covering ceramic tile

[rieferman]

In front of our fireplace, there are two courses of 12" square ceramic tiles over top of concrete slab. No stranger to demolition, we tried some air powered impact tools, some sledge hammers, chisels, and various other grunting and groaning techniques... they're really really on there. One hour yielded removal of 1/4 of one tile and lots of sweat. I think I would need a jack hammer to get them off (which would make me and the wife both miserable since this is in our living room).

But, I can add a little height without affecting the room negatively. So, I'm looking to go on top of the tiles. She'd like wood flooring there.

How to attach the wood floor? Glue down MDF first? Glue the wood flooring directly to the ceramic and trim the edges?

 

[smschriefer]

Isn't the tile there as part of the fire code? I gather you are referencing your hearth and I think you are supposed to have a minimum of 20 inches of non-combustibles.

 

[ct71rr]

I would suggest renting/borrowing a roto hammer. I'm not sure if that was one of the tools you tried. You should be able to get them to pop off with one of the chisel attachments. I do not believe MDF is suitable to use as an underlayment. OSB or plywood would be better.

 

[rsanter]

Isn't the tile there as part of the fire code? I gather you are referencing your hearth and I think you are supposed to have a minimum of 20 inches of non-combustibles.

we need more info because Im thinking this is the correct answer

bob

 

[ct71rr]

we need more info because Im thinking this is the correct answer

bob

What he said. I think I misread that part of the post. Code (at least where I live) does not allow any combustibles within 12" of the fire box. You shoud have some type of stone/brick/tile hearth in front of the fire box.

 

[rieferman]

Hmmm... That makes sense. The fireplace opening has at least a 20 inch raised hearth, but there's a wood stove sitting on it... so then the previous owner must have added the ceramic to create 20 inches worth of protection in front of that wood stove.

With the safety code in mind, I could convince the wife to allow new tiles there..

The tool we tried to remove the old tiles had a chisel tip... We hoped it would pop the tiles off, but instead, piece by piece the tile would disintegrate.. Could never get down to concrete. Even with a sledge and brick chisel we had zero luck.

So, can I put new tile on top of old tile (which is in turn on top of solid cement)? So that there's not a sharp edge, I'm guessing there's some sort of trim detail that rounds it over?

 

[hardhat]

Just use a bull-nose edge of the tile and trim it accordingly. There are also metal edge profiles you can buy that have a curve in it. You install them before you tile. A bullnose edge is your best bet, just google them and youll see.

 

[PecosBill]

You can adhere to the top of existing tile, with the proper surface prep and thinset adhesive. A lot depends on the type of tile that is in place now. And as was mentioned above, there are various ways to trim changes of plane, like bullnose, quarter-round, or Schluter type trim metals.

 

[rieferman]

Perhaps I was using the wrong tool to try to remove before? In researching more, I see that a "power-chipping hammer" is the way to go. Looks like a hammer drill to me from the pictures I found on the web. The local rental outfit has them starting at $17 for 2 hours. Do you have any experience with this tool? Will it work on real ****** tiles? It'd be preferable to reduce the profile by going back down to original cement before applying new tiles.

 

[PecosBill]

A roto-hammer, or power chipper, is usually a tool that can be switched from hammer drill to hammer chipper. You can use a wide bit to get under the tile and pop them up.

 

[rieferman]

Nice, I'll be giving it a try next weekend most likely. I'll post my story afterwards. Thanks guys!

 

[ct71rr]

A roto-hammer, or power chipper, is usually a tool that can be switched from hammer drill to hammer chipper. You can use a wide bit to get under the tile and pop them up.

Thats what I was talking about. I had a blowout in the bottom of one of my forms and rolled in several large boulders to plug it. When it came time to remove the forms, I used my fathers Bosch demo hammer (looks similar to one in pic) to blast through the concrete and boulders. It worked great! You should have no problems removing the tile with one.