finster

Any suggestions as to what to use to get the grout off the back of tiles that I want to re-use?

R Montgomery

It may be possible to take small amounts of grout of the back and sides with a utility knife for larger amounts an angle grinder with a diamond blade or a wet cutter using the cutting edge but moving side to side.

grumpygrouter

Are you talking about the adhesive?

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tiling@grouters.co.uk

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finster

Yes, I've taken the tiles off the wall and just want to clean them up to fill in spaces. I knowI called it grout but you're probably right it is the adhesive. Any ideas?

Oli

How is it attached to the tile at the moment, big blobs, or a flat spread covering the whole of the tile, if its been fixed properly in the first place it should be difficult and time consuming to remove, maybe check through them for some that were badly fixed which should be easier to remove if you only need a few of them, or post up the size, colour, make etc and see if anyone can tell you where you can buy a few new ones as per your requirements.

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R Montgomery

Of course he is have you ever seen grout on the bottom of a tile?Maybe on a wall That's only 75% but not on a floor isn't that 100%.Let's fight or don't you beleive in being Grumpy.

whitebeam

Depends wether it's wall or floor, wall may be dispersion I'd stick them in bucket of water let it soak and scrape off, floor may be a little more difficult. As mentioned a grinder could be usefull

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brian c

im with Whitebeam here.

grumpygrouter

......

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Grumpy
tiling@grouters.co.uk

Balancing Act Accounting
Turnover is Vanity, Profit is Sanity, Cash is reality!

finster

Thanks to everyone who has replied with their suggestions. Have just put a tile in a bucket of boiling water and the plaster and adhesive came off a treat with a small amount of teasing and scraping!

Colour Republic

How about this stuff Monty?

R Montgomery

Ok,I'll slink away now.It looks like a good bucket for mixing up in but where do you dump the stuff that's already in there?
Is it any good?

Colour Republic

I'm not sure, still haven't found a use for it. Answers on a post card please

Marant

Hopefully this isn't classed as thread necromancy..

I have a similar situation thanks to a bad tiling job, my shower really started to leak water and I noticed all the grout was cracked. The tiles are all raised on thick dabs in the centre of the tile, so the grout is essentially suspended between the tiles with a void behind. The shower is on a wooden floor, so the movement has cracked it, letting the water into the voids. Removing the grout, one of the tiles came off. The problem is I only have this one tile, (about 45cm by 30cm) so I need to re-use it, and the company has gone bust, so no chance of any more.

Will try the "soaking in boiling water idea", but I'll warm tile with progressively warmer water first as I really don't want it to crack... but does anyone have any other ideas? I don't have an angle grinder (and would be worried about smashing the tile). Would a sander work?

Now.. which forum do I look in for answers on how to repair the plaster behind the tile? The surface seems to be shedding like sand. Not the best for attaching tiles to!

Thanks for any answers folks!