Removing tiles, but damaging plasterboard

[theduffman]

I'm trying to remove the tiles from my bathroom wall. Using a bolster and a club hammer, I was getting on ok with the first few, but now I'm finding that there's a few where when I get the chisel in behind them, the plasterboard is just crumbling, and now giving anything for me to lever against.

What's the best plan of action for this?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Remove the plaster board with tiles, then just replace the plaster board ready for tiling.

Andy

 

[Richard C]

You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs & it’s usually inevitable that the plasterboard will be damaged to some extent. If damage is extensive, it’s often easier to accept it’s going to happen & replace the lot as stated; it may also be crumbling due to water damage. What size weight tiles will you be using? Raw plasterboard has a maximum weight limit of 32 kg/sqm & plaster only 20 kg/sqm which can be a problem if your planning large format tiles.

If your tiling a wet area, use waterproof tile backer board & tile straight onto that, it will also accept a much higher tile weight. If you use plasterboard in wet areas, it should be tanked if you want it to last. You can use plasterboard in dry areas but use Moisture Resistant not standard wall board. Tile straight onto PB, no need to plaster.

There are many things to catch you out with tiling, particularly if you intend tiling a suspended timber floor. I would advise you read the Tiling Sticky & Forum Archive posts before doing any work or buying tiling materials, it could prevent you making disastrous & potentially expensive mistakes. It’s important to use only quality trade tilling materials of the correct type for your tiles & tile base; cheapo own brand & DIY stuff is mostly crap.