Bathroom refinished 2 years ago now tiles a popping out

Leoskee

I had my bathroom refinished 2 years ago and last summer the floor started squeeking. I thought it was from the expanding that happens over the summer. It sounds as if the tiles were put too close to the tub. Inspecting this squeek I noticed that my grout lines near the tub were starting to crack. Little by little more and more of the grout has cracked. Now I can hear a popping sound from underneath the tiles in different parts of the flooor. The most recent surprise was the grinding sound that came from the corner tile near the tub. It sounds as if it is completely loose and sitting on the mortar.

I hate to admit it but the contractor I highered did a really poor job and I feel ripped off.

My question for you guys is how to address the problem. Do I start by pulling up the tiles or can I address the problem from beneath? I have to replace part of the ceiling underneath the bathroom due to a flooding incident so I will eventually have access to the joists from below. I remember that he put cement board on the floor before putting the tile down. When he ripped up the previous floor there was a cement floor and he took it out of most of the floor. No new cement was poured down.

What can I do in a situation like this?

Leoskee

Doesn't seem to be much activity in this forum. Did I post it in the wrong place?

Bump.

Leah Frances

Leoskee - some pictures may help entice some more comments. Sounds like your subfloor is insufficiently supporting your tile - probably the only fix is to re-do it right.

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Leoskee

Thanks for the suggestion. In this case, pics would only show cracked grout. There is nothing else for me to take pictures of.

oh'mike

You mentioned needing to do repairs due to a "flooding incident"--Is it possible that the flooding that damaged the ceiling below the bathroom also soaked your bathroom floor?

If water soaked the plywood beneath the tile and cement board---that would explain the squeaks.
puffed up plywood will heave up enough to cause the grout to crack and tiles to loosen.


If you can't diagnose the cause of the failure--you may need lift a tile,cut out some cement board and see what happened.

tpolk

there was a post here on tile tenting which is the tile lifting because it has nowhere to expand to. take a straight edge and set it on the floor to see if your floor is raising up in the middle

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Paulie

Lift that corner tile that's "grinding" and see what you got. There are many different reasons for you're problem. An active leak, over spanned joists, the list goes on but be a good detective and find the underlying problem.

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tpolk

underlying being the right word

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ccarlisle

Look, some of us see problems like this on a weekly basis and could probably list a dozen things that could have given rise to your problem. Some could even fix them for you - but it's hard to do that from a distance. On top of that, I am not sure we wouldn't be solving one problem I see a lot - and it's not lousy workmanship, not lousy tools, not lousy contractors...it's allowing lousy things in your house.

The way I see it, the process begins way before the first demo hammer hits the floor. It should have started with the examination of the contractor, his references and his credentials. Did you do that? Did you check his previous work? Did you talk to people (at least three in some peoples eyes) to get a feeling for this guys ability to do things right, to do things on time, and cleanly? Did you enter into an exchange of ideas on what should be done, what the code is, and what this guy had experience doing?

In other words, did you take ownership for the process or did you just throw money at him, assuming he would do the right thing? I see a lot of people just doing that and hoping all would come out right - and invariable it doesn't. So whose fault is it?

We can help you here but sometimes the problem has to be stated and faced square-on...

R&D Tile

Rip out the floor and start over, no other choice, there's movement and it wasn't installed correctly or the flood damaged the wood floor below.

Leoskee

Never thought about that. I would not think that a few gallons of water could damage would that quickly.

As far as owning up to my portion of highering a contractor, well....I can honestly say that I was naive and didn't do the best job. I did call a reference but could not go out to see the work. The guy did say that the contractor had to come back and fix a few things but at that time I didn't see it as a red flag. Instead, I saw it as the contractor committing to do a good job. Now I know and have since taken the time to do a background check for craftsmanship, timeliness and quality of work.

Im currently working on a basement project so I am afraid to lift up the tile that is making noise. I dont want to put myself in the position of having to start yet another project while still working on several others. As soon as the basement is done I will lift up the tile and see. My main question was whether the floor could be fixed from underneath or not.

R&D Tile

Nope.

ccarlisle

Look, we can't see what's going on in your bathroom so an accurate diagnosis of your situation is improbable. There may well be a quick fix - short of a tear-out - that will solve your problem but it would take time, money and a certain amount of good luck to find it and implement it. Given that the bathroom is a busy room, we find it most expedient to tear it down and redo it right.

When you take time, cost, frustration level and delays etc into account it comes out cheaper in the long run to do it right from the start. Sure, $5K is a loot og money and no-one walks around with that kind of scratch in their pockets but in then end it is cheaper.

Leoskee

I used a 4 foot level and checked the floor as someone had mentioned. There are not humps or bump in the middle. The sound that I am hearing sounds more like the tile rubbing agains the tub than wood squeeking. I remember hearing someone say that if the wrong thinset is used that tiles come undone. The floor does not give in any portion of the bathroom. The whole problem lies along the bottom of the tub.

If I have to rip the floor up, is there a way to salvage the tiles?

R&D Tile

Well, which is it, everywhere as you you stated earlier or just along the tub, BIG difference.


Tap on the tiles with your knuckles or a broom stick, do ANY of them sound hollow?