How To Easily Remove Tile Flooring

This video will show you everything you need to know to remove an existing tile floor and get ready to install a new one. Get subscribed so you don't miss the entire bathroom remodel series and thanks so much for watching.
Big thank you to Shag Tools for sponsoring this video. Check them out at Shagtools.com for all your flooring supply needs and find all the tools I used in this series in the link below.
www.shagtools....
#shorts #bathroom #homeremodel #tiles

[@OneWayToMake]

Check out the next video in the series: "How to install Schluter Ditra For A Bathroom Remodel" kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmPPmqWsd7yXppI

[@julesPal100]

Take care of knees.kmee pads please

[@neilkaufman1809]

Wish all tile floors were that badly done which makes them easy to remove.

[@OneWayToMake]

I know what you mean. It’s hard for me to call it bad because I’ve been in the house for 10 years and never had any issues with the floor but I was definitely surprised with how easily they came out and how little mortar was under them. I’ll be installing Schluter underlayment under the new floor so hopefully it makes it harder on the next person who decides to rip it out. Thanks so much for the comment and for watching! Waterproofing video next week and tile the week after that. I’d love to hear your thoughts on those when they come out.

[@jdelossantos1494]

You popped up in my feed as I am having my house remodeled. They started with the bathroom first and the tiles were stuck directly to the plywood. However, the original builders used some kind of adhesive and when the team was ripping out tiles they were ripping out plywood as well. They were nice enough to replace it all with no charge and assure me that the new floor would be installed properly.

[@seanvandelinde4419]

Exactly

[@markme4]

That floor was down for many years with no issues, guess it wasn't that badly done

[@bobsbakail3975]

Yeah those tiles were not stuck at all. When it's done right you never get lucky and usually doesn't come up in 1 piece but 1 million pieces.

[@nickmoser8235]

gotta love when someone does a shitty install. demo is just a blessing

[@joseph10d]

Amen to that. Had to demo a 20foot fireplace that didn’t have a single one of the 4 foot by 8 foot tiles installed correctly. They basically popped off with just your hands

[@nickmoser8235]

Those DIYers and hack job contractors keep the skilled ones busy that’s for damn sure

[@jimmorrison4ever529]

@@nickmoser8235 Probably guys out there that do a much better job with contract work than you I bet. Big man.

[@robertherbert1306]

Your lucked out because the installer of this floor was a complete hack!

[@Americanfloorscrapingg]

No fiber rock or cement board, nice clean easy demo. Nice work! 👍🏼

[@OneWayToMake]

Thank you so much! And yeah I really got lucky on this demo. Now there is DITRA under the new floor, that will be good for me not having a cracked floor but no fun for the next person to rip it out. Thanks for the comment and for watching!

[@raimundoferreira7626]

The best way to remove tile from any substrate is a small chipping hammer , as in a Bosch hammer with a ~ 2" wide chipping blade on it hands down

[@OneWayToMake]

That sounds awesome I’m sure it works great. This option works well for me but like with most things there are multiple good ways to achieve a goal. I look forward to trying a chipping hammer some time soon. Thanks for the tip and for watching!

[@tnj5577]

Gloves! Shattered edges of tile at the porcelain finish are as bad or worse than razors. Definitely, eye protection too! 👍🏻

[@OneWayToMake]

Great point, I did good about the safety glasses this time but gloves would be a big improvement for safety and comfort. Thanks for pointing it out and thanks for watching!

[@gocopss]

Yes! Also, make sure they are cut resistant. I had leather gloves and a small shard cut through it like butter and got me a bit. Leather was better than nothing though.

