Removing old bathroom tiles.

[thatone1967]

I need to start stripping the old tiles form my bathroom before re-tiling.
Some are already removed, so I cannot tile over... it's proving very laborious, anyone got any tips?

Biggest problem is the walls are plasterboard, and the plasterboard is coming off as easy as the tiles....

[thebullettrain]

The tiles are on the plasterboard - that's the way it's done. I don't think it should be a problem that it's coming off - but it's best wait to see what proper DIY PHers say.

[lenny007]

Personally, when i ripped the tiles off when redoing the kitchen, i gave up after about 20 minutes and decided it would be easier and tidier to merely pull off the plaster board with the tiles in situ and replace the lot. Also made less mess.

[Steve H]

If there are tiles already missing from the plasterboard you may already have moisture in there and so new board would be the best way to go. Make sure you use the correct board designed for a bathroom though I found plain old gyproc just not up to the job

[herbialfa]

Moisture resistant plasterboard is produced for a reason!

[Sheets Tabuer]

A kango or similar small hammer, they can be hired from hss hire.

[MrV]

Scrap the plasterboard and start a new would be the best route to go.

[CO2000]

Be careful near anything you want to keep as Hammers/Chisels/broken tiles etc can chip & end up a Doh moment !

New Plaster board sounds like a good idea in your case. Have you looked at wetwall panels rather than retiling ? We are getting these fitted this week.

[thatone1967]

CO2000 said:

Be careful near anything you want to keep as Hammers/Chisels/broken tiles etc can chip & end up a Doh moment !

New Plaster board sounds like a good idea in your case. Have you looked at wetwall panels rather than retiling ? We are getting these fitted this week.

To be honest, we are hoping to move this year, so this more of a "getting it ready to sell excercise"

Cheers anyway..

[miniman]

lenny007 said:

Personally, when i ripped the tiles off when redoing the kitchen, i gave up after about 20 minutes and decided it would be easier and tidier to merely pull off the plaster board with the tiles in situ and replace the lot. Also made less mess.

This. When removing tiles from plasterboard, rule number 1 is that you can't remove **all** the tiles from the plasterboard so you might as well just rip the whole lot down.

[Steve H]

herbialfa said:

Moisture resistant plasterboard is produced for a reason!

When I did my shower cubicle the guy that lived there before me had used normal plasterboard, it was like a sponge!

[Matt Harper]

Have to agree with others - tear out all the old sheet-rock and start again...

Before:



During:



After:



Make sure you use wet-area sheet rock and unsanded grout.

[Simpo Two]

lenny007 said:

Personally, when i ripped the tiles off when redoing the kitchen, i gave up after about 20 minutes and decided it would be easier and tidier to merely pull off the plaster board with the tiles in situ and replace the lot. Also made less mess.

^^^ This. New plasterboard is very cheap and you get a nice new surface to work from.