Old House Remodeling: Removing Old Tile and Glue -

Home
>
Home Improvement
>
Old House Remodeling: Removing Old Tile and Glue

Old House Remodeling: Removing Old Tile and 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.

Dean Novosat is an avid do-it-yourselfer and remodeler. He writes for http://build-decks-patios.com, http://for-gadget-guys.com, and http://www.the-kitchen-designer.com

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/science/story.html%3Fid%3D1017030cid=1276197396ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNG6j7D5uN2Txsg6rZKDQ0dhUvikaQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=_Eon_ssrLW0Jimgurl=a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.canada.com/topics/technology/science/1014673.bin%3Fsize%3Dl width=80 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Canada.com/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D9429975cid=1276197396ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNFVIZijbWcM9ylk_03xBI_6f2vrDgSpace Shuttle Crew bHome Improvement/b Project/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fKTNV Las Vegas,nbsp;NVnbsp;-/font nobrNov 30, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The space shuttle endeavour and its seven astronauts are making their way back to earth. The shuttle undocked from the international space station Friday b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DlE0yqH5wD9kcid=1276197396ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNFvOZOVmzWaaBNLZwUxx0-cwYyvFAVideo: Raw Video: Shuttle Endeavour Lands in Calif./a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAssociatedPress/nobr/fontobject width=448 height=356param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/lE0yqH5wD9k/paramparam name=wmode value=transparent/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/lE0yqH5wD9ktype=application/x-shockwave-flashwmode=transparentwidth=448height=356/embed/objectbr/fontfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.collegenews.com/index.php%3F/article/space_shuttle_endeavor_returns_home_2948566/cid=1276197396ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNEd0cg1jCCWscqAjjoIrdFNIeQXuwSpace shuttle Endeavor returns bhome/b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrCollege News/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/national/article/space_shuttle_endeavour_forced_to_make_westcoast_landing/17540/cid=1276197396ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNHxCaFoEZcdv5OIKEPqsrekPRyN3wSpace Shuttle Endeavour forced to make westcoast landing/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWCBD/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://chattahbox.com/science/2008/12/01/endeavour-makes-a-safe-landing-in-california/cid=1276197396ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNFjPJCyQez0oj4IQQfq21yJifTwPQnobrChattahBox/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08336/931908-84.stmcid=1276197396ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNE0MZwcLW0B45tWqQYfrIONMAFBiwnobrPittsburgh Post Gazette/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276197396hl=ennobrall 4,725 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4B000M20081201cid=1276195229ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNFKui3e6uHmidih5Id48OwNUaRuGgDespite drop in oil, Americans seal up for winter/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fReutersnbsp;-/font nobr20 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Across the northern United States, contractors, bhome improvement/b retailers and nonprofit groups report that such weatherization efforts continue apace, b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2008/11/29/news/news/news532.txtcid=0ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNHd5wjh8vZoRv7PR6rCPIZ9PE-OcAbHome improvement/b contracts regulated/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fDaily American Online,nbsp;PAnbsp;-/font nobrNov 29, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The bill will regulate written bhome improvement/b contracts and require contractors doing more than $5000 of work annually to be registered in the state. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%2520News/2056078/cid=0ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNGA4WSgabWYkYlYE3iUB_jTCmNHCwSecondhand bhome improvement/b stores stock big savings/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fTrading Markets (press release),nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobrNov 30, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The store is Stardust Building Supplies, a nonprofit organization that sells donated bhome improvement/b items at up to 80 percent off retail prices. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.antonnews.com/floralparkdispatch/2008/11/28/news/cid=0ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNHtvw4Y7RtAeN9MfH9W8UULvxq0ZQSenior Citizens Beware of Lame bHome Improvement/b Companies/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fFloral Park Dispatch,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobrNov 28, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Over the past year, at least three local senior citizens have been taken advantage of by an out-of-town bhome improvement/b contractor for tens of thousands of b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.register-news.com/sports/local_story_336101257.html%3Fkeyword%3Dtopstorycid=1276417635ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNFqswRFmEsBjqP8IseE0ZKuhVPlngLady Rams will continue to work toward bimprovement/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMt. Vernon Register-News,nbsp;ILnbsp;-/font nobr5 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1This will also be the team’s sixth straight game away from bhome/b, with the team’s first bhome/b game scheduled for Thursday. “It’sa huge challenge, b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/home/sfl-flhg28briefasbnov28,0,2118220.storycid=0ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNE0MIDPyYp__Vk0P9gUb1aPWZA4IQbHome improvement/b sometimes best left to pros/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fSun-Sentinel.com,nbsp;FLnbsp;-/font nobrNov 28, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Their column has been in syndication for 20 years, and they have written 20 bhome improvement/b books. Each week the Hamiltons will compare the cost of a b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp%3FaId%3D81046cid=1275689565ei=VVM0Sc-XD6GO6AOZuu2yBgusg=AFQjCNG2Ci-jhK6K7Vj192ONAawT9hrYIwDecember Is The Best Time For bHome Improvements/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWebWire (press release),nbsp;GAnbsp;-/font nobrNov 28, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1December is the most cost effective month to look for quotes for bhome improvements/b, Local Quoter has revealed. You may think of waiting for the January b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

home improvement - Google News