My wife sent me to pick up some used floor tile. It still has the stuff (plaster? grout? whatever?) on the back of the tile. Can this be reused? Do I have to get the old stuff off? It is on there pretty uniformly.
We lay ceramic tile for a living and yes you can reuse that tile...bad new is that the stuff on the back is thinset and it must be removed and then new be reapplied to set the tile on your floor
You could use this again if you want. The biggest thing is the thinset mortar on the backs and grout on the edges. If the mortar on the back is uniform, there's not much problem, but it will add to the overall height of the floor. You will also need to pay attention when re-installing to keep your top surface uniform (flat so that you don't have raised or low corners). As for grout on the sides, it can be removed painstakingly using some ceramic tile nippers. If there's a lot on the surface of the tile, it may be hard to get it cleaned effectively so that all looks good. Bottom line, you can reuse it. However, there could be a lot of labor involved in getting it ready for installing it. Unless it was really special, I'd look for something new - especially if you're going to install it in a large area.
Yes it can be re-used, and thin set, or latex based mortars can be removed,,,with caution. I'm doing remediations constantly at one job site in a building prone to flooding. I have an ongoing part time career with 11,000 sq. ft. of tile.The tile used 2 years ago is no longer in stock, but continues to POP due to ground level water seepage. I use a Diag. Grinder, with a tile cutting blade, cut out grout, lift the tile, flip it, grind down the thinset to a reasonable level, and re-install. The bad news is the job is tedious. The good news is that the job is tedious,,, smiles. It saves the current floor however. Certainly, aside from safety precautions one might expect, the tile is fragile as well, and unless you have more, than you will use in this purchase which I always manage anyway, on a job site, by no less than 10% for waste, etc, You may find that treating the old tile as if it was a fresh egg is your best way to proceed. Steven Wolf