[@BradingtonShowingtononYouTube]

No mask the whole time. That’s crazy

[@TheHeadincharge]

You don’t necessarily need a mask when doing demo by hand. You’re creating very very little fine dust with a hammer and pry bar. If you’re using any kind of tool that kicks fine silica dust into the air, you absolutely should wear a p100 mask. He should probably wear one during the scraping though. Also, while wearing a mask when demoing anything is generally the right choice regardless, the frequency and amount of exposure is the most important part to consider in terms of health impact. While it’s true silica dust can remain in your lungs indefinitely, it takes heavy exposure or a short period of time (still months) or light to moderate exposure over years to see health impacts. But once again, always wear a mask if you can, and especially when in an indoor space with fine dust being kicked around. When outdoors and/or using hand tools with low dust, masks are not always necessary

[@jed2055]

@@TheHeadincharge Thanks for the instruction. Worth more reading your comments than watching this video, sad to say. I had to wear the full mask, goggles and gloves. Each tile fought me to the end and were destroyed getting them off. Put on properly obviously.

[@GiggityG]

“If you get lucky and your tiles were bonded shitty asf (prob the reason you are needing to replace it) your tiles will come up in one piece” 🤣

[@MakeWithMike]

Learned me a new one today boys !

[@chriswalls5831]

Thinking of all tile throughout house more durable than wood and look good with rock ledge bar, and kitchen backsplash

[@travismazur7662]

I could’ve jumped up and down and broke that floor up. Let me tell you about breaking up tile properly bonded to a cement floor use a large hammer drill with a flat blade and so you don’t kill your back get one of those spinning shop stools on wheels that are low to the ground Makes the job go so fast

[@brandonsheaffer5035]

Tile directly over sub floor. A+

[@OneWayToMake]

I've seen a lot of tile floors installed this way and they usually seem to hole up okay but I agree that it's not ideal. I'm happy that I can say the new floor has a layer of DITRA on it. Thanks for watching!

[@hectorbegines3549]

Thanks brother I need to replace my bathroom tile I’m nervous but watching this has made me a bit less nervous so wish me luck haha

[@patrickdoyle6519]

I have spent days on the trigger of a sds hammer chipping tiles up in multiple bathroom. Miserable work. Getting lucky here barely covers it. You won the damn lotto!

[@Ismael-cp2ou]

Thanks for sharing your skils👍👍👍

[@aymen5629]

Is it necessary to put down ditra in a powder bathroom? I just removed my existing tile that was laid directly on plywood. Underneath the ply is osb subfloor. Can I scrape off and retile on the existing plywood subfloor?

[@DrWa11is]

Will that scraper be okay to use for me. My tiles are on concrete floor.

[@OneWayToMake]

Great question! Yes it will would great on a concrete floor. Here’s a link to the scrapper and all the other tools I used. Thanks for watching! www.shagtools.com/one-way-to-make-collaboration/

[@gundersonflooringanddesign4064]

And gloves and knee pads so you're not kneeling on shards of glass. Once you remove the tile you can put down screen mesh and pour leveler.

[@fiaao546]

rent a sds plus/max hammer drill with a floor scraper next time and you'd be amazed how fast tile comes up.

[@OneWayToMake]

Thanks for the tip I’m sure that would work awesome too. This way wasn’t that bad though. I had all the tile up in about 40 minuet and that included filming, but I’m sure a hammer drill would work as well or faster. Like with most things there are many good ways to solve a problem this was just one way. Thanks for sharing and for watching!

[@jjl499]

If you have a solid floor and no cracks and tiles popping you can tile right over them😊

[@hatthomas555]

Gonna look rough when you go to install the carpet or other flooring adjacent to it though. Not recommended.

[@jjl499]

@@hatthomas555 I have hard wood and it looks fine, you can’t even tell. My basement bathroom I went directly over tile I had to manipulate the threshold but it looks great.

[@staytight6340]

Ty

[@OneWayToMake]

You’re so welcome I’m really glad it was helpful to you. Thanks for watching!

[@Steve-kf1lx]

During demo It’s the best when the tile had bad coverage, they just pop out in full pieces… when they come Out in a million tiny pieces is when they were well bonded and it sucks to pull up

[@joemiller1736]

Do a video demoing tile put down correctly 😅

[@markroberts171]

Well done for blocking the waste pipe. The guy who demolished our bathroom didn't and it cost us dearly when the toilet started backing up.

