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To try to re-use a ceramic tile that was installed well is probably not practical.  If you try to chisel or cut it out, it's likely to chip or break up into pieces.  For historic tile where there is more value and more money available, it's possible to saw deeply around sections of the floor and remove the substrate with the tile.  Then it would be very costly to reinstall it assuming you have room to raise the floor several inches to accommodate the thickness of the section you removed.

Best bet is to find another tile; there is a great selection of ceramic tile available today.

Good Luck!

It is generally true that the breaking strength of a tile, with the same clay body type, will be greater the thicker it is.

ANSI A137.1-2008 does not state what the thickness of wall tile should be.  It states on the glazed wall tile chart that all glazed wall tiles should have an average breaking strength ≥125 lbf and with each tile tested having a minimum breaking strength of ≥ 100lbf.  Good Luck.
 

Ceramic tile is a clay body tile that is a composition of water and clay or a mixture of clay and other ceramic materials mined from our earth that naturally come in different, but limited colors. The ceramic tile is fired (heated) in a kiln (oven) to make it hard. Porcelain body – is a composition of ultra purified, highly ground kaolin clays with silica and feldspar additives that provide an impervious clay body. It can be made in many colors, but is typically a naturally white color clay.Ceramic tile is usually categorized by its absorption rate which is relative to the tile's density. Porcelain tile is considered impervious (1/2% or less absorption). Many ceramic tiles for floors are vitreous (3% or less absorption, but greater than 1/2% absorption) or semi-vitreous (7% or less absorption, but greater than 3% absorption)or non-vitreous (greater than 7% absorption).There are aesthetic looks and various performances in some types of tile that you can't achieve with other types of tile. So it isn't that one type of tile is better than another, but rather they are different and one may be more suitable for one application versus another.

It is best to check with the manufacturer or distributor of the tile to make sure it is suitable for your application, and then select the tile that best meets your design needs Good Luck!

For these types of wall and counter top tiles there is a company that still manufactures some old styles that may come close to what you want.  You can check with them at: B & W Tile Company Inc., 14600 S. Western Ave., Gardena, CA 90249  tel: 800-499-8453.  Good Luck!

The best installation is to install over concrete. Assuming the steps are now made of wood, you can apply a cement mortar bed on top of them, which requires some expertise. Or next best, you can attach a thin cement backer-board over the wooden steps and then adhere the ceramic tile to it. You can attach directly to wood with some products, but it needs to be very sturdy wood that will not get wet.

You can replace tiles in isolated problem areas, if it is truly an isolated problem. If it didn't bond well, then it will come up easily, but if it's bonded well you may pull up some of the substrate and adjacent tiles. Cut around the tile's grout joints with a Makita 4" diamond saw and then chisel out carefully. If you pull some substrate out, patch it and reinstall.
Good Luck!

A glazed ceramic tile can be painted with regular paint, but it won't be durable and cannot withstand high temperatures. The best paint to use would be an epoxy based paint, but a latex based paint will probably work, but may not last long. Make sure the tile is very clean before applying the paint.   Good Luck!

Red or brown body tiles come in a wide range of quality as well.  Most of the Spanish red body tiles are very dense and considered vitreous (glass like) which means its absorption is less than 3%, which is still considered frost proof and chip resistant.  There are even some porcelain tiles that have a red body, but most are white bodied.  There are some red body tiles that are very absorbing.

These tiles come in either glazed or unglazed surfaces.  The glaze is a glass like material that gives it an impervious surface.  It typically gives the tile more stain resistance and makes it easier to maintain, but it also can make it more slippery and susceptible to chipping and wearing.  The glaze surface can provide from high wearability to low wearability depending on the hardness of the glaze.  Unglazed tiles are the same color throughout so you don't see much of a difference if they chip.  If the glaze color is contrasting to the tile body it will tend to stand out if chipped.  Unglazed tiles are more susceptible to staining, and even the impervious porcelains can be affected due to micro pores that can trap stains.  Now there are hybrid tiles that incorporate a blend of glazed and unglazed to minimize this problem, and the porcelain tiles can even be polished like a stone.

In terms of functionality, either porcelain or any vitreous tiles will work just as well for most residential applications and many commercial applications.  Remember that the more slip resistant a tile is, the more maintenance will be involved in keeping it clean. 

White body talc wall tile is very absorbing and considered non-vitreous, which means it has a 7% absorption rate or more, but should be no more than 20% absorption, which is the area where it lies.  This type of tile only comes with a glazed impervious surface and should only be used for wall applications and countertop applications.  It is a less expensive type of tile.

There are many other types of tile, exceptions and trade offs, but too many to mention here.

First of all there are always compounding problems in failures, it is never just one thing.

Movements in tile can be caused by structural movement, thermo movements, and moisture movements (tile expands as it absorbs water to some degree), that is why expansion joints are always required to some degree. In your case, where it does not run in any direction more than 20' there should have been open or caulked joints along the perimeter; unless it is adjacent to a window or sky light providing substantial lighting, then it should have joints every 12' to 16'.

The term "thin-set" is used two ways; one as a method of a thin installation bonding directly to the substrate, and the other referring to a thin-set/dry set mortar, which is a cement based product that comes in many different versions. Most thin-set mortars are not affected by moisture. The fact that you had mortar on the tile and slab (I'm assuming a concrete substrate; if not then it is a different story) suggests it got adhesion to both and should be considered a good sign.

Can't make a generalization about the outdoor tiles. There are some limitations in which thin-set mortars can be used outside, but most work. Unless it is a freeze-thaw climate there aren't many limitations on what you can use unless you consider slip resistance.

Concrete is naturally high in alkalinity, but there are some extreme cases where extremely high alkalinity can be degrading of other materials other than cement.

I would focus on whether there were contaminates on the slab or tile, if there were excessive movements in substrate and not enough expansion relief, or if there was not enough thin-set coverage.

You would need to do intrusive testing (DT) to further investigate and look for clues. If you need a forensic expert, such as myself, let me know.

Hope that helps.

If the existing ceramic tile was installed well you would have had the option to install the new tile to the existing tile, assuming you can easily transition into adjacent floors. I'll assume this is not an option for you.

There are scrapers you can use to help chisel the tile off the floor. If it is a concrete substrate then you could use the electric chisel or Jack Hammer. If the sub-floor is wood then it would be easier to use the large handle floor scrapers. Be careful not to beat up the sub-floor too much. Either way, once you remove the existing ceramic tile and the adhesive, you have to prepare the floor by removing all contaminates, then use a patch product to fill and flatten the floor, in preparation for attaching the new ceramic tile. Good Luck!

Good Luck!

Since the tile doesn't have absorption then you can not stain it.  You can install new tile on top of it without removing it if done correctly.   Good Luck!

Ceramic tile behind a woodstove works very well as long as it's installed correctly over the right type of substrate.  In the production process, ceramic tile is baked in huge ovens at 1200 to 2000 degrees so it can withstand heat.  It's important, though, that the tile is attached to a surface that's not affected by heat.  It's best to use a concrete substrate like a mortar bed or a cementitious backer unit.  Make sure you use a cementitious adhesive such as a thin-set mortar adhesive for bonding the tile to the substrate and not mastic.  Good Luck!

There are ANSI industry standards on quantifying what is considered acceptable dimension variation within standard grade ceramic tiles. Ceramic tile is not perfect and the installation methods help compensate for the imperfections to some degree.

Your description of warpage may or may not be considered excessive.  I normally would expect porcelain tiles to fit flat to each other. 

If it were worth the investment, the tiles could be tested and an investigation could be conducted, and a report written.

Good Luck!