A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace them with
carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles, about 200 of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to re-use
them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult. Unless
someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...

HeyBub wrote:
A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace
them with carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles,
about 200 of them.
They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to
re-use them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult.
Unless someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...

you can use the flat edge of a 4.5" continuous rim diamond blade (HF) in a
cheap side grinder (HF) and it will remove a LOT of the old thinset very
quickly. very dusty. use a breathing mask unless you have a spare set of
lungs.

On Feb 25, 10:12*am, "HeyBub" wrote:

The residual grout is easy to remove

Probably because whoever set them didn't wet the joints first.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I never tried it, but if the residual is 1/8" thick or less I suspect
it wouldn't be too difficult.

I would pull them from a bucket of water to set to encourage adhesion.
-----

- gpsman

"HeyBub" wrote in message
m...
A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace them with
carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles, about 200 of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to re-use
them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult. Unless
someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...


I don't think you need to get every last spec of it off but the bulk needs
to come off even if you use thick-set (pun intended).

What you can try is placing a scrap of thick carpet on a solid surface and
whacking the edge of the thinset with a broad heavy blade.

I would try using my broadest bit in my air chisel. Small repeated taps are
better than heavy blows.

I have cleaned brick, wall tile and block using this method but I have not
tested it on floor tile. Tile is more fragile than brick or block.

Do wear some protective gear.


--
Colbyt
Please come visit http://www.househomerepair.com

HeyBub wrote:

I ended up with the tiles, about 200 of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to
re-use them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult.
Unless someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

You could try taping sandpaper to a flat and smooth surface, and rub the
tiles on the sandpaper. Even if it didn't remove all the thinset, it would
tend to level it out.

--
Tony Sivori
Due to spam, I'm filtering all Google Groups posters.

On Feb 25, 7:12*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace them with
carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles, about 200 of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to re-use
them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult. Unless
someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...

Ceramic tiles are pretty fragile. And if they're coated with hard
thinset, they are NOT worth $3 a piece anymore. Don't bother with
them. After you waste time on them, you'll be money in the hole
compared to buying new and/or more durable tiles if your time is worth
anything to you.

HeyBub wrote:
A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace
them with carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles,
about 200 of them.
They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to
re-use them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult.
Unless someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...

If they were well laid in the first place the stuck on thinset should be
uniform in thickness though not in area. Butter them with new thinset to
fill in the low areas, let it dry and they are good to go.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

On Feb 25, 3:12*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace them with
carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles, about 200 of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to re-use
them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult. Unless
someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...

There's no way you can get this stuff off easily. The best thing is
just chuck them out.
If only a few are affected, as someone else said, the diamond disk
will get it off.
If you're bent on a struggle, then you could just relay them on fresh
comppound but it will take a long time to get them level and you'll
need lots of compound.

"HeyBub" wrote in
m:

A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace them
with carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles, about 200
of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to
re-use them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult.
Unless someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...



As said, very time consuming. In my case I had old tiles removed from one
area and needed to use them to repair another area that could not be
matched with new tiles. Used the diamond blade on a RotoZip and it worked
well. As said, dusty. They were small tiles only 2-3" square. Took a
block of wood and used a router to create a recessed square to hold the
tile while removing grout.

On Feb 25, 9:12*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at one
fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and replace them with
carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the tiles, about 200 of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to re-use
them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult. Unless
someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage floor...

I'm cheap enough that I have done this many times, even with tiles
that I got on 'special' at Home Depot for 67 cents each.

I soak the tile in a bucket of water, scrape off as much as I can with
a carbide scraper, then put a wire wheel on my grinder to finish it
up.

Hope this helps you.

Lewis

*****

wrote:
On Feb 25, 9:12 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
A foundation problem caused cracks in a few ceramic floor tiles at
one fellow's house. His fix was to remove the floor tiles and
replace them with carpet (which won't crack). I ended up with the
tiles, about 200 of them.

They're quite nice, probably $3.00/each retail, so I'm inspired to
re-use them.

The residual grout is easy to remove, but the thinset is difficult.
Unless someone knows of a wipe-on, wipe-off thinset removal liquid.

How much success should I expect in resetting them on perhaps thicker
thinset, taking extra care to get them as level as possible?

I guess I could experiment by laying a few rows on the garage
floor...

I'm cheap enough that I have done this many times, even with tiles
that I got on 'special' at Home Depot for 67 cents each.

I soak the tile in a bucket of water, scrape off as much as I can with
a carbide scraper, then put a wire wheel on my grinder to finish it
up.

Hope this helps you.


Water?

Who'd u've thunk it?

I'll give it a try - thanks.

HeyBub wrote:
wrote:
....

I soak the tile in a bucket of water, scrape off as much as I can with
a carbide scraper, then put a wire wheel on my grinder to finish it
up.

....

Water?

Who'd u've thunk it?

I'll give it a try - thanks.

I just had a repair -- very hot water softened it and the cove base
pieces that had a smooth backing it just peeled off. Not so lucky on
field tiles but could remove some.

As limey above says, the wire wheel will do wonders to remove down to
the tile quickly. Just take a modicum of care as you can take the tile
itself down since the back isn't as hard as the baked fronts if are too
aggressive.

--