Remove & Replace Bathroom Tile

5 years ago

A bathroom remodel was not in my immediate future but due to a suddenly cracked toilet & sink, I need to replace both. My current floor/wall tile is dated so installing new fixtures on old tile will kill me, but so will a complete bathroom renovation if I am forced to hire a professional. I’m a semi experienced DIYer but have never done any tiling. I would like to remove & replace the tile (still undecided about the floor) with the exception of the tub surround, which I will leave for later & a more experienced person.

Currently the tile goes halfway up but I would re-tile to the ceiling. My walls are plaster. I’ve chopped out some of the old tile to have a look behind. I can remove all the tile myself but my concern is the prep required once all is removed. I’ve read/watched forums/videos but am still unclear on what prep is required. Can I just apply adhesive & tile or do I need to use some backer-board or other materials? How flat does the wall need to be? Does all residue need to be removed?

Thanks for any comments & advice.

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Comments (5)

pricklypearcactus
5 years ago
I am not a pro, but have done my own DIY tile work (including floors, wall tile above tub, and full shower including pan and walls). I found it helpful to pick up and read a few books on setting tile so I could be walked through techniques. What you set the tile on is very important because an unstable surface will result in problems (tile or grout cracking, even tile falling off the wall).

I found these books useful.
- Tile Your World - John Bridge
- Setting Tile - Michael Byrne
I believe your wall tile is set on a mortar bed. That means you have some metal lathe (mesh) and then a thick bed of mortar over top of that. Then the tile is set over top of that. You seem to be doing quite a bit of damage to the mortar as you are removing tile. Your tile actually looks quite nice to me at least. Classic white 4x4.

I had this same construction on the walls above a tub. I tore it all out down to the studs and then installed cement board and waterproofing before tiling. The original tile in my bathroom was white with harvest gold speckles (to coordinate with the gross harvest gold tub).
DavidR
5 years ago
FWIW: I've done a lot of home maintenance and repair over the years. I also try to know my limitations. You may be more daring than I am, but bathroom tile is one thing I always get an experienced pro to handle.
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You've left nothing out that I need to know. I was referring to what you'd posted in your other thread, about the tile detaching from the mud bed. As for tearing it out, it depends on what you want to do. If you're going to replace the tile, cover the tub (so you don't chip it with falling tile) and take a pry bar, and get behind the tile and pop it. I would imagine once you pop one, the rest of the wall will fall. However, if you want to try and save the tile to reuse it, you might think about doing as lazygardens suggested, and cut the grout joints and remove the tiles carefully. The easiest way to do this would be with a Dremel tool, and their little 1 inch diamond wheel. It does a much better job than their grout kit. No matter which way you go, though, anything detached from the mud bed must be removed. I have a feeling once you get started, you'll quickly realize you don't have a choice in that matter.
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Flooring books may or may not help... try also the general purpose home books (the Big Orange Box has one called "Home Improvement 1-2-3", for example. It isn't very good for the subfloor part of this task, but has okay information about the plumbing and finish floor side of things.) If you don't already own one like this, I'd suggest you get one for everything else you might want to do around the house. There's no perfect category of trade for this job. Part of the complication is that plumbing usually requires a license, so you'd be taking a bit of a chance to have an unlicensed individual working on the plumbing. If you go to a plumbing company, they might have carpenters that they use, but it'll cost a little more for the coordination they have to do. If you approach a general contractor, they'll have the carpenter and connections to plumbers, but they might also view this as a small job and upcharge you for the bother. A handyman without a license to do plumbing would probably do an okay job, but there's a possibility that they'd botch it. If it was me, I'd try and find a combination licensed plumber/ handyman. You'll pay a little more for the plumbing ticket, but it may help you sleep better at night. My gut tells me that this would come in under $2000, but there are too many unknowns to even call that a guess. (And double that if you live somewhere really expensive, like California or NYC.) Get a couple of people out for a quote. Ask for proof of liability insurance and call their insurance company to see that they're currently covered. To drag you back to the DIY side of things, if you feel competent and safe with a circular saw and a drill, and own basic plumbing stuff, then I think you can do this. Double that vote of confidence if you have another bathroom in the house to use while this one's being wrecked.
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When we tried to tear out our backsplash it was impossible and the tile guy ended up just cutting the drywall out and replacing it. He said it is so much easier and faster and then you have a flat surface to work with. It seemed like it went really fast and was much less messy in the end. Not sure if that would be possible for you. They just cut the drywall to fit, taped, mudded and we were off to the races with the tile.
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First, I am a DIYer so take this advice for what it is worth. 1- if you do succeed in removing all those tiles and reapply them to that greenboard, in a couple of years they will all fall off again anyway. I had that in a condo we were renting in the city a few years ago and as soon as the smallest bit of water gets through your grout (and it will) that board will rot away quickly, the tiles will pop off one by one, and the entire project will need to be done again. 2- if you call in a professional now, they will not apply to that greenboard either (not if they are reputable anyway) and will charge you for ripping it out and installing cement board. Even if some DIY people would apply tile to green board, the green board has now been compromised by you removing the tile. Green board is only coated drywall. The green coating is a waxy coating that is supposed to keep it water resistant. If you look at it, do you think it is going to be water resistant now? If I were you I would cut or score around where the tile currently is and was and remove the green board and tile. I would go buy cement board and screw it to the studs. It goes up just as easy as drywall, you patch it like drywall, and then you have a nice EVEN (your tile is not going to lay nice on that current surface), clean surface that is waterproof to go ahead and install your new tile on. And you are not going to have to worry about having to re-do it in a few years. I promise the extra time spent will be well worth it down the road. It is up to you whether or not you want to call someone in or not. You should know that it will be more than the professional simply laying tile though, he will be charging you for re-doing the backing also. Best of luck, Kalindi
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Fori
5 years ago
Should probably point out that you can definitely reuse your toilet in the future and most likely can reuse the sink as well, so don't feel like it would be bad to put new fixtures in if you aren't ready for the rest of it.
User
5 years ago
Your questions already betray you as having too little knowledge or experience to tackle this. You have mud set everything. To which you’ve done a great deal of damage, when you could have just replaced the toilet and sink. Those are easy jobs. And if you didn’t have the knowledge and skill to do the easy jobs, the very hard ones are well beyond your grasp.

You needed to do more research before acting. Start here.

https://www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications/218-english-publications/188-handbook/957-2018-tcna-handbook-for-ceramic-glass-and-stone-tile-installation.html

Then, Hire a Pro.

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2018/

https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/homeowners-guide-to-hiring-qualified-tile-installer

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/bath.design.rules.htm#.Wws3rv9OnYX

https://nkba.org/info/why-hire-a-designer
rm101
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Sophie- I haven't done any damage, yet. if you're referring to the piece that was exposed down to the mesh, that portion is hidden by the medicine cabinet. The tile was chipped away to determine if it could be recessed. I used it to show what was behind the tile. Thx for your comments.

Remove & Replace Bathroom Tile

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Remove & Replace Bathroom Tile

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