Hi All,

We've just installed a new shower (driven by new combi) in the bathroom
and taken out the old electric shower. This has left us with one tile
that is has a rectangular section cut out and a few screw holes - it
was under the old shower and the hole was for the water feed. We've
tried to find replacement tiles but haven't been able to - the nearest
we could is about 3mm larger in all dimensions - so I reckon it would
be best, as we only need one tile, to steal it from the three used for
the sink splash-back and replace the splash-back with new tiles.

I've read the postings on removing tile adhesive, so I guess that this
is a viable method - am I right? Can anyone give me any hints on
getting a tile off whole? Is there anything in this method that I need
to watch out for?

Once again, thanks in advance for the collective illuminating wisdom!

Thanks - Adam...

wrote in message
news:1126182100.614869.33650@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

> Hi All,
>

snip

Is there anything in this method that I need

> to watch out for?


...your wife deciding that the she didn't like the old tiles and perhaps
retiling altogether would be a better idea..  ;-)

Paul



>
> Once again, thanks in advance for the collective illuminating wisdom!
>
> Thanks - Adam...
>

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 13:21:40 +0100,  wrote:


> I've read the postings on removing tile adhesive, so I guess that this
> is a viable method - am I right? Can anyone give me any hints on
> getting a tile off whole? Is there anything in this method that I need
> to watch out for?


If the tiles were properly fixed with good adhesive, you have no chance of  
removing a tile intact. Hope that they were put in by a cowboy. Experience  
suggests this is the more likely case.

John Schmitt

-- 
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On 8 Sep 2005 05:21:40 -0700, adamomitcheney@kiwis.co.uk wrote:


> so I reckon it would
>be best, as we only need one tile, to steal it from the three used for
>the sink splash-back and replace the splash-back with new tiles.
>
>I've read the postings on removing tile adhesive, so I guess that this
>is a viable method - am I right? Can anyone give me any hints on
>getting a tile off whole? Is there anything in this method that I need
>to watch out for?
>

If you have three chances to save one every one will break; if you
don't care they will come off intact. That's the law of sod.

adamomitcheney@kiwis.co.uk wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> We've just installed a new shower (driven by new combi) in the bathroom
> and taken out the old electric shower. This has left us with one tile
> that is has a rectangular section cut out and a few screw holes - it
> was under the old shower and the hole was for the water feed. We've
> tried to find replacement tiles but haven't been able to - the nearest
> we could is about 3mm larger in all dimensions - so I reckon it would
> be best, as we only need one tile, to steal it from the three used for
> the sink splash-back and replace the splash-back with new tiles.
>
> I've read the postings on removing tile adhesive, so I guess that this
> is a viable method - am I right? Can anyone give me any hints on
> getting a tile off whole? Is there anything in this method that I need
> to watch out for?
>
> Once again, thanks in advance for the collective illuminating wisdom!
>
> Thanks - Adam...


cant you lift one from behind the mirror/cabinet/loo etc? Or try
anyway.

Bodges are fill it and paint to match, or fit a soap dish there. When
it saves retiling the whole room, those bodges start looking very
tempting.

Always always store the spare tiles somewhere.


NT

Peter Johnson wrote:

> On 8 Sep 2005 05:21:40 -0700, adamomitcheney@kiwis.co.uk wrote:
> 
> 
>>so I reckon it would
>>be best, as we only need one tile, to steal it from the three used for
>>the sink splash-back and replace the splash-back with new tiles.
>>
>>I've read the postings on removing tile adhesive, so I guess that this
>>is a viable method - am I right? Can anyone give me any hints on
>>getting a tile off whole? Is there anything in this method that I need
>>to watch out for?
>>
> 
> If you have three chances to save one every one will break; if you
> don't care they will come off intact. That's the law of sod.


But you can maximise your chances by tapping a 4" flexible filling knife 
or paint scraper behind it with a hammer. They often break with a 
bolster because it's too rigid

On 8 Sep 2005 05:21:40 -0700, adamomitcheney@kiwis.co.uk wrote:


> Can anyone give me any hints on getting a tile off whole? Is there
> anything in this method that I need to watch out for?


I've just pulled most of the tiles off our kitchen wall, and from reading
the other replies these must have been originally placed by a cowboy ;-)

Before doing this job I'd read through many threads in this group. One
referenced a tile removing tool (see
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pricing=INC&pf_id=19745& - basically
a metal plate welded to an impact block). I got one, and this *did* remove
most of the tiles intact. 

My intent was to minimise damage to the walls behind. The exact opposite of
what I had been expecting occurred: those tiles on an internal plasterboard
wall came off easily, with virtually zero damage (perhaps the wall hadn't
been pre-treated with a bonding agent?), whereas those on an external
plaster-on-breezeblock wall often took some plaster with them.

So if you're in a similar situation to me, you can get the tiles off. But
I'd imagine it's then a bugger of a job getting the old tile adhesive off
these tiles!

Best of luck,
	Mike Atkinson

Oh, these guys were definitely cowboys. I guess, though, that Sod's law
states that this will be the one job they did properly...

Thanks Stuart, I'll give that a try...

>cant you lift one from behind the mirror/cabinet/loo etc? Or try
>anyway.


Not sure how that's easier that lifting them from the splashback. In
any case, no...


>Always always store the spare tiles somewhere.


Not an option when it's someone else's work...

Thanks Mike. I've checked out threads on this group, but so far only
found ones dealing with removing old adhesive from tiles, not removing
tiles intact. Maybe it's worth looking at the tool, although £35 is a
lot of money for one tile...

Thanks again - Adam Cheney...

adamomitcheney wrote:

> Oh, these guys were definitely cowboys. I guess, though, that Sod's law
> states that this will be the one job they did properly...



Which guys? What job? What context? - none.

Blimey - didn't realise I had to provide context for that. Is that
relevant to the question I asked? Why do you want to know?

As it happens, the company who bought the colony flat we now live in
and performed the loft conversion around 6 years ago are the guys in
question. Just about every job we've uncovered so far has proved to be
half-arsed - it looks very much like they worked out their budget, got
architects drawings done, and then got about 50% of the way through it
before realising that they'd blown their budget and had to finish it on
a shoestring.

There. Does that help? Do you feel like you have a better handle on my
question about removing tiles whole from a wall? Are you in a position
to provide me with that killer tip now?

Adam...

http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?How_to_post

In article ,
<URL:mailto:adamomitcheney@kiwis.co.uk> wrote:

>
> There. Does that help? Do you feel like you have a better handle on my
> question about removing tiles whole from a wall? Are you in a position
> to provide me with that killer tip now?


http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?How_to_post

-- 
AJL