Do not plan on any reuse of the tile. If you really do want to
put up with a lot of dust and mess, you could saw the opening with
a dry diamond blade on a circular saw or grinder. This could
possibly give you a piece to reinstall with caulk at the
perimeter. The amount of dust is tremendous.

I think your time would be better served to plan on a decorative
cap of some type. Wainscoat? Metal cover? I can't envision a
circumstance with the tile wall exposed. I would guess it to be
under the cabinet, behind the refrigerator or some other
appliance. The drain pipe will be about 18" off the floor.

Perhaps you can pinpoint the intersection of cast iron and sink
drain. At this point you could possibly cut a circular hole to
access the pipe with another hole at the sink, though it will be
difficult to route the pipe out of and into the studs. The
circular hole(s) could be capped with a blank escutcheon. This
still means dust unless you go to the expense and mess of a wet
diamond cut.
___________________________
Keep the whole world singing. . . .
DanG


"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
news

'allo,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, original kitchen.

I need to remove maybe 2 sq. feet of the wall to replace a
corroded drain pipe. Wall is ceramic tile in front of
traditional
plaster on steel lath. After repair of drain, I need to repair
wall. Never worked with tile before.

How to do it?

It occurred to me that I *might* be able to cut thru both grout
and plaster/lath and remove a square without destroying the tile
(if I can come up with the right saw apparati). Might this be
practical? If so, how might one *replace* the removed square,
permanently mounting it back in the wall?

Or do I bark up the wrong tree? :-)

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Cheers,
Puddin'

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...