Hi NG,

This page shows a couple areas of tile adhesive I'm removing:

http://merrillpjensen.com/pages/althomerepair1.html

I have 2 areas of tile removal that are problematic for me, and I wanted
to see if anyone knew any tips. The first has thin tiles as yet
unremoved, with sticky, petroleum based goo holding it fast after many
years. I could imagine a few solvents that might loosen this up,
including water, mineral spirits, and lighter fluid, and goo gone.

This area had normal ceramic tile on it, so this might be thinset. Here,
I might think of water, water with a base, water with acid, maybe
mineral spirits. Your thoughts? TIA
--
Cal

Cal Dershowitz wrote:
Hi NG,

This page shows a couple areas of tile adhesive I'm removing:

This area had normal ceramic tile on it, so this might be thinset.
Here, I might think of water, water with a base, water with acid,
maybe mineral spirits. Your thoughts? TIA

Thinset is cementatious. Acid will eat it. It will also eat whatever the
thinset was applied to. The other liquids you mentioned will do nothing.

Your best option is a chisel and hammer.

On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:38:27 -0400, "dadiOH"
wrote:

Cal Dershowitz wrote:
Hi NG,

This page shows a couple areas of tile adhesive I'm removing:

This area had normal ceramic tile on it, so this might be thinset.
Here, I might think of water, water with a base, water with acid,
maybe mineral spirits. Your thoughts? TIA

Thinset is cementatious. Acid will eat it. It will also eat whatever the
thinset was applied to. The other liquids you mentioned will do nothing.

Your best option is a chisel and hammer.


http://derek.broox.com/photo/basement-bar/full/8390/how-to-remove-thinset-fro.jpg

On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:38:27 -0400, "dadiOH" wrote:

Cal Dershowitz wrote:
Hi NG,

This page shows a couple areas of tile adhesive I'm removing:

This area had normal ceramic tile on it, so this might be thinset.
Here, I might think of water, water with a base, water with acid,
maybe mineral spirits. Your thoughts? TIA

Thinset is cementatious. Acid will eat it. It will also eat whatever the
thinset was applied to. The other liquids you mentioned will do nothing.

Your best option is a chisel and hammer.


If they used underlayment, it may be easier to remove and replace the
underlayment.

On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:12:33 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:38:27 -0400, "dadiOH" wrote:

Cal Dershowitz wrote:
Hi NG,

This page shows a couple areas of tile adhesive I'm removing:

This area had normal ceramic tile on it, so this might be thinset.
Here, I might think of water, water with a base, water with acid,
maybe mineral spirits. Your thoughts? TIA

Thinset is cementatious. Acid will eat it. It will also eat whatever the
thinset was applied to. The other liquids you mentioned will do nothing.

Your best option is a chisel and hammer.


If they used underlayment, it may be easier to remove and replace the
underlayment.

If you remotely paid attention to the photo, Home Gay, it looks like
this tile is on a concrete foundation. Maybe you can remove and
replace it in Canada?

On 10/15/2015 12:12 PM, Oren wrote:
On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:12:33 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:38:27 -0400, "dadiOH" wrote:

Cal Dershowitz wrote:
Hi NG,

This page shows a couple areas of tile adhesive I'm removing:

This area had normal ceramic tile on it, so this might be thinset.
Here, I might think of water, water with a base, water with acid,
maybe mineral spirits. Your thoughts? TIA

Thinset is cementatious. Acid will eat it. It will also eat whatever the
thinset was applied to. The other liquids you mentioned will do nothing.

Your best option is a chisel and hammer.


If they used underlayment, it may be easier to remove and replace the
underlayment.

If you remotely paid attention to the photo, Home Gay, it looks like
this tile is on a concrete foundation. Maybe you can remove and
replace it in Canada?


Alright, thx, I'll get after the thinset physically, but no ideas with
the black tarry stuff under the first set of tiles?

--
Cal

On Thursday, October 15, 2015 at 9:10:14 PM UTC-4, Cal Dershowitz wrote:
On 10/15/2015 12:12 PM, Oren wrote:
On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:12:33 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 15 Oct 2015 05:38:27 -0400, "dadiOH" wrote:

Cal Dershowitz wrote:
Hi NG,

This page shows a couple areas of tile adhesive I'm removing:

This area had normal ceramic tile on it, so this might be thinset.
Here, I might think of water, water with a base, water with acid,
maybe mineral spirits. Your thoughts? TIA

Thinset is cementatious. Acid will eat it. It will also eat whatever the
thinset was applied to. The other liquids you mentioned will do nothing.

Your best option is a chisel and hammer.


If they used underlayment, it may be easier to remove and replace the
underlayment.

If you remotely paid attention to the photo, Home Gay, it looks like
this tile is on a concrete foundation. Maybe you can remove and
replace it in Canada?


Alright, thx, I'll get after the thinset physically, but no ideas with
the black tarry stuff under the first set of tiles?

--
Cal

a gazillion years ago i helped friends removing a glue down vinyl floor covering concrete.

i happened to have some cleaner from work, a 50 50 mixof acetone and alcohol. it worked pretty good as a solvent. still took lots of time and hard work for the area involved

On 10/15/2015 6:47 PM, bob haller wrote:
On Thursday, October 15, 2015 at 9:10:14 PM UTC-4, Cal Dershowitz wrote:

Alright, thx, I'll get after the thinset physically, but no ideas with
the black tarry stuff under the first set of tiles?

--
Cal

a gazillion years ago i helped friends removing a glue down vinyl floor covering concrete.

i happened to have some cleaner from work, a 50 50 mixof acetone and alcohol. it worked pretty good as a solvent. still took lots of time and hard work for the area involved


That sounds good....
--
Cal

Cal Dershowitz wrote:

Alright, thx, I'll get after the thinset physically, but no ideas with
the black tarry stuff under the first set of tiles?

https://www.google.com/search?client...est&gws_rd=ssl

On Fri, 16 Oct 2015 05:16:41 -0400, "dadiOH"
wrote:

Cal Dershowitz wrote:

Alright, thx, I'll get after the thinset physically, but no ideas with
the black tarry stuff under the first set of tiles?

https://www.google.com/search?client...est&gws_rd=ssl


tongue in cheek Freeze the "tarry" stuff with a dry ice block --
make it brittle and chip it off in chunks.