Out With the Old Tile: 8 Approaches to Prep for Demolition

Bad day at work? Can some jerk cut off in traffic? Perfect time for your tile demolition project. Pick up a framing hammer and eliminate your frustration. But before you start swinging, let us look at exactly what can go wrong and what you need to do to prepare.

Are you going to protect your house from demo dust and debris? Can your house’s heating system pick up the dust from this renovation and spread it throughout the house? Will you nick a water line and need to scramble for the main water shutoff?

This narrative can help you prevent possible disaster. Stack the odds in your favor, and learn how to cover the fundamentals.

Notice: Prepping your home correctly is important if you plan to demo on your own or hire a pro. If you DIY, make sure you’re comfortable handling heavy demolition gear — power tools utilize a lot of drive — and have expertise with demo work. Demolition is physical and hard, so make sure you’re fit for the job and comfy handling any tool before using it. Use the proper safety gear, and do not be afraid to call a pro if you’re having trouble with this messy, noisy job.

Ram Board

Surface Protection for Tasks

1. Protect your floors. It’s easy to forget about floor security until the dirt, tile and dust stack up. We utilize Ram Board to protect finished floors. Combined with a plastic tarp, it may keep debris from harming the finished floors and dust from flying everywhere.

Forum Phi Architecture | Interiors | Planning

2. Take down art. Any art hanging on a wall ought to be removed before demolition. Often the stress or vibration of removing tile from the rear side of the wall may cause paintings to collapse and glass to break.

By Any Design Ltd..

3. Seal the space off. This doorway is covered with a plastic sheet that seals the space to keep dust from moving across the house. The handy zipper allows for easy access.

Be sure to tape these sheets into the door casing rather than the wall — when the tape comes off, paint frequently does, also. We want to use a light tack painter’s tape and a high tack tape to bond into that.

By Any Design Ltd..

4. Prepare for noise. Eliminating tile from concrete is always dumb. Unlike chipping off tile a soft substrate like drywall, removing tile from concrete is 10 times the chore. We utilize a large demolition hammer that chips the ground. I vibrate the tile with the tool utilizing light downward pressure then chip off the tile. If you live in a multifamily unit, ensure that the other residents know when you’re working since the sound can travel through many stories.

5. Protect yourself. Tile demolition is not just possibly harmful for your house, it can hurt you, also. Take additional precaution to protect yourself if you’re doing any presentation on your own, and keep children and pets out of the space. Look at what I’m wearing in this photo: heavy-duty coveralls, eye protection, lung protection, gloves and ear protection. You’ll want to do the exact same.

LLC, Republic Tile Works

6. Switch off the main water valve. Shut off the water to the house before doing any demolition if a wayward blow mishaps a water line.You ought to know where your main water shutoff is to get your house or rental.

Turning away and removing old plumbing lines is part of any bathroom renovation. Ensure you realize the steps involved before tackling the job yourself.

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The Original Gunstock Hammer – $79

7. Locate the right tools. Unlike a typical hammer, a framing hammer has straighter claws on the rear side, making it a fantastic pick-axe when reversed around. A carpenter’s hammer makes it impossible to hit to a wall — something you’ll have to do to processor tile the wall off.

I usually chip throughout the tile and wall substrate cautiously utilizing the claws of a framing hammer. If there’s a backer board, you may usually grip the edges of sheets to pull it all down in the exact same moment. Ensure that you do this using a full face mask, gloves, long sleeves and pants.

Matrka Group

8. Plan how to deal with waste. Demolition waste piles up quickly, so you must plan how you are going to eliminate cardboard, metal and paper. Old drywall will have to be dumped. Recently my local landfill banned any drywall with tile attached to it. Figure out in advance where you could get rid of what so you may plan your trips into the landfill correctly.

More: How to Install a Tile Backsplash | Locate a tile or toilet pro

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