Removing Tile From Drywall

Fortunately drywall is relatively easy to replace.

Removing tile from drywall.

Unfortunately if the tile was installed directly on drywall that hope is probably unrealistic. Also grout and mortar are gritty and can scratch the polished surface of a bathtub. Ceramic wall tiles provide an easy to clean surface for kitchen backsplashes and bathroom walls. Once the drywall surface is ready new tiles can be attached with tile adhesive or mastic.

In preparation i spent more time researching tiling than removing old tile. Removing tile adhesive from drywall is not an impossible process. Once you have it damages the drywall behind. Most likely though if the tiles were installed onto drywall the drywall will be damaged during removal.

This video demonstrates an easy way to remove glued on tile while keeping drywall damage to a minimum. A well installed tile job on drywall is not meant to be easy to remove. However it is unlikely that removing the adhesive will leave the drywall looking like new. Score the 1st tile you plan on starting with using the grout cutter.

Our tiles were pretty thick and attached to a thin cardboard sheet. Then make and x motion within the tile with the tile cutter. With the proper tools and care it still won t be easy but it will be possible to get the tile off and salvage it by. The adhesive bonding the tile will at a minimum pull the paper off the drywall and it may pull out some of the gypsum core in places.

The key is not using the wall for leverage. Since they are available in a wide. How to remove ceramic wall tile without damaging drywall. Tile grout and thinset mortar are cement based materials and are more difficult to remove than drywall mud.

You can try methods to minimize the damage but in the end you re probably going to have to do some drywall repair. The use of the right tools and materials combined with some elbow grease will remove most tile adhesives from drywall. Grout and mortar are not water soluble so the soak and scrape method as you might do for drywall compound will not work here.