Old house remodelling: Removing old tile & glue
When you live in old house like I do, remodeling is always a challenge and a surprise. I am currently involved in a major kitchen remodel. Our kitchen like many kitchens, has seen better days. It was installed in the house was built back in 1945 and I'm sure it's has served its previous owners well. However, modern kitchens are large and open. This kitchen, like most kitchens of its era, a small enclosed off. We decided to open the kitchen out by removing part of the wall, removing old tile from the walls, and updating the entire kitchen with new cabinets and appliances.
Our first surprise came when we moved the refrigerator from its current
location. The refrigerator sat up on a platform about 1 inch off the
kitchen floor. We never gave it much thought and assumed that it had
always been like that. When I move the refrigerator and lifted up the
old flooring, I discovered why. Plumbing from the sink did not go through
the floor to join a drain pipe in the basement. It did, however, run
across the floor and under the refrigerator. This required some major
engineering to move the drain line for the new sink and dishwasher.
Surprise number two was the ceramic tile on the walls. The ceramic tile
wound up not being ceramic tile at all! It was tin tile that was glued
to a masonite backing board. The backing board was itself glued to the
plaster walls and nailed every eight to 10 inches. So while the tiles
came down very easily using just a screwdriver, getting they masonite
backing board off the plaster was a nightmare. Not only were the plaster
walls full of holes from the nails, big globs of glue was smeared all
over the walls. At first I tried sanding. All that did was create a
cloud of dust. After two hours of creating dust clouds I had only managed
in clearing off a 2' x 2' square area. I talked to a number of contractors
who only shook their heads and offered me luck in removing the glue
from the walls. Someone suggested I use glue remover but I didn't want
the fumes in the house. Someone else suggested a strong scraper but
I wasn't strong enough to remove this glue. Finally, someone suggested
a heat gun. I was skeptical. How would a little heat gun remove 60 years
of hard and glue? Much to my surprise, it worked! Now it didn't work
easily. It was still a lot of hard work, but by working slowly, and
steadily, I was able to remove all remnants of glue in about four days.
I hope this tip and technique helps you if you ever encounter a similar
situation. I know what I first started removing the glue from the wall,
I would get discouraged thinking it would never end. However, by working
slowly and steadily, I managed to get a little bit done each and every
hour. I took frequent breaks, and went outside for a breather every
couple of hours. It didn't help that I was doing this in the middle
of summer when the temperature was in the 90s. However with perseverance,
this task can be finished easily. And if you do it yourself, you'll
save all the money that you would pay contractor to do the exact same
thing.
About The Author
Dean Novosat is an avid do-it-yourselfer and remodeler. He writes for
http://build-decks-patios.com and http://www.the-kitchen-designer.com
and http://www.the-bathroom-designer.com.