On Sun, 20 Apr 2014 00:59:45 +0100, Stephen wrote:

I find that the skim plaster is coming off with the tiles taking the
paper off the PB too. In extreme cases, the plasterboard is coming away
with the tiles leaving me with holes in the plasterboard.

You must be going some to be break holes in the plasterboard. Gently
gently with a broad (2 to 3") sharp thin scraper worked into the
joint and ease the tiles away. Slow mind ...

On the stubborn bits have you tried soaking the stubborn bits with
water with a drop of detergent and leaving for an hour or two? If the
adhesive use was a waterproof cement based one it won't make any
difference but a normal tile adhesive will soften a bit, if it does
gentle steaming might be quicker than passive soaking.

If time is an important factor stop faffing about and just rip the
lot down, then reboarding and skiming will be quicker. Though that
depends on how good you are at skimming and if you'd need to get a
man in.

--
Cheers
Dave.