PSA: My simple tile backsplash fix turned into a two-day grout nightmare

I had one cracked subway tile behind the sink, figured I'd pop it out and replace it in an hour. The old mortar was like concrete and I ended up damaging two adjacent tiles, so then I had to carefully chip out three tiles without wrecking the drywall, which took all of Saturday. Has anyone else found a good way to remove single tiles without starting a whole domino effect?

3 comments

3 Comments

gonzalez.anna3mo ago

My uncle is a contractor and he swears by a cheap oscillating tool with a diamond grit blade. You score the grout lines deep first, then work the blade under the tile at an angle. It makes a horrible dust cloud, but you can usually pop one out without touching its neighbors. Still takes patience, and you'll probably need to fix the wall behind it anyway.

the_blair3mo ago

How much drywall repair did you end up doing? I had the same thing happen and that dust from the oscillating tool gets absolutely everywhere.

fiona_scott442mo ago

My neighbor used that same diamond grit blade trick and ended up cracking three tiles next to it because the blade slipped. The dust cloud got so bad it settled into their AC vents and they had to spend $200 on a duct cleaning. I think people oversell these quick fixes when really you should just plan on replacing a bigger section of tile.