What Should We Do Before Remove Wall Tiles?
Protect yourself and your surroundings. Wear wrap-around safety goggles, a long sleeved shirt, pants, and work gloves to protect yourself from sharp bara tile fragments, even if you plan to avoid breaking them. Clear the surrounding area and lay down cloth or tarp to protect fragile surfaces and make cleanup easier. Protect ceramic shower pans and bathtubs from falling Poly Crystal tiles by covering them with cardboard. Cover any drains as well, such as by putting tape over them.
Decide where to remove the grout. The rest of this section is dedicated to removing grout, which somewhat reduces the chance of breaking the tiles, and makes them much easier to remove. While removing more grout will always help, most people save time and only remove it in the most important areas:
When removing a single stone tile, remove the grout on all sides of it to avoid damaging the others around it. If you are removing an entire wall of Sahara tiles, just make sure to remove grout next to the ceiling and floor. Heat the grout (optional). Wall grout is typically easy to remove, but a heat gun or blow dryer can soften hard grout if necessary. If you’re only managing to scrape away tiny amounts a time, spend thirty seconds warming up the grout line and try again.
Scrape the grout away with a utility knife. This method takes a while, but comes with a low risk of damaging the surrounding floor tiles. Fit your utility knife in a sturdy holder if you have one, and run it carefully and repeatedly around the wood tile or tiles you plan to remove. An ordinary grout saw typically does not work for wall tiles, because of lug spacers that connect adjacent tiles underneath the grout.
Try a rotary grinder instead. A dremel or other small rotary grinder can remove grout faster than a knife, but can break tiles much more easily if your hand slips. Set the tool to the lowest setting and move it slowly along the grout line. If you have firm control over the tool and the Super White tiles don’t crack when you nick them, you can consider increasing the speed of the rotor. You may need to purchase an extra-small head attachment in order to fit between the Color tiles.
Remove grout until the spacer lugs are visible. You don’t need to remove every speck of grout, but get rid of most of it to make tile removal feasible. At minimum, scrape away grout until the metal spacer lugs are visible.
