds and everthing else that I could remove. Forgot that last part about stripping and my wife let me know about it. The grinder was the worst about creating dust but as far as I am concerned it is the only way to go. The biggest issue for me was trying to keep my goggles clean enough to see what I was doing. I wouldn't recommend trying the grinder without the vacuum. I did that with just a few small areas later after removing the base cabinets and it created more dust than I had created doing the entire floor.

Good Luck!

Reply to
BobR

You have never removed floor tile have you?

Reply to
BobR

Yes I have. But where I went wrong was somehow I got fixed on thinking he was talking about vinyl floor tiles. Don't know why, because while he didn't specifically say, there is enough info there to conclude they are in fact ceramic. In which case, I agree that dust is an issue.

Reply to
trader4

That makes sense. I have removed vinyl tiles as well and you are right, no dust issues to speak of. Having completed removing a rather large area of ceramic tiles earlier this year my only thought was of those and the dust associated with them.

Reply to
BobR

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