[grellis]

The tile is about ten years old and has lived well beyond its 3-year warranty. Some of the tiles came loose recently, right in front of our dishwasher. The high humidity in that immediate area probably led to the adhesive wearing out more quickly than the rest of the tiles. Its the rest of the tiles I am having a problem with, actually. The kitchen is high traffic and most of the tiles seem to be nearly ground in to the luaun underlayment. With the exception of the area by the dishwasher, most of the adhesive seems to be as gluey as ever, and so I am having a heck of a time getting the tiles up. I have been using a metal edge putty knife and hammer to prise the tiles from the floor, but it is taking forever.

Any ideas on how I can speed up the process? If you don't have any ideas, do you know any good home improvement message boards? ANY bit of advice you can give me is greatly appreciated and I thank you all in advance.

I might not be able to respond quickly or to everyone because I'll be working on the floor between freeping. Thanks again for any help you can give!

[grellis]

Completely shameless and self-indulgent ping!

[lormand]

They sell these at Home Depot or Lowes. It saves the back a little, but still requires some sweat.

They also rent machines to remove tile.

[nevergore]

Dry Ice....place it on the tile and it will freeze the glue releasing the grip.....

You can then scrape it up with a tile tool.....

It’s easier with two people, one handling the ice and the other scraping....

Just be very careful how you handle the dry ice....

[Bigg Red]

Have you tried a hair dryer and a scraper?

[KarlInOhio]

Get a heat gun. I've had good luck with that and a broad bladed putty knife.

[Red Badger]

I used a torch to soften the tiles and scraped them off fairly easily.......

[CJ Wolf]

Go down to 7/11 and hire an illegal. It goes much faster, but you might have to buy him lunch.

/s

Actually I found that a roof tile remover (Got it at HD) works pretty well.

Kind of like this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Qual-Craft-54-Inch-Shingle-Removal-2560P/dp/B0000VUNTM

[going hot]

Is the floor concrete or wood underneath? If concrete, can cool and chip the tile. If wood, then, especially if you are going to place another cover, either lino or ceramic tiles, you do not need to remove them, just go right over with the lino, or if ceramic, screw in the cement board underlayment.

Those single tile lino pieces are a headache anyway. Stuff gets in the seams and causes them to come loose.

[thackney]

I used a heat gun to remove mine. Hair dryer will not put out enough heat and you will only burn up the hair dryer before you are done.

Something like this, it doesn't need to be expensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-9756-Dual-Temperature/dp/B0000302U8

Get a long handled scrapper and gloves. Accidentally brushing your hand in front of this is going to be a bad burn. And have a fire extinguisher handy. You almost certainly will not need the extinguisher but it is cheap insurance.

[scottteng]

If all else fails go to the tool rental store and rent a demo hammer with a 6” wide tile removal bit this removes both vinyl and ceramic tile in short order.

[tomkat]

Bosch BOS1942 Heat Gun

Put it on eBay when you're finished, or perhaps rent one locally.

[The Mayor]

No real easy way, I usually use a heat gun and a scraper. Tough on the knees and back. You will get sticky and your knees will also stick to the floor.

Have fun.

[cyclotic]

The scraper in 3 seems like a good option. I removed some real old dried up tile once by busting it up with a 12 pound sledge hammer and the scraping it off. When you get done, there is a product called “Ol Hear Adhesive Remover that I’ve heard works well to soften the residue.

[freespirited]

Here is an extensive message board site we have used from time to time. It’s organized by topic.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/

Also, HGTV must have something on its website about how to do this beyond what I would do—call in someone to do it for me. ;-)

[HamiltonJay]

Post 3 is a good idea, but so is adhesive remover, the stuff is CAUSTIC.. use gloves, and a good mask and open windows if you use this stuff.. bit it will eat up even the strongest adhesive.

Don’t sweat the luan, its cheap and easy to replace anyway.

[knews_hound]

Since the Luan is going to be garbage anyway, why not get a skill saw, set the blade depth to the combined thickness of the flooring and luan and simply cut it out?

Cutting it into manageable sections that can be pried out is often your best choice.

I long ago decided it was cheaper and easier to replace the luan than trying to pry the old tiles out.

Just my 2¢ mind you.

Cheers,

knewshound

http://www.knewshound.blogspot.com/

[Malsua]

Did you install these tiles? We found that self-adhesive tiles don’t stick well enough in a bathroom so pulled them up and put down real adhesive. When we had to remove them 5 years later because the toilet seal had rotted some of the wood...the adhesive was stuck so well, it was taking hours. We pulled off the top 3/4 plywood sheets and replaced the works. Was a much better surface afterwards anyway. Shrug, if you’ve got 1/4 luaun down, would that be an alternative?

[Hatteras]

"Any ideas on how I can speed up the process?"

Get two metal-edged putty knives and two hammers and invite your spouse/friend/child to help.

[Leisler]

Open the windows and doors, the smell from burnt glue is nasty.

Anyways, flash the top of the tile. Keep moving and come back, such that the heat goes through the tile, with as little burning as possible, then it softens the glue.

Use a flatbar, or Wonderbar, instead of a putty knife. As you are heating and softening you can nudge the bar forward and put up pressure on the tile. Heat plus mechanical force.

You can get buy with a hair dryer. A real heat gun is better. The torch is the fastest.

Some torch kits come with a flat, duckbill attachment that instead of a pinpoint flame, produces a wide flat flame. Get it if you can.

Sit on a milk crate and save your knees.

Beer.

Beer helps too. It's a good beer job. Actually, if you use a cooler, you can sit on it and then stretch when you get up to get another beer.

[tomkat]

ps: hold no sentimental attachment to the existing underlayment, as you'd be wise to replace some/all of it as well, especially if moisture has been at work.

If replacing only some of the underlayment, this stuff is really good for leveling things out before re-tiling:

QUIKRETE® Fast-Setting Self-Leveling Floor Resurfacer