Removing floor tiles - over underfloor hot water heating

[Adrian]

Throughout the ground floor, the previous owners of this house fitted
underfloor heating - and we love it. But the tiles over it? Not good.
Bland, at best, and plenty of them are cracked. They're not even fitted
particularly level!

So... what's the best way to remove them, without risking shagging the
heating pipework in the process? I have no idea what's directly under the
tiles, how thick any screed might be. It would have been done by pros
rather than DIYers, but no idea how good those pros were...

[Jim K]

presumably wet UF heating?

suspect only way to remove in circumstances is by hand with a lump hammer & chisel(s), maybe judicious "tickling" with an SDS drill and "tile spoon" chisel bit may work?

Jim K

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

If it's in-screed pipes there should be more than enough meat above the
pipes. I would say the chances of damaging pipes would be very unlikely
especially given the angle of attach you would need to lift the tiles
with a cranked SDS bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7kqP2EltkM
:)

--
http://www.GymRatZ.co.uk
GymRatZ Gym Equipment UK

[Adrian]

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 04:17:54 -0800, Jim K wrote:

> presumably wet UF heating?

Yep. The manifolds are visible in the understairs cupboards, with the
pipework disappearing into concrete - but more than that, I know not.

[The Natural Philosopher]

generally at lest 3" of screed above pipes unless its electric UFH

attack with electric chisel


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[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <le27r8$g6e$1...@dont-email.me>,

If it's an electric heating element, they are often laid in
the tile adhesive and will be destroyed by pulling up the tiles.

Another option in either case might be to tile over the top.
Not sure how successful this is likely to be.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

[harryagain]

"Adrian" <tooma...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:le26jr$8gp$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

Garden spade used as a "scraper".
Or you can buy a similar tool for the job.
You might need a self leveling screed afterwards.

[bbla...@airsource.co.uk]

On Wednesday, 19 February 2014 12:42:19 UTC, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
> If it's an electric heating element, they are often laid in
>
> the tile adhesive and will be destroyed by pulling up the tiles.

I know the OP said pipework, but for the sake of information:

We have electric UFH in the kitchen. We successfully pulled up the final strip of tiles when we extended that room, without damaging the cable. Smashed the tiles in very small bits with a hammer, and then pulled up the bits carefully.

However, if I was doing it for the whole kitchen I'd take a more destructive approach and just replace the cable/mat.

[GMM]

On 19/02/2014 12:32, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 19/02/14 12:04, Adrian wrote:
>> Throughout the ground floor, the previous owners of this house fitted
>> underfloor heating - and we love it. But the tiles over it? Not good.
>> Bland, at best, and plenty of them are cracked. They're not even fitted
>> particularly level!
>>
>> So... what's the best way to remove them, without risking shagging the
>> heating pipework in the process? I have no idea what's directly under the
>> tiles, how thick any screed might be. It would have been done by pros
>> rather than DIYers, but no idea how good those pros were...
>>
> generally at lest 3" of screed above pipes unless its electric UFH
>
> attack with electric chisel
>
>

Some sources I've read while planning my own project for this summer
have quoted as little as 65mm screed in total, including the depth of
the pipes, so a little less of a margin than 3".

Still plenty of scope for a go with an SDS chisel though...