"aemeijers" wrote in message
news
Marissa Taylor wrote:
I have basement ceiling tiles that are about 12 inches square, without
any visible border between them. Due to a potential leak above one, I
need to remove a tile. How can I do this safely?

I can't tell what holds the tiles in place. The tile is made out of a
white fiber-like substance, with lots of holes, most likely to absorb
sound. Can I just pry around the edges?

Thanks!

You ain't gonna like the answer. You start at a wall, remove the trim to
expose one edge of tile, and start working backward. Hopefully you guess
right the first time and expose the lip with the staples or tacks or
whatever. Lotsa luck finding matching tiles if you break any- that stuff
is getting rare. Most people end up tearing it all down in frustration,
and putting up something else.

--
aem sends...

aem pretty well covered it. The only possibility I see would be to carefully
cut along the joints with a razor knife and try to get the tile out without
breaking it. There will likely still be a few staples holding it but you
might be able to carefully ease it out while ripping the staples out of the
back. Probability of removing it and invisibly replacing it is very slim, I
think.

If you were lucky, the installer would have stashed some spares somewhere
and you would only have to worry about the color match! It is possible that
you might be able to find a matching replacement as that type has been very
common for a long time.

Don Young