So, what kind of tile (glass? terrazzo? ceramic?) on what surface (floor? wall?)? Any idea when it was laid? The answers will tell us a little about the likely substrate and how much work it'll be to pull it up.

Have you tried a pry bar? If you don't know how well adhered it is, you won't know what tools to use.

I'm assuming you are removing it from a concrete subfloor.

The walk behind scraper may remove tile, but I have not seen any that do work on thinset left behind. In my experience this is where the bulk of the labor lies. I rented a Hilti TE 1000-AVR (demolition hammer) and broke out 400 sq ft of tile in about 10 hours. The last 50 sq ft of it were in tight spaces though, and I had to keep stopping to haul away debris.

If you have a helper to haul away debris and an open area to do with few interruptions you may be able to pull it off in one long day. Otherwise I would plan on taking two. This will create an insane amount of dust and tiny shards of tile so ventilation, taping areas off and shutting down the HVAC system, and PPE for you (ear protection, gloves, glasses/goggles and a mask) are essential here. I've been told that wetting the thinset after removing the tile helps, but have never tried it.

Before...

After... Note the crazy dust everywhere.

The tiles were laid 10 years ago and are 18 inch ceramic tiles laid over a concrete floor.

chris82:

It depends.

My wife shoveled our kitchen tile up in several hours, but I had to rent a demolition hammer for 2 tiles in the bathroom that were properly repaired. I spent as much time on the two and she did on the 200 and still damaged the concrete underneath.