How to remove tiles

In this guide we talk you through the best way to remove tiles, whether it’s how to remove tiles from walls or how to remove kitchen tiles, it’s a relatively simple process and an easy DIY!

So, why remove the existing tiles? If the current bathroom or kitchen is looking dated or the tiles haven’t been fitted well and therefore need replacing, it’s always best to remove any old tiles (and their grout and adhesive) from your substrate before you lay any new ones down. This is mostly due to the thickness of adding an additional layer of tiles, it would look odd on your walls and may cause issues on your floor with door openings etc. It also gives you the chance to properly prepare your substrate, ensuring it’s level and clean to prevent any movement or cracking of tiles down the line.

No matter your method of removal, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to save any of the old tiles, so just keep this in mind when planning your project.

Always consider your safety when doing DIY projects, when removing tiles there can be bits of tile or adhesive flying around the room so it’s best to always wear goggles and gloves and ensure your arms and legs are covered.

If your room already has fixtures in place (such as an existing kitchen or bathroom suite) that you are keeping, then it’s best to protect these elements of the room before starting your tile removal. Cardboard is probably the easiest material to work with, allowing you to cut it to shape when needed whilst being thick enough to stop any falling tile chips from damaging their surfaces. To avoid any additional dust or damage, add an old sheet on top for good measure.

How to remove tiles from walls or floors manually is simple, you’ll need a thin chisel and a hammer. If you don’t have a chisel, then you can use a large flat-headed screwdriver, but it is a lot easier with a chisel!

You can automate this process with a chisel drill attachment however you need to be careful as you could ruin the substrate if you’re too heavy handed, this will then need repairing before you can lay any new tiles, costing time and money.

This simple technique that we’ll take you through should work well on all modern adhesives (aka any tiling done after the 1970s) that have been laid on a cement-based or plywood substrate. However, if your tiles are pre-1970s and you’re lifting from solid mortar then hiring specialist equipment would be advised. Depending on the difficulty of the floor, you’ll need a hand-help power scraper or a wheel-mounted tile lifter.

Like cement-based and plywood substrates, if your substrate is concrete and the previous tiles have been laid after the 1970s then you should be able to use this manual process.

Removing the first tile is the hardest as you’re unlikely to have easy access from the side, using the butt of the hammer prod the corners of random tiles to see if any are looser than the others. If so, you can gently prise it out with the chisel, however if they’re all firmly in place you’ll have to break one instead.

Place the chisel in the centre of a tile and hit it hard with the hammer, the tile should shatter and then you can remove the individual pieces.

Once you’ve removed the first tile you can then progress across the floor chipping them up one at a time. Sit the chisel against the wall and floor, tucking its point behind the tile and tap it with the hammer so it sinks in behind the tile. Then, pull the chisel slowly towards you so the tile prises away from the wall or floor.

If you’re removing wall tiles, ask a friend to help by catching the falling tiles, this will help prevent any unwanted damage as the tile falls.

Once all the tiles are removed, you’ll need to do the same technique with the old adhesive dried to the substrate.

It’s time to tidy up! Remove the larger tile fragments in boxes first (don’t use bags as they’re likely to split!) and then, if you’ve used dust sheets, you can bundle these up to get rid of the smaller fragments of tile and/or adhesive.

Remember to dispose of your tile waste appropriately, small amounts of tile can be disposed of in your regular refuse bin (unless stated otherwise by your local council) but the best way is to take it to your local tip.

Next, you’ll want to clean the space ready for your new tiles, ensure all the debris has been swept up and the dust vacuumed up. It’s also best to give everything a good wipe down to ensure all the dust has been captured.

Removing bathroom tiles, whether on the wall or the floor, is the same technique as we’ve discussed.

There is however an additional step in prepping your new bathroom walls and floors because it’s best practise to tank your wet areas before applying any new tiles. Take a look at our how to guide for waterproofing a bathroom.

Vinyl tiles are slightly different to regular tiles, removing them depends on how they are fixed. A lot of click flooring isn’t glued down and therefore can be simply prised up. You can also rip up glue down vinyl flooring from concrete, but you will need to remove the glue before proceeding with a new floor.

Start with a pry bar or scraper to remove the glue. If that isn’t effective, you will need to apply an adhesive stripper to soften and remove the glue. It’s an intensive and manual process but one that must be done to ensure the quality of your next floor.

Once you have removed all your tiles and the adhesive, sweep and vacuum off all the loose dusty material from the surface and prime use BAL Prime APD (diluted 1:1 by volume with water).

If you’re looking to only replace single cracked broken tiles, read our quick how to guide. Otherwise, once the old tiles are removed, read our floor tiling guides for tiling on the suitable substrate that you now have after removing the old floor tiles, alternatively, check out our wall tiling preparation guide.