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Tile buckling.

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Bud Cline 
#1 ·
I have a small, lets say 200 sq. ft. room that some laid tile on. The floor is a concrete slab. The problem is that down the middle of the room the tiles have buckeled. They are not broken, the grout is not cracked. They are raised; and when hitting them with a rubber mallet it sounds hollow.

I can relay the tiles as it is only about 18 of them, 2 rows 9 tile each row.

But is there a bigger problem that I might not be seeing? I would assume that there just wasn't enough thinset layed to hold the tiles down. I will be breaking them up to see if the concrete is okay. The owner said someone cleaned the grout becuase it was realy nasty. The house has been sitting empty and with out power for sometime.

Maybe the liquid froze and pushed the tile up. What do ya'll think?
 
#2 ·
This is probably a condition known as "tenting". The tile is grouted tight to the walls and has no room to expand. The expansion forces have been transmitted to the middle of the room.

Remove the baseboards, saw out the grout around the room, replace the baseboards.

Remove the loose tiles, clean all the old thinset off the tiles and the substrate. Use thinset mortar to re-install the tiles.

Use a broomstick to tap on all the remaining tiles in the room. Any tile that gives you a hollow report is also loose and needs to be repaired.:)
 
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