Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.

"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing
that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles
including one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove
theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim
ceiling and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.



The conventional way of fixing them was five dabs of adhesive ( each
corner plus the middle). If the ceiling had previously been painted
they will probably come down pretty easily with a paint scraper, as
the paint pulls away from the plaster. If it is old enough to have
been painted with distemper they will practically fall away.

AWEM

keith_765 wrote:
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing
that greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles
including one wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried
to remove theses tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding
and skim ceiling and try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.

they'll be a doddle to remove, however they where the fashion at one time
but on the other hand these tiles are like wallpaper they can hide a
multitude of sins.

"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.


Personally, I'd rip them all off no matter the mess, then start afresh with
new plaster surfaces. Messy and time consuming job at the start, but when
you compare it to patching and matching, and the length of time it last
after being done properly. Then it does work out easier, and maybe cheaper,
to rip out and start again.

They're horrible things.

In article ,
keith_765 wrote:
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove
theses tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim
ceiling and try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.

They'll come off easy enough, but if they were fixed by dabs of rubber
adhesive it's the very devil. It always seems to show through emulsion,
unless you line the ceiling.

Of course it's also possible they're hiding something nasty.

--
*Real women don't have hot flashes, they have power surges.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 19:02:29 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
keith_765 wrote:
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove
theses tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim
ceiling and try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.

They'll come off easy enough, but if they were fixed by dabs of rubber
adhesive it's the very devil. It always seems to show through emulsion,
unless you line the ceiling.

Of course it's also possible they're hiding something nasty.

The glue comes of with a heat gun and a scraper, but it's still hard work
and hell on the neck.
--
Jim
Tyneside UK

"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.



I've just removed some in a flat that I'm refurbishing. The tiles came away
easily leaving the glue. I soaked the glue with water on a sponge - and
after leaving for a while to soak in it scraped off very easily - I was
pleasantly surprised to find it left an almost perfect surface that could be
painted over without skimming first.
Without the soaking it's like stabbing at rock.
Hope it works.

Hugh

"BigWallop" wrote in message
. uk...

"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.


Personally, I'd rip them all off no matter the mess, then start afresh
with
new plaster surfaces. Messy and time consuming job at the start, but when
you compare it to patching and matching, and the length of time it last
after being done properly. Then it does work out easier, and maybe
cheaper,
to rip out and start again.

I agree.

They're horrible things.

I agree - and we onceput them up :-(

Mary

ben wrote:

they'll be a doddle to remove, however they where the fashion at one time
but on the other hand these tiles are like wallpaper they can hide a
multitude of sins.

My Mum's next door neighbour took well over a week's solid scraping to
remove the ceiling tiles in their house ! certainlay not "a doddle"

We didn't even attempt it on our plaster/lath ceilings, just had 'em
boarded & skimmed. (presuming the ceiling rafters are man enough for the
job.) which on a 70's build I would doubt looking at the corner cutting
in our current re-furb. project.

"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.


Use a match ;-)

(For the humour-impaired: DO NOT use a match.)

In article ,
"Andrew Mawson" writes:

The conventional way of fixing them was five dabs of adhesive ( each
corner plus the middle). If the ceiling had previously been painted
they will probably come down pretty easily with a paint scraper, as
the paint pulls away from the plaster. If it is old enough to have
been painted with distemper they will practically fall away.

Many years ago as a teenager, I put these up in my bedroom in
my parents house. However, budding diyer as I was even back
then, I did it properly, fully glueing the backs of the tiles.
More recently, my parents went for a major redecoration of my
former bedroom (not DIY). The builder tried to prise one or two
tiles off, and quickly decided it was faster/cheaper to bring
down all the plasterboard, fit new, and reskim.

--
Andrew Gabriel

PC Paul wrote:
"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.


Use a match ;-)

A pump-up sprayer filled with petrol will dissolve the polystyrene, and it
can then be mopped up off the floor.

Or, combined with the last one, it's even more effective.

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...
PC Paul wrote:
"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing
that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling
and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.


Use a match ;-)

A pump-up sprayer filled with petrol will dissolve the polystyrene, and it
can then be mopped up off the floor.

Or, combined with the last one, it's even more effective.

