How hard is it to remove saltillo tile?
Can my husband and I do this ourselves w/ home depot rental equipment? or should we just pay someone that specializes in this? if so, how much does this cost and do you know of anyone in Austin?

Thanks!

1. yes
2. Do a room at a time.quarantine room to be done. The dust is a nightmare with any/most tile removal.
4. Great exercise working the equipment.
5. Profit

Wear protective gear. Oh and almost forgot once remove what will you cover the floor with. If you intend on staining might look into hiring out. The surface will be such a condition it may require A LOT of resurfacing to get it right for stain.

[This message has been edited by DrSocrates (edited 2/16/2012 6:45p).]

+1 on the dust. It's incredible...

The tool you'll need to break it out is a rotary hammer. Get one with a 4in chisel, like this. Last time I rented one from Sunbelt it came to about $90/day with taxes, a chisel, ...

http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/page/module/product/prca_rangedetail.jsf?lang=en&nodeId=-79285
In about 10 hours I went from 3-400 sq ft of this:


Big image: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NhnFtxfDyd4/TJgoGVRuQDI/AAAAAAAAAXI/CoJQjxBRJvs/s1600/DSCF3076.JPG


Big image: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NhnFtxfDyd4/TJgoHHaOBjI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/RG_q7Unmxb8/s1600/DSCF3077.JPG


Big image: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NhnFtxfDyd4/TJgoH-CgdQI/AAAAAAAAAXY/_lWgefrxnEg/s1600/DSCF3078.JPG

To this:

Big image (note the dust layer) http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NhnFtxfDyd4/TJgoI7d7KyI/AAAAAAAAAXg/dJi6Rwtiejg/s1600/DSCF3079.JPG

So the next day I could start doing this:

Big picture: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NhnFtxfDyd4/TJl9nUJJ7YI/AAAAAAAAAX8/cWoMatnC05U/s1600/DSCF3081.JPG

It would've been much faster if I was better prepared for it. I didn't have all baseboards off so I had to stop and do that, and the pantry and laundry rooms weren't emptied.Removing the couple of tiles below the water softener was "fun." My advice for that is, shut the water off at the street, disconnect and move it, wreck the tile below it and then reconnect and turn the water back on. You will absolutely need safety glasses or goggles. Thinset will fly everywhere! The way I normally see tiles come up is that they'll pop off with however much thinset attached and then you'll have to go back and remove whatever remains on the concrete. With a great big hammer and all your prep work done ahead of time it's really not that bad.

[This message has been edited by The Fife (edited 2/17/2012 5:14a).]

x2 on Fife

Removed a little over 250 sqft when we first bought our house... With a dinky air hammer.

Pay the $80-90 for the rental - your back, hands, knees will thank you.

And it's almost fun to shred the crap out of the tile with a giant roto hammer!

I did a 150 sq ft bathroom with an air chisel the first time and it took forever. Live and learn, I guess.

also, forget tape for most of your barrier.



You can rig this up with generic poles and plastic sheeting for about $50. the best, ever!

thumb tack the sheets of plastic up for two dollars fitty cents if that!