[@OneWayToMake]

Great point, thanks for shouting it out, it definitely saves a lot of trouble down the road, but it's not something you always think about in time. Sorry to hear of your misfortune, but thank you for learning from it and sharing so someone else might avoid the same issue, that's what it's all about. Have a great one and thanks again for watching!

[@Dudus1444]

How log did it take you to scrape it all?

[@OneWayToMake]

Great question, I did it in two main shots the first was about 30 minuets of hard work which took off about 50% or the material. The second session I found out that if you wet the floor down it scrapes way easier and cut the dust down a ton once the floor was wet down I spent another 15-20 minuets getting everything else off. So about 50 total but if I started with a damp floor I might have been able to do it all in 30 or so. Hope that helps, thanks for the question and for watching!

[@JohnIoanis]

What are the tools he using? Does anyone know?😢

[@guymiller9212]

Why can’t you put new tile on top of old. I’m asking not saying to do it. Is it because of hight ?

[@Mondolation]

I’m doing this right now 😂

[@objc]

get a rotary hammer and tile removal bit, worth the money.

[@OneWayToMake]

That’s great advice, I look forward to giving them a shot! Thanks for watching!

[@francesottewill2538]

What do you do if the floor under the tile is stuffed

[@dalidali6371]

Tiles over plywood 😂😂😂😂👌

[@WillyBShooting]

I’ve torn up a lot as a hardwood floor installer and out of the maybe 30 tile floors I tore up thinset directly to the subfloor had not one cracked tile.

[@kepabal21]

Wish I had watched this last night, already jackhammerd all the bathroom floor tiles today😂 was messy asf😂👍🏽 for next time...

[@samfit808]

They had installed tile on plywood??

[@ccraig2]

get that thinset off with a diamond cup on your grinder, dust shroud attached to a vac✌️

[@OneWayToMake]

That’s a great tip thank you! I’ve also found wetting down the thin set before scraping both makes it easier to remove and cuts down on the dust getting in the air. Thanks again for the tip and for watching!

[@joseph10d]

On a concrete subfloor that’d be ideal but on an improperly installed floor like this, a scraper is more than enough

[@AmB39]

Lol that’s the easiest tile floor to take up I’ve ever come across that’s for sure

[@Damadchef]

If you want to install underfloor heating on an already tiled floor can you reuse the tiles or is it too difficult and better/cheaper to just get new ones

[@handymansolutions7834]

This was easy because whoever put it down just put it over ply wood. A rotary hammer drill would’ve made that job really easy. Start using some knee pads or you’ll regret it some day.

[@kenkeneth4964]

Here is my advice, for ditra mat is the best to use vinyl floor adhesive.

[@rickyvialva8617]

That's good but u also need a 😷😷 PPE fits

[@OneWayToMake]

You’re absolutely right, no excuse for not using proper PPE and being as safe as possible. Thanks for watching and for the reminder to be safe, it’s always appreciated!

[@Bryan-wq1ng]

Experts feel free to criticize this job like you always do.

[@carlosv2283]

Only because was laid on plywood. If cement board another story

[@OneWayToMake]

Good point, that would be a different process to remove. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a video on that process too someday. Thanks for sharing and for watching!

[@basdewildt7973]

​@@OneWayToMakewhy did you not use power tools? I'm not familiar with wooden houses as I'm from Europe and it's all brick or concrete and here we use electric tools to remove tiles.

[@lukejackson270]

First step to removing tiles from the floor... don't stick them down in the first place.

[@joshr223]

On a proper tile install that you’re tearing out, you’ll need a jack hammer.

[@k00k]

It helps that the guy that installed the tiles used Elmer's glue.

[@Kaalokalawaia]

So there was no barrier under that tile huh? Amazing the floor wasn't rotten.

[@casid9929]

Gloves would probably be a good idea.

[@OneWayToMake]

So true, thanks for pointing that out. Safety and comfort are always important and a reminder is always appreciated. Thanks for watching!

[@joseph10d]

Make sure you use gloves, safety glasses and ear protection. A lot of professionals dont use ear protection and get bad tinnitus in their 30s

[@OneWayToMake]

Thank you, safety is so important and I can definitely make some improvements on that front. Hearing protection isn’t something I thought about on this job though, thanks again for watching and the advice I’ll make sure to take it into account on the next one.

