I have a house built in the 1950s with plaster walls. The kitchen has
yellow tile on the walls that extends from the countertop to the
bottom of the cabinets. The wife wants something different. The tile
guy says the old tile has to be removed before anything new can be put
up.

Any advice on how to do this without destroying more of the wall than
necessary?

Would something like this work? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32940

wrote:
I have a house built in the 1950s with plaster walls. The kitchen has
yellow tile on the walls that extends from the countertop to the
bottom of the cabinets. The wife wants something different. The tile
guy says the old tile has to be removed before anything new can be put
up.

Any advice on how to do this without destroying more of the wall than
necessary?

Would something like this work?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32940

My experience is that air impact hammers give such poor control that it would
totally trash your wall. Way too much power for the job.

I used a 2-3" flat bladed "scraper" (like a putty knife, only much thicker and
beveled edge), tapping the end of the scraper with a hammer lightly at the edge
of each tile to pop them loose on my current project. I then scraped the residue
with a carbide paint scraper and filled gouges with joint compound.

On Sep 25, 12:51*pm, " wrote:
I have a house built in the 1950s with plaster walls. The kitchen has
yellow tile on the walls that extends from the countertop to the
bottom of the cabinets. The wife wants something different. The tile
guy says the old tile has to be removed before anything new can be put
up.

Any advice on how to do this without destroying more of the wall than
necessary?

Would something like this work?http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32940

I had no luck. The wallboard is the weakest part of the whole thing.
It's gets broken and gouged up.

Eventually I took down the top and base cabinets. Then ran a cicular
saw horizontally above and below the tile. Took out the wall board
with tile. Good thing is the cabinets cover most of the replacement
wallboard seam so I didn't have to do a great job there.

wrote:
I have a house built in the 1950s with plaster walls. The kitchen has
yellow tile on the walls that extends from the countertop to the
bottom of the cabinets. The wife wants something different. The tile
guy says the old tile has to be removed before anything new can be put
up.

Any advice on how to do this without destroying more of the wall than
necessary?

Would something like this work? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32940

We remodeled our kitchen 3 or 4 years ago. We did cab. refacing, new
doors and drawers on our built-in-place plywood cabinets. When faced
with the problem of old metal tiles on backsplash above cooktop, we were
stumped. Didn't want to destroy the wall OR put up ceramic, as I don't
want grout splashed with spaghetti sauce. The metal tiles were very
secure, but the paint in bad shape and rubbed off in many places. Our
solution was to cover the metal tile with laminate the color of the
walls (could be any style, pattern or color). Then got some bamboo
patterned glass, got it cut and tempered, and installed glass to cover
the laminate. Installed the glass, patterned side toward the wall, so
that it is a snap to clean, adds pattern and looks pretty cool in the
way it reflects light. Since the pattern is bamboo, we couldn't install
it sideways to fit a 5 or 6' space, so it is in two sections. The edges
were ground slightly and sealed, along with perimeter, with clear
silicone. Just had to brace it with 2x4's until the silicone caulk
cured. The total cost of the glass, including sending it back to mfg.
to be tempered, was about $50. If we tire of it, no big deal to remove
it. The laminate was put up (bought scrap at HD) by contractor with
contact cement. There are a number of cool patterns in glass, as well
as colored glass that can be sandblasted. The wall behind our cooktop
doesn't get very hot, which was an initial concern - if I cooked with
gas and had a pot too close to the wall, the glass might become a lot
hotter and be subject to breakage. If I was doing it again, I might put
wallpaper behind the glass or use a "tech look" wire glass.

wrote in message
...
I have a house built in the 1950s with plaster walls. The kitchen has
yellow tile on the walls that extends from the countertop to the
bottom of the cabinets. The wife wants something different. The tile
guy says the old tile has to be removed before anything new can be put
up.

Any advice on how to do this without destroying more of the wall than
necessary?

Would something like this work?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32940


I have used that tool to remove tile from a concrete floor. I would not use
it on a wall.

I use a prybar like
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=2529

and a hammer. The curved part is used as a chisel and when tapped with the
hammer pries the tile loose. If they are not soundly attached you can use
the other end and no hammer.

Be sure to wear leather gloves as the flying chips can be quite sharp. If
the plaster is otherwise sound you will only have to patch a few divots. The
surface does not have to be that smooth for new tile.

Now if you are real unlucky the stuff will be mudset, they still did that
some in the 50's, and you will have to remove all the plaster and a couple
of tons of mortar.


Colbyt

On Sep 25, 12:51*pm, " wrote:
I have a house built in the 1950s with plaster walls. The kitchen has
yellow tile on the walls that extends from the countertop to the
bottom of the cabinets. The wife wants something different. The tile
guy says the old tile has to be removed before anything new can be put
up.

Any advice on how to do this without destroying more of the wall than
necessary?

Would something like this work?http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32940

Bob F has the right suggestion. Sometimes they come off easy,
sometimes not so much.

Best if you can start where there is no tile and work from there. If
not try and chisel some grout out around one tile and pry against an
adjacent tile to pop it out.

In article s.com,
(Handymanguru) wrote:

Handymanguru had written this in response to
http://www.thefuccocompany.com/maint...le-396501-.htm :

You should not be concerned about destroying the wallboard behing the
tiles.

You, Mr. Guru, should, however, pay attention to this advisory:

The fucco company, also known as the suck-o company, has nothing to do
with this discussion group, other than to use it parasitically to
further their advertising income. Posts from the fucco company aren't
welcome here. You're posting from the fucco company, therefore you
aren't welcome here at this moment.

However, if you'll look up "usenet" and figure out how to get to this
"newsgroup" without going through the fucco company, then we'd love to
have you join us.

I am the Chief of alt.home.repair, and I approved this message.

On Sep 25, 3:08*pm, Limp Arbor wrote:
On Sep 25, 12:51*pm, " wrote:

I have a house built in the 1950s with plaster walls. The kitchen has
yellow tile on the walls that extends from the countertop to the
bottom of the cabinets. The wife wants something different. The tile
guy says the old tile has to be removed before anything new can be put
up.

Any advice on how to do this without destroying more of the wall than
necessary?

Would something like this work?http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32940

Bob F has the right suggestion. *Sometimes they come off easy,
sometimes not so much.

Best if you can start where there is no tile and work from there. *If
not try and chisel some grout out around one tile and pry against an
adjacent tile to pop it out.

Bob F was right. I bought a 4" thin fairly sharp putty knife on the
recommendation of the guy at Lowe's and it slides right under these
babies and off they come intact. At least the first four did. ;-)

Thanks for all the excellent advice.

Now can someone tell me how I can get my wife to make up her mind on
the cabinets, appliances, counter tops,etc?