Guys / Gals I need some advise. 12 years ago my wife and I bought a new home in a new development. We (by “we” I mean “SHE”) opted for carpeting in the living room and TV room seperated by 12 x 12 ceramic tile in dining room, kitchen, hall and bath.
Fast forward to today… She’s had a change of heart and now wants laminate wood floors everywhere. No problem honey… Well the carpeting which consists of two rooms and roughly 400 sq feet was a snap, then I started pulling out the tile… :mad:
I’ve no clue what the contractor used to glue these down, but it literally took 30 minutes with a hammer and chisel to remove one tile… I have 600 ft.:smack:
I’ve talked to neighbors who have removed tile and they had tile crews spending two days with jack hammers removing small areas … I’m told it is an “inch by inch” process that quite frankly I don’t care to experience!!! Which leaves me with very few solutions and a TON of questions… So any help would be much appreciated.
So, I have two rooms that used to be carpeting that are now concrete subfloor. separating those rooms I have 600 feet of 12 x 12 x 1/4" ceramic tile that isn’t going anywhere!!!
My most realistic solution is this;
I saw some 1/4" concrete backer board at the store that comes in 3 x 5 sheets… It seems pretty consistent and solid… could I glue that to the concrete subfloor to create a quasi-even surface then laminante wood over the whole thing?
I’ll lay plastic down for the moisture barrier, the flooring comes with a foam backng attached… I’ve read older questions that lead me to believe the grout lines for the tile shouldn’t pose a problem…
Any suggestions on a glue???
If you can give me a heads up on potential pit falls… I’m all ears!
Any other potential solutions would be appreciated.
The same adhesive or mastic used for the tiles may work. However, can you just lay the flooring on the concrete? I’ve seen laminate flooring with foam backing laid on a slab, no glue, no nails.
For laminate flooring, you need to use foam underlay. You should be able to lay out the foam underlay, and then place the laminate flooring on top. There is no need to affix the underlay to the floor, or to affix the laminate to the underlay. Its called a floating floor. There shouldn’t be any problem with placing this on top of tile.
She can’t live with laminate where the carpet was, and tile in the kitchen?
If no, then you could the plywood subfloor they put in basements–these--to even the transition between the tile and the bare concrete. Probably won’t be cheap.
Go to a proper flloring store and have it looked at by a professional. If you’re thinking about DIY, don’t. If you don’t know something as basic as “tile rip-up is a big deal,” then you don’t know enough to even ask the right questions.
Actually, the best advice I can give you is to say no to your wife.
Any ways, when you put anything other than a floating floor or carpet down, you typiclaly will lay 1/4" plywood down to attach whatever to. This is how it should be done. The reason being that if you use tile, you have to glue it down, and to remove you end up with the situation you are in. There, should, be that 1/4" plywood under that tile. This 1/4" plywood is then nailed to the 3/4" plywood beneath it.
So, with the carpet removed, take a look from the side and see if you can see it, you should. If you can then you just peel that up. For me, I took a handheld circular saw with a depth gauge, and set it to cut to the depth of the tile and that 1/4". I cut through the grout lines and then just popped them up.
If you like, you can take a side pic and post it so I can confirm for you.
This is completely wrong. First, the guy said he’s in a new development (house) with a slab foundation. Tile is commonly laid directly onto concrete foundations, as he’s already stated his is. He would not be having this problem if the tile was on plywood, it would pop up pretty easily. Which is why you don’t lay tile directly onto plywood–it cracks and pops up.
If you have a crawlspace or basement foundation with a wood subfloor, the standard thing to do is to mortar hardi-board or some similar concrete substrate to the plywood, then mortar the tile on top of that. But that isn’t what’s going on here, because he has a slab foundation.
Replacing tile with laminate? Absolutely insane. Laminate is just junk. Vinyl plank is a similar but more durable product by an order of magnitude, but I would never replace tile with it. A matter of taste I suppose - still I just cant believe it.
As for removing tile from concrete substrate - I use a flat prybar and a hammer. Get the flat bar on the edge of the tile (or under it if possible), give it a wack or two and pry. Sometimes it is easier to smash the tile with a sledge to break it up first. After its all done repeat the process to remove as much thinset from the substrate as you can. This is best done by hired young beardlings with youthful backs that still get kicks out of breaking things.
You can use a reciprocating saw and Spyder scraper. Makita makes a recipsaw with a stand up extension specifically for floor removal. You may be able to rent one of these and give your back a break.
There’s no reason to pull up the tile. Laminate is designed to go over it. We’ve had laminate over tile throughout our house for a few years now with no issues. Just bear in mind that it won’t last forever (much like carpet).
In January of 2005 I did exactly what you described in my own house. I removed tile, carpet, linoleum tile and hardwood. One room required a layer of plywood sub floor to make it even with the other rooms. After I prepped the entire first floor the flooring guys came and installed 3.25" hardwood - from front to back including the kitchen and powder room. It looks great.
At first I thought I could remove the tiles with a kind of straight hoe garden tool, but nope… it is a hands and knees process no two ways about it. Buy a pair of knee pads, gloves and a good hammer and chisel. It’s the only way. Once you have the tiles popped up you will have to scrape the glue with a sharp chisel so that the wood lays flat. Don’t skimp or take shortcuts on this.
Also… it may be a bit more expensive but hardwood is a much better product than laminate. It will last forever whereas at some point you might be replacing the laminate, which would be another round of pain in the ass work.
It’s a lot more expensive, and it’s not necessarily a better product. Yes, it will last longer as a floor, but after a few years it will be scratched to shit and will need to be sanded and refinished. It’s also much more sensitive to water damage (though in truth laminate only resists water on top of it.)
The home reno shows I’ve watched where they remove tile, they use a jackhammer, but with a wide spade rather than a pointy chisel. It has a metal blade about 4 to 6 inches across. They hold the jackhammer at an angle (45 degrees or so) so it seems to be scraping the concrete floor catching the side of the tile. This seems to lift the tiles (in broken chunks) and then scrape the mortar used to attach the tiles. Certainly faster than doing it by hand. I’m sure there’s a lot of rework going over it and over it after sweeping to scrape away any high lumps to get down to the smooth slab.
take comfort in the thought that hard to lift means the guys did a good job putting the tile down. the appropriate tool can probably be rented for the weekend from Home Depot or somewhere.
At least when “we” changes her mind again it will be easier to lift the laminate…
A lot of advice has been given in this thread, most of it good, some of it bad, and a lot of it conflicting. That’s because nobody actually knows what’s going on in your place without looking at it. Doing your own flooring can often be penny wise and pound foolish. If nothing else, get an estimate and a consultation with a professional.
And I totally agree with everyone that says you’re insane to rip up tile.