Thanks to all who took time to reply.
From the suggestion given, it looks like either strip them off and then
soaking the adhesive with water or leave on and board over and skim.
If I remember right the adhesive was water based.

Cant afford the petrol. Although it seem practical and I like your sense of
humour.LOL

In article ,
Hugh wrote:
I've just removed some in a flat that I'm refurbishing. The tiles came
away easily leaving the glue. I soaked the glue with water on a sponge
- and after leaving for a while to soak in it scraped off very easily -
I was pleasantly surprised to find it left an almost perfect surface
that could be painted over without skimming first. Without the soaking
it's like stabbing at rock. Hope it works.

Sounds like they were fixed with a water soluble glue. You were very
lucky. ;-)

--
*I believe five out of four people have trouble with fractions. *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Andrew Mawson" writes:

The conventional way of fixing them was five dabs of adhesive ( each
corner plus the middle). If the ceiling had previously been painted
they will probably come down pretty easily with a paint scraper, as
the paint pulls away from the plaster. If it is old enough to have
been painted with distemper they will practically fall away.


Many years ago as a teenager, I put these up in my bedroom in
my parents house. However, budding diyer as I was even back
then, I did it properly, fully glueing the backs of the tiles.
More recently, my parents went for a major redecoration of my
former bedroom (not DIY). The builder tried to prise one or two
tiles off, and quickly decided it was faster/cheaper to bring
down all the plasterboard, fit new, and reskim.

This is always a good fallback position in any DIY

"When in doubt, rip it (all) out."

I have generally found in all things from car repairs to upgrading
houses, that removeing anything that is a pain completely and replacing
with new nmaterials, is quicker, cheaper and more staisfactory.

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 00:03:50 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Sounds like they were fixed with a water soluble glue. You were very
lucky. ;-)

People used to stick them up with normal wall paper paste. With these
it's just a case of scraping them off and removing any remnants with a
steam stripper.

Then the glue companies invented "Polystyrene tile adhesive" which is
a b*gger to remove.

sponix

In message
"keith_765" wrote:


"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...
PC Paul wrote:
"keith_765" wrote in message
...
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles

Use a match ;-)

A pump-up sprayer filled with petrol will dissolve the polystyrene, and it
can then be mopped up off the floor.

Or, combined with the last one, it's even more effective.

Thanks to all who took time to reply.
From the suggestion given, it looks like either strip them off

Use a garden hoe to get the bulk of them off. Your arms will still be
useable the next day if you do...

Anthony

Some respondents imply that steam or water will only remove tiles that
were stuck on with wallpaper paste or something similar.

My house had some poly tiles stuck to one ceiling. I removed the bulk
of them mechanically with a paint scraper. Each tile was stuck to the
ceiling with five blobs of glue. The type of glue was unknown, but I
would assume it was something sold as a poly tile adhesive.

I was delighted to discover that a steam wallpaper stripper rapidly
softened the adhesive and it was possible to entirely remove it with a
paint scraper.

Once the glue was removed, it only took a couple of coats of paint to
produce a flawless ceiling.

I had initially been resigned to replacing or re-plastering that
ceiling, but was surprised at just how cleanly the adhesive could be
removed.

In article .com,
Roly wrote:
My house had some poly tiles stuck to one ceiling. I removed the bulk
of them mechanically with a paint scraper. Each tile was stuck to the
ceiling with five blobs of glue. The type of glue was unknown, but I
would assume it was something sold as a poly tile adhesive.

I was delighted to discover that a steam wallpaper stripper rapidly
softened the adhesive and it was possible to entirely remove it with a
paint scraper.

The worst type was some form of rubber adhesive, and nothing I tried -
including steam would remove it easily. Of course, if it was on some form
of soluble paint like distemper, that may have given way to the steam.

--
*Why do the two "sanction"s (noun and verb) mean opposites?*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article .com,
" says...
Some respondents imply that steam or water will only remove tiles that
were stuck on with wallpaper paste or something similar.

My house had some poly tiles stuck to one ceiling. I removed the bulk
of them mechanically with a paint scraper. Each tile was stuck to the
ceiling with five blobs of glue. The type of glue was unknown, but I
would assume it was something sold as a poly tile adhesive.

I was delighted to discover that a steam wallpaper stripper rapidly
softened the adhesive and it was possible to entirely remove it with a
paint scraper.

