Sounds like quite the ordeal you're going to be going through. Good luck!!

As to advice, you might try dampening down the tile/thinset/grout as you break it up and see if that helps keep the dust down. And at the end of each day, vacuum up any dust with your shop vac. We tore out two layers of flooring [vinyl] last summer, and had to scrap up dried taping mud off the subfloor from when the house was built so we kept the shop vac in the dining room, and vacuumed good at the end of work each day. It kept things remarkably clean considering all things.

As for moving stuff out of the house, it's hard to know what to do as you'll probably discover as we did that it's amazing how much room everything in your cabinets and whatnot take up. I would just make sure the things I needed on a daily basis, or used frequently were easy to get to. We had to take all our lower cabinets out which necessitated having all the drawers stacked on the floor in the room my husband uses for his mancave as the garage was full of construction materials and cabinets. When you've got a mess on your hands, keep in mind your new floor, and that it will only be that way for a month or so.

Thanks Hayley! Especially for the Wet Down idea and reminder to keep frequently used items out:)

Have you seen my "Operation Bubble"?

Zip Poles and light weight poly work great for making dust walls.

Have not, but will check it out. Thx

John, where can I find info on your Operation Bubble?

kcarty1....John shares lots of very helpful info, here in his ideabooks and on his blog.

This is one ideabook I saved for our remodel. https://www.houzz.com/magazine/out-with-the-old-tile-8-steps-to-prep-for-demolition-stsetivw-vs~17495952

I turned off the furnace and placed an old box fan in a window to blow dust OUT. Also covered return air vent in the room that was being worked in.

Thank you everyone!
Wanted to pass along what we ended up doing. Found a link to a company called Dust Ram that does dust-free tile removal. The co that removed my floors took 1.5 days and there was NO dust. I paid more but it was money wellll spent. (compared to 3

Took 1.5 days instead of 3 days i was quoted by my wood floor installer.
I was amazed by their work. I would never do it any other way again. Highly recommend thus system!!

We would suggest our product, the Curtain-Wall dust abatement system, as a contractor-grade solution to dust control. Curtain-Wall offers a number of door and cube modules as well as HEPA filtration and sticky floor mats so no dust tracks into the home from the work space. Sets up in minutes and is completely reusable. Check out http://www.toollab.com/curtain-wall/

Old post - nice product, though.

900 sqft of tile removal will create a massive amount of dust, just as kcarty1 has said. The average amount of thin-set dust from tile remove is about one pound per square foot. That's 900 lbs. for this project! The problem with this dust is that it is very unhealthy for you and your family (it contains “silica,” a dangerous carcinogenic material). It is also very fine and travels far and settles in every nook and cranny of your home. It gets on the walls, ceiling, inside the cabinets, and even inside AC duct work. The other problem is that a standard shop vac (regardless of the filter used) will plug up within the first couple of minutes of use.

The definitive answer to this problem is "Virtually Dust Free Tile Removal". Our company specializes in this application and uses cutting edge equipment that was specifically designed for dust free flooring removal. We use powerful industrial Hepa-filtered dust collection vacuums that won't plug up when used for this application. Our chipping hammers, grinders and even waste collection bins are tooled with incredibly powerful vacuum ports that keep the finest dust particles from entering the air and escaping into and settling in your home.

This is one area of home improvement that you should really consider calling a professional.

Ground Zero Floors: We provide Dust Free Tile Removal Sevices in the Greater Houston Area. GroundZeroFloors.com

Austin Dustless Floor Removal provides a safe, fast, clean and affordable way of removing tile from your home or business. Unfortunately the traditional ways of removing tile is time consuming, hazardous to everyone’s health, and just plain messy. Dust goes everywhere…on walls, windows, curtains, furniture, computers & electronics, clothes, inside cabinets and air ducts… literally everywhere! And even worse, it continues to show up on everything for the next year or so! This is costly in terms of time, heath and cleaning cost. Austin Dustless Floor Removal has the equipment and knowledge to remove tile quickly while capturing 99% of the dust, which will make the job go as smoothly as possible. http://txfloorremoval.com/

Does anyone know of a dust free tile removal service in Southern California? I can only see companies in Houston, AZ, FL and a Dust Ram option in Fresno which I'm sure is too far.

http://dustfreetileremoval.net/

http://www.doitdustfree.com/

Hello my name is Marquis Ross and I am proud to be one of many professionals employed by Cen Cal Tile. We specialize in dust free tile and floor removal but our dust free services are not limited by this fact.We are California's only Dust Ram certified contractor.We would love to be apart of your future projects.

For more info or questions regarding your flooring project, please give me a call at Marquis:559-930-7036 and I will accommodate your needs with pleasure.

Thank You,

Professionally Marquis Ross

also check out our website http://www.doitdustfree.com/

Location:California

I noticed that people have mentioned the term "virtually dust free" and it's really a term that we have seen since most tile removal companies have no idea how to remove tile dust free.

Here is an article explaining it:

https://tileremoval.net/virtually-dust-free-warning/

There is more information on DustRam.com and a list of contractors as well who offer competely dust free tile removal:

http://www.dustram.com/

Homeowners should watch this video below to see just what can happen if you pick a cheap tile removal company:

Thank you for your interest.

Karen, how much more (price per square foot) is the dustless tile removal vs traditional removal?

Most quotes are between $2.5 - $5 per SF depending on the under layment.

People say "virtually dust free" because there is no system that is 100% dustless. Look into their reviews and see what contractors are saying about the company. The cost is between $2.5 to $4. for dustless removal here in Texas. Hope this helps.

You can attach vacuums to your tools and equipment, you'll be able to remove the majority of dust as it’s formed. It will reduce the amount of dust that will be in the air that would normally settle.

I hope that helps.

If not, please contact these guys. They might help you.

Floor Removal

any metro atlanta companies that do the dustless/low dust removal?

I did my own tile removal with a 2 man team. One person using a sds rotary hammer to remove tile and the other using a ridgid shop vac with HEPA like filtration (green bags). It was a great system except I noticed the shop vac was coated in dust! I don’t think these filters are very good and didn’t know about dustless service. Would hire a professional had I know the filters would not keep the dust in and likely made matters worst by blowing dust out!

Pleas note that tile removal is very toxic. The glaze on the old tile likely has lead and the silica from the grout is very fine and can be inhaled easily. Get the pros to do it.