I'm trying to remove an old tiled chipboard hearth. Several of the
tiles were cracked as well as being chipped at the edges and the
chipboard itself had got chunks missing round the edges. The
chipboard is screwed to the floorboards. (I hope it's just screwed
and not glued too.)

I thought I might be able to pop the tiles off the chipboard but after
30 minutes bashing away with a bolster I've cleared maybe the
equivalent of two tiles, as they're splintering into tiny shards
rather than coming off in chunks. There's so much adhesive, I can't
seem to get a thin bladed scraper in beneath them, and they've been
butt-jointed so it's not possible to exploit the grout lines.

I thought I might be able to get a crow bar under the chipboard and
lever the whole thing up but I think whoever did it really went to
town on the screws.

Any suggestions other than continuing with brute force and ignorance?
(And ideally something that doesn't involve too much gratuitous noise
since the neighbours have just had a baby.)

I've seen wall-paper strippers mentioned in the group before as a way
of removing tiles form chipboard but I don't really how there'd be
sufficient moisture penetration to do any good and anyway, if they've
used waterproof adhesive, isn't it...waterproof?

Thanks for any advice.