Removing Kitchen Tiles From Wall

A grout scraper can get between the ceramic without cracking them and causing serious damage when you remove the tile backsplash.

Removing kitchen tiles from wall. Give it a try by inserting a chisel putty knife or other flat tool in between the tile and the wall almost parallel to the wall. Beginning at a point of easy access e g on one side of your backsplash carefully tap a chisel with a hammer between the back of the tile and the wall. This approach should let you save more of your tiles for reuse unless the tiles are unusually well adhered or a relatively recent installation. Tiles installed with thinset or another tile adhesive often require more work to remove them.

Kitchen tiles frequently installed as a backsplash behind a kitchen counter or stove provide a water resistant and easily washable surface. To remove thinset use a stiff putty knife and some elbow grease to scrape it from the wall. The grout that binds the tiles together and to the wall needs to be gently removed. Work the grout scraper in a downward motion and work side to side to gently loosen the tile from its hold against the wall.

Chisel tiles away from the wall. Allow to fully dry. In an ideal world a few wiggles of the screwdriver or whatever tool you re using would give you enough leverage to remove the tile from the wall with your gloved hand. For semi soft adhesive mastic use 120 grit sandpaper to remove it from the wall.

Fill drywall gouges with drywall joint compound and sand it smooth. While tile is a long term decorative feature in most kitchens you may want to remove wall tiles if you update your cabinets or remodel your kitchen. This tile by tile method is recommended when the tile itself will pop off fairly easily leaving little or no damage to the wall behind. Just wanted to share how i removed small tile from our kitchen.