Removing Tile from a Plywood Subfloor

Tile is an attractive choice for any room of the home. When the tile flooring becomes damaged or old, the removal process can sometimes be challenging. Most professional contractors install tile over a backer board, which makes it fairly simple to remove. When the tile flooring is glued directly to a plywood subfloor the process is more difficult. But mostly people keep stone restoration at first priority.

Removing the First Tile from the Plywood Subfloor

Put on safety glasses and gloves and choose a tile toward the center of one of the outer floor edges. Place the tip of a chisel into the grout line at a 90-degree angle. Hit the chisel with a sledgehammer to break the grout.

Position the chisel at a 45-degree angle with the nearest tile once the grout has been removed. Hit the chisel to push it up underneath the tile and break the tile away from the wood subfloor. With some luck, the entire tile will come up in one piece. If the tile breaks up, keep chiseling until all of it is removed.

Create a Cross Section of Removed Tiles

Now that the first tile has been removed, the work should go a little quicker. But before power tools can be used, it is necessary to remove a few more additional tiles to make adequate room. Continue chiseling and removing the tiles in a straight line all the way across the room.

One the first line of tiles is removed, move to a location along the edge of the floor that runs perpendicular to the first line of removed tiles. Use the chisel and sledgehammer to remove an entire row of tiles in this direction as well. The result will look like a cross shape.

Remove the Remaining Tiles from the Plywood Subfloor with a Saw

Insert a 12-inch wood cutting blade onto a reciprocating saw. Turn on the saw and place the flat edge of the blade under one of the exposed tile edges. Push the blade of the saw in slightly so that it penetrates the very top layer of the plywood subfloor. Move the saw in short back and forth motions to remove the top layer of wood and the tiles. Continue until all of the tiles are removed from the wood subfloor.

Although the above process will salvage the plywood subfloor, if too much damage was done just rip the wood subfloor up and replace it. Place a layer of plywood or backer board on top of the damaged floor before installing any type of new flooring.