I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it is a lot of work. The only thing that makes it easier is if the old floor is in bad shape and the tiles are coming loose.

If the tile is on a concrete slab rent an air hammer with a flat bit and it will still be alot of work. On a wood subfloor many times you can hit the tile with a hammer and they will bounce off or at least break up. I've taken up many tile floors. Some are very easy some very hard. Best answer I can give.

Wear eye protection if you are going to use any kind of impact tool, even a hammer.

"On a wood subfloor many times you can hit the tile with a hammer and they will bounce off or at least break up."

It is still easier to attack the joint at its weakest point, tension.

A drilling hammer and a chisel (or an electric hammer) aimed at the edge of the tile will pop them off from any substrate,

It is a cement slab. After looking at some more videos on you tube I've pretty much determined this is a major major undertaking that will be very difficult. Unfortunately the old floor appears to be in very good condition, i.e., stuck very well indeed. I don't know what I'm going to do. This is my 'end home', plan to be here pretty much forever and have a floor, ktichen cabinets and counter tops I really can't stand. I post a couple of pics shortly. I layed down a floating laminate floor over the tile without doing any damage to the tile at all, could easily pull it up and go back to tile - I don't know, so much confusion.

splais-
Are you talking about ceramic tiles or vinyl tiles (which often used to contain asbestos)?

it's 12" ceramic tiles.

get estimates from flooring contractors in your area to break it up and prep the floor for you to re-tile or whatever flooring you have in mind to replace with. If you have the equipment,( truck/trailer) to haul off the old, or get the floorers to include haul off in their bid.

Other than that, take don92's adise..."If the tile is on a concrete slab rent an air hammer with a flat bit" and get busy.

It's not complex, but it is dusty, physically taxing work and you've got a lot of square footage. Like the others said, rent an electric hammer and chisel away. It's great for building upper body strength. :-)

I took up a ceramic tile floor a few years ago and getting it up was not the hard part. After getting it started with a chisel and a heavy hand sledge, I was able to pop them up with a long handled pry bar I found at Home Depot. The mortar base for the tiles had been built on a 3/4" plywood floor. The worst part was the removal of the shattered tile and mortar base. I carried them outside in 5 gallon buckets to a tarp on the driveway. I called in for a small dumpster for construction debris. That service sent the two guys with the dumpster who loaded up the debris off the tarp. They had the stuff out of there quick. It was very inexpensive. Good luck to you.

LOOKING FOR A WAY TO GET GLUE FROM CONCREATE FLOOR....

What type of flooring was pulled up so we know what type of "glue"