[@user-tk1tn7sx6c]

Great learning experience 👍 👌 👏 🙌 😀 😊 👍 👌 👏 🙌 😀 😊 👍 👌 👏 🙌 😀 😊 👍 👌 👏 🙌 😀 😊 👍 👌 👏 🙌 😀 😊 👍 👌 👏 🙌 😀 😊 👍 👌 👏 🙌 😀 😊 👍 👌 👏

[@dennishals4428]

Usually it takes a bulldog to take up Tile

[@sophiei4411]

I am new homeowner with zero knowledge in diy remodlinh

[@OneWayToMake]

There’s nothing wrong with that at all. We all start off a zero, it’s never to late to start or it’s amazing how fast we learn. Find a project that needs to get done, do some research, be safe, and give it a shot. Best of luck on all your future projects and thanks for watching!

[@cesarespinal8151]

I have never tiled over plywood.

[@OneWayToMake]

That’s probably a good call. It happens a lot but from how easily this came out I wouldn’t recommend it. That being said I’ve been in this house for 8 years and never had an issue with this floor so I don’t want to speak to harshly of it, but when laying Ditra first is so easy why not just do it and save the worry. Thanks so much for watching!

[@cesarespinal8151]

@@OneWayToMake 👍

[@MrRedhogg]

Always wear hand protection !

[@bb590]

YOU GOT LUCKY.. A BAD TILESETTER DID THAT WORK!

[@bussinjustins]

Why is it in straight wood 😮

[@michaelkitchen6000]

Use a six pack of your favourite beer, and a 20 pound sledgehammer. Never wear a mask that stuff will clog up the filter. You’re welcome.

[@caseyb9930]

Rotary hammer…

[@OneWayToMake]

That would also do the trick for sure and quickly, but this works too, goes relatively fast, and is actually pretty fun if you don’t have access to a rotary hammer. Good tip though, thanks for sharing it and for watching!

[@ThefortniteKid257]

“If you get lucky like I did…” = “If the previous installer half-assed it”

[@jenine.karamoko]

I suspect the homeowner watched a DIY and did it themselves.

[@alexlayne967]

Pry from the grout line and get you a 2 for 1

[@OneWayToMake]

That’s an awesome tip! Thanks so much for sharing it I can’t wait to try it out on the next one!

[@dallascopp4798]

You’re lucky. I had to remove an inch and a half of cement underneath my tile floor just to the subfloor

[@73honda350]

So painful to se that old tile mortayed directly to plywood subfloor rather than an appropriate substrate.

[@OneWayToMake]

Yeah I know what you mean. I can’t complain too much because I never had any issues with the floor but that being said I feel way better now that the new floor is laid over DITRA. Thanks for watching!

[@AltruisticWarrior]

Rofl mine chiped away in pieces no matter what tool I used. 900 square feet of a nightmare. The thinset was equally fun.

[@douglasdog1]

You got lucky they did bad job before!

[@mr.g937]

The only reason this is possible with hand tools is because the original installation was done poorly. Otherwise, you'd only get bits and pieces off, and you'd need a power tool

[@licon452]

Wait till you remove tile from wire mesh plastered and screwed to hardy 😭

[@OneWayToMake]

That sounds rough for sure. If I ever do I’ll make sure to share the process, thanks for the comment and for watching!

[@willconklin7739]

Try that on a concrete slab.....

[@PoisonJarl71501]

Luckily those ridges never collapsed they way they were supposed To when installed.

[@BrianLawrence-vk3pu]

I had to click. The words EASILY and TILE together! No news on that front, so sorry.

[@trevordyson8882]

Use a spade - save yer knees

[@OneWayToMake]

Great tip, a spade could be a good option as well and some knee pads would be a huge help. Thanks for the tip and for watching!

[@ramO-jp8tp]

thanks no more rounds in the chamber 👍 (jk i’ll just be more careful)

[@CW-Design]

SDS drill* light work.

