When it comes to completing a home makeover project as affordably as possible, many look to go the DIY route wherever they can, alongside using low-cost materials such as bathroom wall panels instead of tiles. Some DIY tasks can be done without professional assistance fairly easily – painting, installing fixtures and fittings and such are all tasks that many homeowners often opt to complete for themselves.

However, some tasks are a little more intimidating at face value, such as removing tiles from walls of bathrooms and kitchens. You might be wondering how to remove tiles from a wall, whether it is a bathroom or a kitchen. It is possible to remove tiles from a wall without hiring a professional, as long as you are prepared for the process.

Luckily, if you use our guide to DIY tile removal there’s no reason why you can’t remove tiles from the walls of your home!

Collecting the correct tools and preparing your workspace

Preparation is key! It’s worth getting all of the tools and materials that you’ll need within reach before you begin.

You will need:

  • Hammer
  • Grout removal tool
  • Chisel
  • Sandpaper or electric sanding tool
  • Scraper
  • Masking tape
  • Safety goggles
  • Thick work gloves
  • Face mask (preferably a dust mask)

Ensuring you have the right tool to remove tiles on a wall will help to keep the process as pain-free as possible.

Make sure that you’ve prepared your working area properly before you start, too. DIY tile removal can be a messy process, so be sure to lay down some card, newspaper, tarpaulin or an old bedsheet to protect the surfaces below the wall. We’d also advise wearing clothes that you aren’t too worried about getting dirty.

Finally, ensure that you’re giving yourself the best possible access to your workspace – move or tidy away anything that might get in the way whilst you’re working with the tiles.

How to remove tiles from a wall

1. Remove the grout

The first step to removing the tiles from a wall is removing the grout in between them.

While this tends to be a little more difficult and time-consuming with wall tiles than it is with tiled flooring, it’s no more complicated – all you need to do is scrape the grout away.

The key here is to select the best tool for you and to persist with this part of the process.

There are a wide range of tools on the market that can be used for this particular purpose – everything from dedicated grout removal tools to a standard scraper, though the latter is likely to lead to the most arduous removal process.

Other suitable tools for this part of the process include angle grinders, hand tools with serrated scraping and grinding attachments and rugged blade attachments for standard reciprocating saws.

If you’re removing the full wall of tiles, you should begin by scraping away the grout around the edges – between the tiles and the ceiling, floor and adjacent walls.

This may make it easier to remove the full wall of tiles without the need to scrape the grout away from between every tile.

2. Remove tiles from wall

You’ll need your hammer and chisel to hand for this part!

Give each tile a tap with the handle of the chisel and see if you can identify a tile that feels looser than the others – this tile is always a good starting point.

If you can’t find a loose tile, start with a tile from one of the top corners of the wall.

Now, position the chisel above the tile, in between the tile and the wall if you can. Tap the end of your chisel with the hammer, ensuring you don’t do this too aggressively in order to avoid damaging the wall underneath.

If you’re gentle enough, each tile might come away from the wall in one piece. Not only will this make the whole process quicker and easier, but it will make it less messy, too – this is one task where it certainly pays to be careful.

If you do have to break the tiles to remove them, try to keep your hammer movements careful and gentle and your chisel shallow to avoid damaging the wall.

If you’re attempting to remove tiles from a plasterboard wall, you’ll need to be extra delicate in order to avoid damaging the plaster below – persist and be patient.

3. Cleaning up the wall

Once you’ve removed the tiles, the next step is to remove the adhesive that was securing them to the walls, as there will likely be a few patches of this left behind.

Perhaps the easiest part of the process, all you need to do to remove the remaining adhesive is use the chisel to gently chip away at larger or thicker patches and use a scraper for any patches remaining after that.

Once the adhesive is all gone, simply sand down each area and leave the wall smooth and even, ready to be redecorated!

Can I remove wall tiles in one piece?

Whilst it might be more environmentally friendly to try to remove tiles in one piece, either to repurpose or to sell, it does take a lot longer and will require more expertise. If your tiles are looking tired, chipped or outdated, it’s probably not worth the effort required as they are unlikely to be reused. However, if you would still prefer to remove tiles in one piece, opt for a specialist tile scraper as this will have a wider, flatter head than a chisel.

Removing tiles from plasterboard

Removing tiles from plasterboard is the same as when you remove tiles from a wall. Simply chisel the tiles off the wall using the chisel and hammer, until the plasterboard is free of tile.

Removing tile adhesive from wall

Old tile adhesive can be removed from the walls with a chisel, or a scraper. If you’ve already followed the process to remove bathroom tiles or kitchen tiles, simply scrape off the adhesive. Where the adhesive is more stubborn, soften it up with some warm water.

What’s next?

With your wall cleared up, all that’s left is to decide what will replace the removed tiles.

Here at DBS, we offer a wide range of bathroom and kitchen wall panels designed to give your room a fresh and stylish new look at an affordable price – and you can even install them yourself.

Designed to incorporate a simple tongue and groove system, DBS Bathrooms wall panels can be installed onto any wall quickly, easily and without the need to call on professional decorators for help. And, if you want to switch up your style at a moment’s notice, they’re also considerably easier to remove than tiles, with far less clean up.

They’re also available in hundreds of different designs. With everything from classic gloss white wall panels – perfect for those looking to keep it simple - to elegant marble wall panels to sparkle wall panels for the most glamorous of homeowners, the DBS Bathrooms collection features something for everyone.

If you’d like a little inspiration before picking out your new wall panels, why not check out our rundown of Bathroom Trends For 2022 or browse the full collection of bathroom and kitchen panels here on our site?