Removing Travertine Tiles

[DazJWood]

I am installing travertine tiles in my bathroom and have been tiling for quite awhile now as I'm taking my time. I have been fairly surprised at how well it is going considering it's my first attempt at tiling.

I have however an issue with a couple of tiles.

I haven't yet tiled around the top of my bath except on one of the three walls that surround it (one of the width walls). This was my first wall and was done a couple of months ago. (I keep jumping about doing different other jobs! So don't scoff at how long it's taking me! :lol:. Although I am making it into a life's work!). A couple of the tiles that I have fixed have left a gap of probably at worst 10mm between the bath rim and tile. Now I don't remember it being that great a gap when I first fixed them and despite the bath being installed on to fixed timber battens I have a feeling the bath and the wooden supports have settled to a degree. That's my excuse anyway!

Nevertheless, I don't really want to use one of those sealing strips if I can help it and I'm sure you'd all agree on this so am considering removing two of the tiles and replacing them.

Now I know I need to protect the surrounding tiles and I need to be careful in removing them. I've picked up the tip of putting carboard in the grout spacing while removing them. Are there any other tips or tricks to removing tiles other than hitting them, (carefully), with a chisel and hammer.

Thanks in advance,

Daz

 

[doug boardley]

if you have an angle grinder you can cut some strips into it, this should help your tile break up easier. Messy and dusty I know, and be careful not to cut into your substrate.

 

[peckers]

you could drill a series of holes into it quite close togeather and then using a hammer and screwdriver/chisel break this area away so you can get under a bigger section of the tile to be able to remove the rest of it! I also remove the grout from around the other tiles so as when the tile being removed pops out it wont damage the tile next to it. if you are having problems removing it then drill lots of holes into it in lines and the tile should crack away at those points

 

[diamondtiling]

Can you bath not be lifted a little, if you have flexible pipes to the taps it's pretty straight forward to do. The legs just wind up but get the bath level again.

 

[DazJWood]

Can you bath not be lifted a little, if you have flexible pipes to the taps it's pretty straight forward to do. The legs just wind up but get the bath level again.

Yes I could lift the bath a little but I have it supported on the walls on wooden battens so would rather keep the support there and just replace two tiles.

I do also have some travertine border / dado / chair rail tiles (or whatever they're called) that I'm thinking could be fixed to tile and bath rim. This would negate replacing the tiles. So I'll see what they look like when I get back home. Though I'm thinking it may look a bit over the top. Has anyone else used these type of tiles to go round a bath top?

 

[diamondtiling]

Your dado tiles or trim tiles might look odd sitting around the bath, it may look like they are covering a gap............which they are.....:lol:

Not a great choice imo.

 

[Scott]

Im with diamond here, raise the bath if you can and add some packers to the batten underneath. Easier to fill the gap between bath and batten than bath and tiles.