How do I remove bathroom tile to save it and reuse it?
I need to have a portion of my wall removed to fix a leak but I have 30+ year old tile on all the bathroom walls. I'd like to remove just enough for the plumber to do his job and then retile the wall using the same tiles. Is it possible and how difficult to remove the tiles and not break them?
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Not an easy task, but possible. Can you get into the wall from the other side? That may be an option.
First consider if you can access this from the other side of the wall. Even removing siding on the exterior might be easier.
If if you have no other option, use a group knife and remove all the grout from the wall first. You can try to see if the tiles will release but after 30 years, not likely. Use a very thin blade from a coping saw and cut through the whole wall to take tiles down. You can try a saws all, but it will likely be to aggressive and damage the tiles. Then use a band saw to remove the tile from the wall material.
I would steer away from any power tool. A dremel works at something in the area of 3000 RPM if my memory serves me correctly. It also can wander and many of the cutting tools will cut into ceramic tiles just as soon as the grout. in the end a dremel may not do as well as the grout knife. Try the grout knife first and see how you like it. If can work surprisingly quickly once you get use to it. When it comes to something like saving these tiles, slow and steady wins the race here.