Obviously not the stuff they used in my dining room then - scraping
pulled off chunks of plaster, steaming didn't touch it. I eventually
attached a hot air gun and a scraper to a length of 2x1, which did
the job but the fumes were nasty and wearing a respirator made it
really uncomfortable even at a distance - I needed to get quite a lot
of heat into the plaster and it soon got too hot to be comfortable
working near it. Maybe I'll try using a big fan to keep the air
clear, and finish it off when the weather cools down.

HI
IVE JUST PUT UP THOSE TILES IN MY LIVING ROOM AND WHEN I PUT ONE UP WRONG IT WAS HECK OF A JOB GETTING IT OFF IF U ARE DEFO TAKING THEM OFF EXPECT A WHOLE HOUSE FULL OF BITS OF POLYSTERENE (LIKE WHEN U WOULD SCRAP IT AGAINST THE WALL AS A CHILD TO MAKE FAKE SNOW) lol
IT ALL REALLY DEPENDS ON HOW WELL THE PERSON STUCK THEM UP
CLAIR

IVE JUST PUT UP THOSE TILES IN MY LIVING ROOM AND WHEN I PUT ONE UP
WRONG IT WAS HECK OF A JOB GETTING IT OFF IF U ARE DEFO TAKING THEM OFF
EXPECT A WHOLE HOUSE FULL OF BITS OF POLYSTERENE (LIKE WHEN U WOULD
SCRAP IT AGAINST THE WALL AS A CHILD TO MAKE FAKE SNOW) lol
IT ALL REALLY DEPENDS ON HOW WELL THE PERSON STUCK THEM UP
CLAIR

STOP SHOUTING

keith_765 Wrote:
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one wall in one of the bed rooms.

If they are on the kitchen ceiling a surveyor is likely to say that they are
not permitted due to problems if there is a kitchen fire.

Any one out there tried to remove theses tiles.

Yes. It is very difficult, messy, and usually leaves the adhesive and bits
of polystyrene which have to be removed by sanding then a skim coat to
repair the surface.

Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling
and try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.

Haven't tried that but it would lower the ceilings and you would need to
locate all the joists for fixing. Sounds less messy but more expensive.

keith_765 Wrote:
Just been to look at a house, which is up for sale, The first thing
that
greets you is every ceiling is covered with polystyrene tiles including
one
wall in one of the bed rooms. Any one out there tried to remove
theses
tiles. Or is it a question of over plaster boarding and skim ceiling
and
try to remove tiles from wall. then skim over.

You should get the tiles off. For ceilings a garden push-hoe is
very useful. Unless you are very lucky skimming will probably be
necessary. They may often disguise a poor ceiling anyway, or
even Artex - mine did.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

"gort" wrote in message
news

IVE JUST PUT UP THOSE TILES IN MY LIVING ROOM AND WHEN I PUT ONE UP
WRONG IT WAS HECK OF A JOB GETTING IT OFF IF U ARE DEFO TAKING THEM OFF
EXPECT A WHOLE HOUSE FULL OF BITS OF POLYSTERENE (LIKE WHEN U WOULD
SCRAP IT AGAINST THE WALL AS A CHILD TO MAKE FAKE SNOW) lol
IT ALL REALLY DEPENDS ON HOW WELL THE PERSON STUCK THEM UP
CLAIR

STOP SHOUTING

U put up these tiles, good god mad its 2006. Are you a ****tard?

P

The message
from "Phil Anthropist" contains these words:

If they are on the kitchen ceiling a surveyor is likely to say that
they are
not permitted due to problems if there is a kitchen fire.

Having had a fire in a kitchen in which polystyrene ceiling tiles were
fitted I can only strongly advise you to get rid of them at once. They
made a small fire very nasty indeed.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Guy King wrote:
The message
from "Phil Anthropist" contains these words:

If they are on the kitchen ceiling a surveyor is likely to say that
they are
not permitted due to problems if there is a kitchen fire.

Having had a fire in a kitchen in which polystyrene ceiling tiles were
fitted I can only strongly advise you to get rid of them at once. They
made a small fire very nasty indeed.

We used to burn em on Guy Fawkes night. The acrid smoke is enough to put
me off ever having them in a kitchen where fires are a significant
risk. I heartily agree with your comment "made a small fire very nasty
indeed".