We want to remove about 200 square feet of old ceramic tile in our kitchen...its been down for about 6 years and we want to replace it with a different tile. Can I just chisel and scrape each tile off? What about using a power scraper tool that I could rent? The tile place wants $300 to remove it and cart it away. Any tips that would help me to do it myself would be appeciated.
Doug and Patty
$300 is very fair to do this very hard work. You're nuts not to pay to do it. Breaking out old tile with my chisel-hammer and carting it away is the hardest part of tiling, you should let them do it. Besides, if you have a 200 sq.ft. kitchen you can't be that needy to do it yourself That's a big kitchen. You must be rich! :-)
There is a skill and talent involved in not damaging walls, baseboard, doors, cabinets etc. You'd have $100 into renting a tool, and carting the tile away, and you'd risk costly damage you may cause, not being familiar with the tool. Also, the worst times I've ever gouged myself were times I was taking out tile. Much of the time the tile breaks, it shears, leaving an edge like a razor blade.
Spend $200 more and sit back sipping tea and watch the tileguy kill himself.
thetiler
Ditto, I'm with you. Had ours done a couple of months ago and sure glad I didn't try it myself. The tea will come in handy to wash the dust down if you stick around to watch.
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A wide point chisel is best 3-4 inches.
I just spent $120 on a 4 inch wide spade bit for my Hilti TE-52. I am removing more than 200 feet.
It is not hard but very labor intensive.
Hate to tell you this but if the floor was done correctly it will come up in small pieces. Your not going to be scraping any tile. A sledge hammer works to get started.
The question is really, what is the 300 worth to you and yours? You will spend most if not all of the weekend doing this. Make sure you cover everything of value. The chips will fly everywhere.
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