The Detroit News. My mother is going to throw away a ceramic tile countertop. The top has 4-inch square tiles that are of great sentimental value to me. The tiles are glued to a piece of plywood. I tried to get one tile off, but I cracked it.
Ceramic tile is a brittle material.
In many respects it resembles concrete. Both have high compressive strength. But tile and concrete have low tensile strength, often as little as 10 percent of their compressive strength. Bending or twisting a material subjects it to tension. The first thing that needs to be done to even have the slightest chance of success is to remove the grout between each tile.