replacing accent tiles

[cooking]

 My bathroom floor has a ceramic tiles in sound condition.  The problem is, it has accent tiles in an ugly and outdated powder blue color.  Any suggestions on how to remove the accent tiles so that I can replace them without breaking/chipping the field tiles?  I'd like to spare the environment the disposal of all the tiles, not to mention the cost and disruption and mess of a tear out and new tile job.

[Radagast]

My bathroom floor has a ceramic tiles in sound condition.  The problem is, it has accent tiles in an ugly and outdated powder blue color.  Any suggestions on how to remove the accent tiles so that I can replace them without breaking/chipping the field tiles?  I'd like to spare the environment the disposal of all the tiles, not to mention the cost and disruption and mess of a tear out and new tile job.

This is based on my experience adding new tiles more than removing old ones, so hopefully another more expert can chime in. You should be able to just whack it lightly with a hammer and possibly dull chisel, cracking the center and allowing it to fall out. Often the backs of tiles do not adhere strongly to the mortar which lets it come off pretty easily. After the tile is out gently chip away the surrounding grout to make room for the new tile. Then put in the new tile and do your best to match and fade in the new grout.

[misshathaway]

You could paint and seal them instead. They have paints for everything these days. I did one wall tile that was damaged. It's still fine 10 years later but it isn't subjected to daily foot traffic.

[lthenderson]

Depends greatly on size, location to surround tiles and how many of them there are. Generally if there were a number of them and they were scattered out versus a row of them, the labor to remove and replace just the accent tiles would be much more than the labor of just redoing the entire floor. Ideally you need to carefully chip the grout out all around the tile and carefully break up and remove the tile along with adhesive down to the subfloor. If everything is properly installed, you still run some risk of damaging the surrounding tile during this process. If you have lots of tiles to remove, this risk probably guarantees you might damage a tile somewhere along the line and have to replace it as well. Sometimes finding replacement accent tiles the same size and thickness can be a challenging task as well.

[cooking]

You could paint and seal them instead. They have paints for everything these days. I did one wall tile that was damaged. It's still fine 10 years later but it isn't subjected to daily foot traffic.

Yeah I thought about painting but it is a floor, and the only bathroom in the house, so foot traffic is a concern.  I am thinking of painting the same color blue wall tiles in that bath (floor to ceiling, no less!), though.  I will let you know how that comes out, maybe even post pics if I can figure out how to do so.

Depends greatly on size, location to surround tiles and how many of them there are. Generally if there were a number of them and they were scattered out versus a row of them, the labor to remove and replace just the accent tiles would be much more than the labor of just redoing the entire floor. Ideally you need to carefully chip the grout out all around the tile and carefully break up and remove the tile along with adhesive down to the subfloor. If everything is properly installed, you still run some risk of damaging the surrounding tile during this process. If you have lots of tiles to remove, this risk probably guarantees you might damage a tile somewhere along the line and have to replace it as well. Sometimes finding replacement accent tiles the same size and thickness can be a challenging task as well.

There are 111 accent tiles.  I'm sure you're correct about the cost of labor.  However, my daughter is partially unemployed right now, so I've been trying to help both of us out by hiring her to do jobs in my house, and this would be one of those.  Better to give the $ to her than seek an outsider to lay new tile, and cause more environmental damage, mess and disruption to family routine in our sole bathroom.  I did find replacement tiles of the correct depth and size that I'm very happy with in a mosaic supply place.

I guess I was hoping that after carefully cracking the accent tile, there was some kind of liquid that could be applied with a hypodermic-type needle to soften the thinset underneath before prying it out.

Also, this is going to sound crazy, but.....I thought I read something years ago about removing vinyl or linoleum type floors using dry ice?  Like I said, sounds crazy.

Thanks to all of you who have given a shot at answering.