[@OneWayToMake]

Great tip! That would work well too but honestly this process wasn’t that bad at all. Two good options for sure thanks for pointing it out and thanks for watching!

[@michaelchristensen2621]

Wear a PS3 dust mask or you might get silicosis / lung cancer from breathing in any silica residues in the tile/grouting

[@jimmski9908]

OMG, no gloves, mask or eye protection. Dude, show yourself some love.

[@scootermcgee3451]

Always easy to remove when it’s poorly installed in the first place.

[@jdebell7068]

Let's talk about the biggest nono. Never lay tile on a plywood floor.

[@steeleproductions3524]

You didn't get lucky, the last guy was just a bad tile setter

[@fabianterry503]

🤣 Who TF said this way The Easiest Way??? Probably sent 3hrs to demo 60sf 🤣.... I feel bad for homie.

[@mattauger2224]

no ubderlayment you got lucky the person that did thi didnt know what they were doing

[@monibracamonte2890]

Over plywood a baby can tear out tiles

[@OneWayToMake]

That’s one tough baby 🥽👶🔨 but yes I see your point it was a nice way easy demo I lucked out, however the process works for any subfloor, it just might take a little longer. Thanks for watching!

[@Niwde73d]

Horrible bonding. Thats why they came out easy

[@dennishals4428]

sell this guy some kneepads

[@johnle231]

Rotary hammer

[@paulgiglio5719]

Dude, gloves!!!

[@mikecoffman2821]

It's hilarious this is actually tool sponsored.

[@antonioleyva2728]

No mask , no knee pads, no gloves,! Safety first buddy !

[@jjl499]

Whoever put those down sucked at tiling no mortar coverage

[@dustanlloyd5337]

Big guy with a little hammer

[@hooker6781]

Wow! Lol, you should never install over wood… that’s a huge no no, the minimum you’d need is an adhesive like you’re using. If the floor didn’t look so solid/level, u would need to glue and screw a cement board layer down. The pores in the wood suck the moisture out of the bonding layer of mud, making it extremely weak.

[@OneWayToMake]

Those are all great points. I can’t complain too much about it because I’ve lived here for 8 years and never had any problems with the tile or floor but that being said, it did come up very easily. I installed Schluter Ditra over the subfloor before installing the new tile and I hope that makes for a nice flat, level and long lasting floor. Check out the other videos in the series to see how it went. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much for watching!

[@mayurkulkarni1990]

What a poor tile job it was done earlier

[@rulinghabs]

No knee pads😮😮

[@jesusburgos1352]

This guy works like an animal

[@OneWayToMake]

Not totally sure if that’s a compliment or insult, I think it depends on the animal, are you thinking work horse? Or sloppy pig? Or maybe I’m way off base and you’re thinking gold fish or Guineafowl. Either way I’d love to know. Thanks for watching and for the comment! There’s a lot more videos to come in this tile floor series so stay tuned for plenty more animal work.

[@Domini_k]

A tiled floor should never be that easy to remove.

[@LessEnergy]

Just so everyone knows the demo shouldn’t be that easy.

[@jag5316]

Face mask, dude.

[@OneWayToMake]

You are absolutely right, this would have made the process safer, especially during the scraping. I'll make sure to wear one on the next project. Thanks for looking out and the reminder to be as safe as possible, it's always a welcome one.

[@jesuslopez4113]

Easy when its not on the proper subfloor.

[@petemorgan2234]

Lol no backer board 😂

[@mattfrick8038]

It's nice to demo a tile floor that an incompetent person installed 😂

[@iii-barcodekiller8543]

The floor was that shitty that it can come off easily

[@spotroman6910]

Thats a bad installment 😂

[@jimlevie7811]

Those tiles were very poorly installed.

[@OneWayToMake]

They definitely came up a lot easier then I anticipated. I can’t say too much bad about them because I’ve been here for 8 years and never had an issue with one breaking or coming loose but I do agree that it wasn’t installed how most would recommend. The new tile is installed now over Ditra and I hope to a longer lasting quality. Check out the series to see the whole process of you have time. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for watching and for the comment.