DIY guys: removing tile and re-installing same tile

[MaryAnn]

Can large tiles that were well-installed at the time be removed without breaking them, and then re-installed elsewhere? I want to basically move tile from one side of an existing installation to the other side of the installation, leaving some of it in place in the middle. Has anybody done this? Pro tile guys are just going to tell me what I want to hear so they can get the job, so I'm asking ya'll who have no iron in the fire.

[Donn]

It would be a miracle. Of course, there are different kinds of tile - porcelain, terra-cotta etc. When I've demolished my own tiles, I think maybe 1 in 10 survived, but I blame that on poor installation - if I'd done a better job in the first place, it would have 0. (I hope I never have to mess with the shower enclosure I did last - some kind of porcelain tile that was almost impossible to drill into with the fanciest of ceramic drill bits.)

[Radar]

It's going to be nearly impossible to remove well installed tile without breaking a majority of the tiles. I did have one bath I did where the tiles did come off in one piece, but the wall board behind the tiles was badly water damaged, and molded. Your best bet would be to check and see if you can buy a tile that matches the existing ones .

[Three Valves]

They should have been installed poorly, that way they would all pop right off!!

[Ed Jones]

Short answer No! I have removed individual tiles without breaking the surrounding tiles by cutting through the grout lines but I had to break up and replace the tile I was removing.

[PMeuph]

They should have been installed poorly, that way they would all pop right off!!

I just finished removing the tiles in my doorway and I did not break 1 (about 40 12x12 tiles)

Judging by the amount of mortar, I assume the guy who installed them useda small 1/8 v notch trowel instead of a 1/4 inch square trowel.

With the proper installation, I would have had to break them.

PS. The amount of dust from sanding them and sanding the mortar off the plywood is not worth it for me. (12"x12" tiles cost about $0.50 each) And plywood (3/8" in this case is about $25 a sheet)

[MaryAnn]

Thanks, that's what I thought. I don't know how old the tile is but I have exactly one extra that I found in the garage. I'm re-doing the floors and there is one section of this that has to come out, and I was hoping to maybe get enough unbroken ones to put down in the closet, which for some reason they had carpeted. It looks like I'm going to try to match the basic color with stick-ons and just go with that since basically they won't show, and are as easy to clean as tile is.

[scottw]

Don't even think about trying to save them unless they pop off easily with a putty knife. After a lot of work [time= $$], you will have not quite enough tiles to do what you want to do and then you will be forced to do what you should have done in the first place!

[MaryAnn]

It's hard enough just to get an installer for the house. The first one under-measured by 40 sq feet, and then kept putting off the job after telling me I had to have the entire floor clear. Week after week. So he clearly did not want the job and with the local culture being rude to say a negative, just let me figure it out. Next two guys measured correctly but either no written contract or left things out of the contract altogether or said "if X is done will be additional." The last one over-measured by 200 sq feet. That is four different bids and I guess I have to get four more if I EVER want my tile installed. I will say I have learned a lot about tile installation from talking to these people, and am starting to get a pretty good clue about who knows what they are doing and who doesn't. Used to be, I could have a job done on a handshake here, but no more.

[MaryAnn]

Ok I'll concentrate on just finding someone who can remove half a tile leaving the other half in place without mayhem, which will be required even under the best of circumstances.
Good news is I finally found an installer who is competent, honest, will put everything in the contract, and who volunteered about eight prior installations up front that I could go look at (and I was impressed with the work.) And his bid was one of the lower ones I received. Now the only problem is time, since it was to be done in January before the heat hit, with the first guy who kept having better things to do. I have no central AC and if they don't get at it soon the stuff I stored in the aluminum trailer is going to roast. I have a picture from a few years ago of a thermometer reading 100 degrees in the middle of February, in that trailer while I was living in it. Now it is March....and may be April, when it REALLY starts getting hot, before installation starts.

[Three Valves]

Well, sure, but a least it's a DRY heat!!

[ResilienceOils]

If you cut out the grout around the tiles you will have a better chance at getting the tiles out if you can get a chisel behind the tile without digging at it you can also pop tiles. If you had a pic that would help. I grew up working construction.

[MaryAnn]

Here's one for the record books: the guy I referred to above, that I liked so well, refused the job BECAUSE I CHECKED TWO OF HIS INSTALLATION REFERENCES. He was apparently incensed that I was not willing to just go on references on the internet. It takes all kinds. So I am back once again interviewing tile installers. I wonder if it is as bad elsewhere as it is here? I want someone who speaks English and I want a contract that has everything in it. Is that too much to ask?

[alfredr]

Yo hablo ingles.

Lo siento MaryAnn. No se como es donde tu vives, pero aqui en el area de Atlanta, hay companias que instalan azulejos, ceramicas, baldosas, no solo contratistas independientes. Tal vez tendrias mejor suerte buscando una compania que tenga anos de experiencia.

I speak English.

I'm sorry about that, MaryAnn. I don't know how it is where you live, but here in the Atlanta area, there are companies that install tile, not just independent contractors. Maybe you would have better luck looking for a company with years of experience.

I don't know how to get all of the Spanish punctuation in, so there is one word there that comes out very differently without the ~ on the "n". I do not mean anything crude by it.

[MaryAnn]

Fascinating that the more tile installers I have over here for an estimate, the more I learn. I just learned that the new tile will be higher than the tile I was going to leave intact in both bathrooms, because that tile (which I originally asked about removing) used almost no thinset. Last guy who was here, yesterday, told me I have enough purchased tile sitting in the garage, to do the whole house in it (same dye lot,) and I'm very seriously considering just also replacing the bathroom tile that I don't mind the looks of, and having the same thing throughout the entire house. Drawback is I don't plan to be here more than another year, that will cost more money, and with my luck the person who buys the house will decide to put carpet on top of my gorgeously done tile job and my perfectionism will have been for naught. Of course if I don't manage to get out of here for whatever reason, it would be nice to have something on the floor that I actually like.