Question on used floor tiles

[FSogol]

Here's the background

A client want to sell her house, guts the kitchen and installs an expensive, thicker-than- normal ceramic tile that looks like white stone.
Her crummy contractor uses some form of adhesive on the bottom, lets it dry and put grout between them.
4 weeks later, the tile all comes up since the adhesive is not the proper stuff to set the tile in.
The client has it removed and installs a new floor with new tiles properly.
I inherit 250 sq feet of nice tile that was installed and removed. The tile is not broken, the adhesive flakes off of the back with no problem.

My question is about the grout on the edges. Can I remove it? Would it be easy to remove?
Would the tile still be useful? Could it still be installed for a floor if done properly?
Or is it best to send to the dump? (Thicker than normal, but probably wouldn't survive winters to place it outside).

TIA.

[Adsos Letter]

1. I had a similar situation with 5/16" terracotta pavers.

I removed the grout using a chisel as a scraper. It worked pretty well. Labor intensive. Nowadays, they probably have a power tool that can do it faster.

Give one a try and see what you think.

[FSogol]

2. Were they still useable or did you mess (chip, break, scratch) too many up? n/t

[Adsos Letter]

3. Most of them were still usable.

But it was time consuming. I'm thinking an oscillating tool with the appropriate blade might be worth a shot to speed things up, but if you don't own one you will have to buy/rent one.

[FSogol]

5. Thanks. n/t

[Warpy]

4. Sure, just get whatever it was completely off the back

along with any grout along the edges. I'd use it but remember I'm cheap.

[FSogol]

6. Thanks, I give it a try. I hate to waste them, they are really nice. n/t

[rusty quoin]

7. Using them somewhere else...that is something I would have tried in my younger years.

It is labor intensive and it is all about protecting the integrity of the glaze while getting rid of the adhesive.
You start with scraping tools to knock it off. You then go to abrasives which creates a lot of dust. The abrasive part means orbital sanders, angle grinder fitted with abrasive pads...packed with many pads behind the one you use.

It's a matter of using the most aggressive tool first and finding out you are chipping the part you want to keep, you go to less aggressive, to the point you are hand sanding to get rid of adhesive that may show. The back of the tile can be aggressive, but move your wrist with the power tool to leave ups and downs so that the restored tile will set forever.

If you take on this job, I guarantee you, that you will be an expert in this. Me...I'd sell it or toss it.

[NMDemDist2]

8. a dremel tool has a grout remover we've used

but it's more for taking out grout on tile that's installed