"tioga 0630" wrote in message
om...
"Charles Spitzer" wrote in message

it's mostly concrete, so it's pretty alkaline. it's usually 1/2" thick.
you
can get a handheld diamond bladed 4" wet saw. makita makes one. it cuts
down
on the dust tremendously. you're going to get a lot of dust from the
grout
and tile too. i'd seal off the room well if it were me.

Charles, Greg, everyone, thanks. I'm just trying to figure out if the
tile--not the old 4" x 4", but the big new size Hazelton's wife
had--would really be too difficult to pick up with a hammer and
chisel.

Mom let a supply valve on a toilet drip maybe for years in a powder
room adjacent to the main bathroom before I noticed it, and the black
mold under the tiny old tile there was a sight to behold. Now I want
to completely redo the bath/powder room, 'cause together them form a
12' x 12' square. Does Wonderboard grow mold? I know it's a stupid
question, but Mom's in love with this crappy big tile, and the only
way I figure of getting her to agree to tear it up is to tell her
there's black mold under it, too.

Thanks again, everyone.

tile/wonderboard/etc don't grow or provide nutrients for growing mold.
however, it could be there as there probably are small channels in the
thinset used to place the tiles which could be populated by mold. the only
way to tell is to take one up, and then you only know about at that
location. tell her you have to take them all up to check. lol

you can bust up the tile with hammer and chisel, level out the wonderboard
with a thin layer of thinset, and retile. you can also take up the
wonderboard down to whatever is under it too, but likely it's screwed and
glued/cemented down and you're going to damage the next layer too.