Removing old tiles for tiling

[Fekin]

Just wondered, do you get many people asking you to remove old tiles first before tiling, or do you find most people you quote for have removed them already.

[Dan]

Generally I don't think you'll find many customers that are just having tiling done that would have already removed the old tiles for you. When you go to quote always make sure you're charging a little for your time removing the old and prepping the substrate or let the customer know you can charge them a bit less if it is possible Mr Smith can get the old off and discard of them.

[uug197h]

most people want tiles removed before tiling, they expect you to remove them but some will remove them to save money but then you can charge for repairing the wall so you can tile but alot thing you can tile over anything (i had one who removed the tiles to save money and half the wall had no plaster on it was down to the brick there was only 14mm to make up thats easy he said i refused to do the job untill it was plastered so i gave him a quote I lost the job to a Pole for less than half price and he could fill the gaps with adhesive ) what can you do?

[stumac]

i just quted a job where i was to remove tiles from a shower room i talked the customer into removing them himself a so saving some money, he seemed pleased i had went out of my way to save him money i got the job

[Fekin]

So, with the looks of it, you guys seem to have most customers wanting you to remove them too then.

Only thing is, I have removed old tiles from a few bathroom walls, and I've found they either come off like 6 or 8 at a time in large patches and have left the plaster quite tidy and can do the whole room in a couple of hours max, or their like cemented on and only break away chip after chip, and can take upto 2 bloody days to remove.

[stumac]

Originally Posted by Fekin

So, with the looks of it, you guys seem to have most customers wanting you to remove them too then.

Only thing is, I have removed old tiles from a few bathroom walls, and I've found they either come off like 6 or 8 at a time in large patches and have left the plaster quite tidy and can do the whole room in a couple of hours max, or their like cemented on and only break away chip after chip, and can take upto 2 bloody days to remove.

your dead right thats why i always try to talk them into doing it

[Varley]

You never know what it's gonna be like until you start trying to remove them, warn the customer that it could take up to ???days.

[Fekin]

I wouldn't mind if you were able to quickly knock a couple off to see what they were stuck on like before quoting for removal, but that ain't really possible either, as I've had with the looks of it, 3 different adhesives used on my bathroom walls when it had last been tiled.
Some came off brilliantly, some quite hard and others just bit at a time as they had been fixed with different adhesives, even on the same flippin wall for cryin out loude, lol

[Varley]

Lol, nightmare mate, get yourself an sds drill, but be carefull not to cause damage to surrounding property as bits of tile will go flying around.

[Fekin]

Yeah, I've thought about an "SDS" but never used one yet, just me old faithful brick bolster n hammer

[Varley]

No wonder it's taking you a long time, if your gonna be doing a lot of tile removal then its worth the investment.

[faithhealer]

last bathroom I stripped was FOUR tiles 'deep', varleys right, sds hammer drill, not much plaster left though!!!