Guess one or two of you will have done this before.
Whilst off work and no income ( one of the 5% ) I have decided to brave it and refit our on-suit bathroom.

Unfortunately our floor has been tiled, yes on wood-chip floor, doesn't appear to of been boarded underneath.
I thought I wood attempt to remove a tile to see just how much damage it causes.
So far 6 drill bits drilling out the grout between just 2 tiles and have ordered grout tool.

So question is, is it better just to tile over the top, yes it will raise the floor level but thats an acceptable level or does someone have a good idea for removing them ?

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I would tile over them.

I can see no real problems in tiling over existing tiles, just avoid lining up any joins in upper and lower levels, to avoid possible cracking in future.
As for increasing floor height, it would be no different than boarding out anyway, and careful shaping of floor join at doorway will overcome any trip hazard. It would also save any re-levelling of damaged woodchip floor.

I boarded out my upstairs bathroom, with ply, prior to tiling, over a wooden floor. All OK. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
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If tiling onto timber floor glue down sheets of 4 or 6mm cement sheeting first. If the timber floor is a bit loose or squeeky, screw it down thoroughly first as you won't get another chance.

Preferably use double pressed tiles. Big tiles look good in a small space.


https://www.bunnings.com.au/diy-advice/flo...loor-tiles Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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Last edited by Lightwater on 8th Jun 2020 11:16 am. Edited 1 time in total

Two layers of ceramic is a real bodge To get them up , You need a 4” chisel blade on a big SDS hammer drill that has chisel setting . You can rent them, although we bought a Draper one for about £60 and the chisel for £15 . It did a few Family bathrooms before it was lent out and never came back ! You just need to get the first tile out ( shatter it ) then the others will pop easily using the chisel at a shallow angle . You can buy a big bladed floor scraper on a brush handle from Wickes to help scrape the boards underneath .
If the chipboard does needs to come up yo access pipes etc , you’ll find the screw heads are probably corroded or clagged up . The easy method around this is to use a 30mm hole saw without the pilot drill . Start with the saw at an angle then when it’s biting go to vertical and cut a core around the screw , quick and clean . You can then break the core off when the board is up and use grips to turn the screw out . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

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In 2010 I a bought a Bosch GSH388 SDS demolition hammer, 1150 watts, 2800 bpm, 10/8 J, 4.9 kg. Used it for removing tiles from a 1950s bathroom which had brick walls & concrete floor. Tiles were cemented on, well & truely!

For a relatively unfit person I found it a touch heavy for the walls, & not quite powerful enough for the floor. Have used it a couple of times since for minor things. I could take my time as I did not have to return it. So less chance of an accident by not rushing.

Get a demolition hammer & not a rotary hammer as they are built for demolition & have higher energy output.

I got someone to lay the tiles.
 Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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Some years ago I tiled the floor just inside the front door. Job was completed at about midnight so off to bed and wife decides to put the milk bottles out for the morning. She discovers that the front door won't open because of the tiles. I then realise that if I can't get the door open I can't get to the hinges to get the door off. Only one solution - get the tiles up before they set so one hour later I am back where I started. Absolute disaster of a job.  3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
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I bet you weren't laughing at the time! A family joke that you will be reminded of for eternity!

The one thing I asked my tilers to do was have one height between kitchen & bathroom, it was easy & they couldn't get that right. Bathroom is a bit higher!

At least the door closes & the tiles slope a touch back to the shower for flooding, previously the floor sloped to the door! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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Thank you every body for your contributions
martyn b you will be pleased to hear took your advice and took them all up. I hate bodges
I used a 6 inch bolster chisel and heavy hammer rather than a jack hammer as it was upstairs, didn't want to cause any further damage with shock vibration.
Interestingly my neighbour suggested wacking each floor tile 4 times in an x shape to shock crack the glue underside. I had an old automotive deadshock hammer, huge one filled with heavy sand. Wow, what a difference, each tile came up a treat, the two I didn't shock shattered into loads of pieces and took ages to chisel up.

Now onto the next bit of installing Jaguar x-type sport gone
Jaguar x-type 2.2d sport one of my best cars ever sadly gone
Freelander 2 GS auto 2008 most unreliable ever ! gladly gone
Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !