I have some ordinary 6x6 tiles which run halfway up my kitchen wall. Is it a bad idea to use my new Bosch PBH240 RE drill for the job of removing them?. Thing is, I have a plasterer coming out to the house next week to 'skim coat' the kitchen walls so I must remove them by then.
Also what preparations should I expect him to take before 'skim coating' my kitchen walls? - would I be wrong to expect him to remove sockets, light fittings etc before starting or am I being presumptuous? (sorry to any plasterers reading!)
Stick a wide chisel bit in the drill, and a wide grin on your face, and watch the tiles leap off the wall!
(you can actually get SDS chisels desiged for removing tiles, these are a bit wider, and have a crank in the shaft to allow you to get behind them with a shallower angle. The ordinary chisel bits will work fine in most cases though).
He will probably just unscrew them so they are hanging on their cables.
One would hope that the plasterer would, however, IME never assume anything with unknown tradespeople. Not because most of them aren't sensible, but you can never be sure (until you know them) if you've got a less sensible, CBA sort of person.....
I would unscrew sockets and cover them in a plastic bag secured with a bit of tape , if you have anything other than a normal pendant fitting with rose I would probably remove it and stick a pendant fitting up there dangling on the end of the cable
If you want a good plastering job done (or at least a chance of one), disconnect/isolate all the effected circuits, remove the sockets, light fittings etc and tuck the wires right back into the back boxes so they do not stick out in front of the wall surface. This means the plasterer can sweep the trowel straight across without having to stear around projections, which won't give as good or flat a finish. Lay on some separate method for providing good lighting in the area so the plasterer can see what he's doing. (I use a 4-lamp modular ceiling fluorescent fitting I rescued from a skip -- actually I had two of them, but one went back in the dustbin after I walked backwards and stepped on it;-)
I also cut a piece of cardboard so it's a tight fit in the front of the back box and then plaster straight across it. This keeps the plaster out of the box and lug holes. After the first polishing when the plaster is still not completely set, I cut round the box edges with a stanley knife (being careful not to cut deep enough to hit the wires), and then remove the cardboard and attached plaster. You have to make a note of exactly where the sockets/switches are though, or you'll be prodding all over your finished plasterwork looking for them!
If I were you before taking an SDS drill to the existing tiles, try with a bolster and hammer as often tiles will virtually "fall off the wall" given a bit of gentle encouragement, and you will run far less of a risk of making a right pig's ear of the wall, surrounding fittings etc.
On the other hand, you can get tiles which are stuck so fast you'll be there all day with your bolster, so suck it and see I say.
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