Help!: loose porcelain tiles - any advice on how to fix?

[PDH]

Hi

I wonder if someone can help please?

We have a porcelain tiled floor in an open-plan kitchen/dining/living area. The tiles have been down now for about 18 months but very soon after the floor was finished, the tiles began to come loose. Having looked at some of the other threads on this site, we think that the problem is with how the tiles were laid; probably not back-buttered.

Initially, the tiles started to sound hollow, but now they are definitely loose and I'm sure some would actually come up, although we havent tried to do this. Unfortunately, our kitchen was put in after the floor and the skirting boards etc were also put on afterwards so to take the floor up is not really an option.

Does anyone have any advice for how to fix the tiles in-situ? We wondered about the possibility of raking out the grout (its all loose anyway) and trying to inject some sort of bonding agent or adhesive to try and fill the gaps that have obviously developed - any thoughts?

Many thanks!

[whitebeam]

Hi and welcome..

Taking them up maybe your only option, I don't know of any quick fix for this situation..

[jay]

might be worth calling back the original tiler

[peteablard]

Hi,
I came across the same problem about 12 months ago where a new floor hadn't been primed and all the tiles came loose(Not laid by me!!). I lifted all the tiles i could, primed the floor, cleaned all the old adhesive off the tiles (Had to re-use as couldn't get an exact colour match) then re-lad them. I had the same problem in the kitchen though where there were units all round and 2 large islands in the middle with loose tiles going under them that I couldn't get out. The only solution I could think of was to drill holes through the grout taking care not to chip the tiles. Then using a mortar gun I pumped a slurry adhesive mix in. I can't give any guarantee of how long this will last for but it certainly worked at the time, the customer had my contact details and they've not come back to me with any problems since so I guess it's held so far!

[Lodger]

I would take all the tiles up, which are loose or suspect loose. It's the only option.
Remove the grout round all the tiles and gently work them loose. buy a large tile scraper and use an angle grinder to remove grout (being careful not to damage tiles). Porcelain tiles need to be fixed down with a flexible tile adhesive, so search the forum on how to re-tile your floor using appropriate primer and adhesive for your sub floor.

[Gall.B]

Sounds like a possible dot dab job or as mentioned wrong primer, only option is re-do imho previous Tiler owes you a lot of dough! where you given any guartantee?

[Dave]

What floor substrate is it..?

[PDH]

Thanks very much to everyone - that is very helpful.

The tiles went down onto a concrete screed with UFH underneath. The screed was down for a couple of months before the UFH was used. I am not sure about the primer that was used but the tiler seemed to get through a huge amount of adhesive.

He has been back but is sure it isnt anything to do with him; more the fault of the adhesive etc. However, we are experienced DIYers and this is part of a very large renovation project - none of the tiling we have done ourselves or tiling done by other tilers has given us any problems at all, only this (very large) room!

We are a bit worried about trying to take the tiles up in case we break them; they are large and expensive and we cant get many more at the moment as they are currently out of stock.

Out of interest, what should prime should have been used? Also, if we decide to try and force some liquid adhesive down the joints around the loose tiles, should we do this or do you think a tiler would be interested in this kind of job - very time-consuming, I imagine

Cheers for all thoughts.

[Dave]

Was the UFH commissioned before tiling..? and it is deffo a cement screed.?

[peteablard]

Out of interest, what should prime should have been used? Also, if we decide to try and force some liquid adhesive down the joints around the loose tiles, should we do this or do you think a tiler would be interested in this kind of job - very time-consuming, I imagine

Cheers for all thoughts.

I managed to remove clean and re fix approx 45 tiles but did get the customer to sign a discalimer to say I wouldn't be liable for any breakages.(An exact colour match was no longer available) I also had to stress that pumping the adhesive in was really an experiment, I'd never done it before. It really was a last resort due to the fact the kitchen units that were sat on them couldn't be removed.

[PDH]

Sorry - was poured screed. UFH was all commissioned but not on.

Thanks for all your help

[Dave]

Sorry - was poured screed. UFH was all commissioned but not on.

Thanks for all your help

OK... so was it a Cement based pour or an Anhydrite one..? and just pressure testing a wet UFH system is not sufficient.. it needs to be connected and fired up to commission the screed to heat, if this is not done then expansion and then cooling/curling of the screed will happen and this will blow the tiles off.

You tiler should have asked if the UFH had been commissioned , that's if he even asked if it was heated, Either way you cannot rectify this simply by pouring through the joints.

It is a re-tile..

[PDH]

OK - thanks Dave