What is the best way to remove some very old tile from a concrete floor? Where tile had been wet or had something sitting on it, some tiles are already loose and pop up. But on most of the floor tile is still firmly attached with what appears to be a black adhesive. The hammer and chisel routine just brings up 1 to 3 inch square chunks. Tile is the plyable stuff ..not ceramic. Also 12x12, not the 9x9 asbestos. Any ideas for something faster?
Try using a paint stripping heat gun and a steel sidewalk ice scraper (sharpened)....did that for my Mother's basement years ago and the heat made a big difference. Hope that was of some help .................. Jim
home depot has a floor scraper about 6 ft. long pole with a small, about
4 inch wide blade on the end.. dont know what they are called, and how much, but they were in the paint dept.. i did a laundry room about 6 ft. by 8 ft. washer/dryer/hot water heater i the room... like yours some of the tile were already up.. i then used some razor blade knives, the kind with the single edge to the front like a chisel. i also had a masonary chisel which i could hit(about 4 in wide blade)... i had a small area and no hurry so i just did a few each day until i got the whole thing out, i then worked the concrete with a new blade in the scraper each day to make sure nothing would interfer with the new tile... kinda cold outside..... make sure you leave the new tiles in the room where you are going to install them for a few days... Exp: if you leave them in a cold area and put them down and the floor warms up then the tiles will expand and then mess up your floor job... if its summer and you leave them in a hot ass garage for a few days then put them into your home which is cool you gonna have them shrink back to their normal size and they will have spaces between the tiles......Make a wood frame about six inches high and a little bigger than an individual tile. Place the frame on a tile and fill it with dry ice. You will hear a pop when the glue releases the tile. The glue has frozen solid and losses its grip. Use a long handled scrapper to move the tile off the floor. It will not really need scraping, just something to move it. You might be able to remove a good deal of the adhesive with the scrapper before it thaws out.
I've seen a flooring operator remove all tile, quite cleanly, from a 10' X 10' area in less than thirty minutes without breaking a sweat. He got most of the glue as well at the same time. It is also safer than using heat which might generate fumes and, of course, there is no fire risk.
Good Luck.
What you are looking for is an electric floor tile stripper. It basically is a motorized version of the manual scrapers mentioned by others. Any good tool rental place should have one. Warning: the prolonged vibration can be a killer for your hands, so wear padded gloves if you're using one for any length of time.
The stripper will only remove some of the adhesive. If you need to get the rest off, there are solvents available for the purpose.
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