I broke a couple of ceramic kitchen tiles right in front of the sink.I can’t find a color match, however if I could remove a couple from under the built in desk I would be in good shape, What technique could I use to not break them.
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Prayer?
Look for loose ones where you could take them? Modern thinset, or some old stuff?
I'd try several in a covered place - statistically, you may get enough whole. Grind or cut out the grout; try to shear the morter joint with a stiff 3" putty knife and a rubber hammer- don't try to pry the tile.
Grind the thinset/morter of the back with a stone or side grinder.
We did do several 100+ year-old fireplaces like that in our own house, but DW spent many hours grinding.
Forrest
I have no idea if this would actually work or not - but it sure did, by mistake, for me.The previous home owner to me had covered the concrete front porch deck in pretty hideous 6x6 terra-cotta looking tiles - and some had lifted. I would ocassionally take a swing at the others, but they would only lift with a lot of hammering, and a tremendous amount of effort and so I gave up, letting nature take its course while awaiting the complete porch job, now underway.Then the dog got skunked one night, and we mixed up a batch of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap as per numerous WWW recipes. Lots of foaming and bubbling action. Worked very well on the dog but also lots of spillage (apparently she only stands still while being skunked). Next morning the tiles were popping off with people walking on them. Woo hoo !Best thing the dog ever did. (the second and third time, not so much). We postulated that the dish soap was probably superfluous, but tried the rest of the mix a little further over, and it seemed to work on the rest of the tiles as well - I'm sure there's a chemist on the site somewhere who could maybe come up with a why that relates to the type of mortar mix initially used and perhaps these specific tiles, but these were surrounded by a grout, and some were cemented down with some thinset and others with glue. Glued tiles came up and the glue stayed on the concrete. The thinset ones the thinset just seemed to turn dusty.Might be worth a shot... I'd probably want to scrape as much grout out first as I could to increase the penetration, and also try and limit the impact on surrounding tiles. Dremel does have a diamond grout removal blade that seems to work well on the Multi.
Gavin Pitchford
"Sail fast - live slow" (build even slower)
Sounds like kinda lot of work. First he has to get a dog, then the dog has to get skunked etc. Even if he gets a dog, if it doesn't get skunked those tiles will be on there for a long time.
That is a job where a Multi-master or one of the clones would probably be helpful.
McDesign's suggestion for prayer is probably the best one you'll get.
If you can get all of the grout and all of the thinset out of the joints, you might be able to lift a couple from a hidden area.
I'd probably use the multimaster to cut through the subfloor, hoping to pry it up with the tile. Do that again with the broken ones, and you should be able to make the swap.
But those prayers are still in order -- if the subfloor is both glued and screwed, then so are you.
If you have one exposed edge and remove the grout on the other three sides, you might be able to get a wire saw under the tile.
If you don't have a free edge, you might have to sacrifice one tile.
Fair point is the type/age of setting. If 'modern' thinset you have a chance with the multimaster and a diamond blade ($100 BTW). If a more period-type portland setting bed you almost don't have a chance of getting tile off intact. Don't ask me how I know :o(
Worse comes to worse, use a Multimaster or small grit saw to cut all the way through and remove the backer with the tile, then scrape/grind off the backer.
The other alternative is to make this a "feature" -- install some mosaics in place of the broken tile, and in a few other random spots.
""...install some mosaics in place of the broken tile, and in a few other random spots."" With my luck the tiles I was removing to make the random spots would all come up in one piece....
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
It's a bit of a long shot, but you might be able to find replacements. A really good tile guy can sometimes "read" the markings on the back of a piece of tile and tell who made it.
If you can get enough of a broken tile to see the back, take it to a "for real" tile store and see if they can help you. Don't bother going to a big box - lol.
I've done this a couple of times and in one case the tile store sent me to one of their competitors.