# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Removing screed, tiles and the adhesives! How far do you go?

## jimmijamz

Hi all, 
When the demolition guys give you a quote of $1200 for removing all tiles in your bathroom. It's a really good deal! It is back-breaking work and especially dusty... 
I am renovating my bathroom and using the ozito hammer drill. I have taken all the tiles off and at some points down to the substrate. Yes, past the tiles and past the screed/ cement bed... there are still pockets of screed left however it is like 5-10mm of the original 20-30mm bed. (see attached picture) 
My question is ... is this sufficient? Or do you need to take EVERYTHING down to the substrate including any left overs! ie. totally clean substrate of sand cement? or can you still lave those 5mm pockets???  :Yikes2:  
My second question with regards to the original wall tiles along the perimeter... Do you need to take off the adhesives pictured? Or can the tiler use this as a base for their new adhesive?   Is there an easy way to rip this off too?

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## commodorenut

If I was in your shoes (thankfully it was 9 & 4 years ago respectively, and I haven't had to do one since), then I'd be happy with the floor, and work up from it - providing the remnants of screed are quite solid. 
The walls however - I'd be working more on them, and at the bare minimum, getting rid of the old tile backing net.  It would be ideal to get rid of all the glue back to the base substrate, as it's likely to hold your bottom row of tiles out too far (or give you insufficient depth for new adhesive on the bottom row).

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## Scottythetiler

its fun isnt it .....NOT lol 
depends if you're going to waterproof the floor before the new screed or to screed then waterproof?  i have seen worse floors that then get waterproofed over.  if it were my house i'd want it taken back to nothing but apart from making me feel better, it wont be any different than screeding over what you have now.   
just make sure that whatever you do to it, the floor is dust free and primed.

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## jimmijamz

Thanks for the responses guys... 
What's the easiest way to get rid of the screed now? Should i still use the hammer drill? (Neighbours have complained profusely... there's 100 in the building getting the vibrations!  :Wink:  )    Or can you use a belt sander ? 
With regards to the tile net backing... is there an easy way to remove this? Is there not a sharper tool than the masonary set similar to the paint scrapers that could be attached?  
Scotty, i'm really daft, but the screed is sand cement... how can it be dust free? Or do you mean just give it a good one or twice over with vaccuum? 
Additionally, with the priming. What needs to be done there? i'm very unfamiliar with the process. I have yet to get a tiler on-board however whatever i can do now to save a bit of $ its great!

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## Scottythetiler

i think your neighbours just need to be understanding for 1 more crack at it mate.  as to the net backing, a brick splitter/bolster will work with a hammer quite well.  it is like a 100mm wide chisel thats not razor sharp. 
yes i just meant to vacuum whats there the best you can so that it stops flaking/rubbing away.  with the priming, either use bondcrete or for a cheaper alternative, just look for a primer at bunnings or a tile supplies shop, it'll do a similar job.  application is as basic as spreading it around with a dust pan brush.  primer will stop the current cement from sucking the moisture out of the new layer and aid will the adhesion of anything else on top of it.  it's usually a milky substance and comes in white, blue or pink (different brands etc)

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## jimmijamz

> i think your neighbours just need to be understanding for 1 more crack at it mate.  as to the net backing, a brick splitter/bolster will work with a hammer quite well.  it is like a 100mm wide chisel thats not razor sharp. 
> yes i just meant to vacuum whats there the best you can so that it stops flaking/rubbing away.  with the priming, either use bondcrete or for a cheaper alternative, just look for a primer at bunnings or a tile supplies shop, it'll do a similar job.  application is as basic as spreading it around with a dust pan brush.  primer will stop the current cement from sucking the moisture out of the new layer and aid will the adhesion of anything else on top of it.  it's usually a milky substance and comes in white, blue or pink (different brands etc)

  
After messing with chisels and the razor scraper, the hammer drill still works best. However it a real workout! Kudos to the guys you do this day in and out.

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## jimmijamz

On the same topic... i have began working on the walls..
Now the walls are even harder than removing the floor tiles... With the floors you can go crazy and rip up everything in it's way including the tiles, adhesive and screed.  
With the wall tiles... i am curious if people take it back to the concrete?
I have tried to be careful and only take off the tiles however, the tile adhesive is still sticking 2-3mm above the wall. It is too laboursome to try to get back to the rendered wall without digging into render and hitting the original concrete wall. (see pictures - i cant explain this properly?).
As you can see in the pictures it is all spotty, areas of tile fragments, areas of exposed tile adhsives, areas of render (adhesive removed) and spots where i even hit the concrete wall. 
Am i right to think, it doesn't really matter how deep you go.. the tiler SHOULD render the walls covering any adhesives, missed tiles fragments, concrete exposed walls. the only issue here is that obviously he would make the render as thicker to cover all the above. 
Otherwise... is there any issue to take it back to the concrete and re-render from there?

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## jimmijamz

I'll answer my own question and say that i've taken it back to the concrete. I should of done this from the start.. wasted so much time and effort .. just trying to remove the top lay of tile and adhesive. 
Just be careful though.. you may hit some pipes!!

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## mugatu

Hey Jimmi, I feel your pain just done a similar thing and neighbours directly above complained as they do so shift work. Well who would of thought 2pm on a Saturday people would be sleeping  :Smilie:  
Did it with the Ozito also, but paid for a new blade and tiles and glue popped off even easier. Well a few coats of paint and hopefully finished for us. Ended up taking down to brick as I've previously spent too much time on another place messing around on walls.

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