Removing ceramic floor tile is one of the more difficult demolition jobs you'll ever face. Those things are set there for life, generally in mortar, and if you have to break them out with a sledgehammer, you'll basically be dealing with little ceramic grenades. The job becomes more manageable if the tiles were set on cement backer board nailed to a wood subfloor. Then all you have to do is get under the backer board and pry it up, and the tiles will come up with it, relatively intact.
Instructions
1. Break a row of tiles. Using your hammer and a chisel, start at the edge of the tiled area, like where they meet another flooring material or end at a doorway. Loosen each tile by breaking the grout lines with your chisel. Then force the chisel under the tiles, and tap it with the hammer until the tiles pop out. This should expose the cement board underneath.
2. Pulverize the exposed cement board. Using your hammer, making a big enough hole in the board to get your garden spade under it, wedging the spade between the underside of the board and the top of the plywood subfloor beneath.
3. Work the spade. Move it around until you've loosened the cement board enough to slip your crowbar under it.
4. Pry up the cement board. Working with your crowbar and garden spade, extract the cement board section by section, which will take the tiles up with it. Stop occasionally to remove the pieces of tile-covered cement board from the room.
5. Pull any remaining nails and sweep thoroughly.
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