help tiles popped up

[robgrant]

hi all
i tiled a concret floor 7 years ago the woman said about 18 mounths after i did it she was in the kitchen and the hole floor started to pop like gun shots she said.
it was a new build i went to look and the hole floor sounds holer like on a wooden floor all the grout lines are still fine could the concret floor have sunk .
porciline tiles
porcilflex used
notched trowel

 

[White Room]

Hi and welcome....has she only just contacted you about this issue...

 

[Bubblecraft]

Hi & welcome to TF

 

[robgrant]

thanks for the welcome yer i think because the grout was ok she just left it till now

 

[White Room]

How old was the property when you fixed the tiles.....

 

[robgrant]

it was a new build

 

[robgrant]

just a couple of months

 

[Alan.P]

Any underfloor heating, if so, was it commissioned before you fixed the tiles down, any decoupling membrane used ?

 

[afright]

Could be Expansion?

 

[DHTiling]

Describe how you fixed the tiles.

Did you prime substrate. If so what with ?

How big an area is it ?

Did you leave perimeter expansion ?


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[robgrant]

no underfloor heating the floor was primed by the builder it is about 25 to 30 sqm in a kitchen and utilty room no skirting boards on so room for expansion used a notched trowel 12mm some tiles dot & dab as well to get my level

 

[Alan.P]

Any chance you can lift one of tyre hollow sounding tiles and have a look see what is going on, sounds strange, all sounds ok apart from not knowing what the builder has primed with but still, strange.

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[afright]

Ive had it were the floor has lifted in the center that was due to expansion.

 

[robgrant]

a builder friend of mine told me on a big site they would of used goog hard core just rubbish of the site and the floor could of dropped dew to air pockets what you think.

 

[ythan]

Strange, interesting, and very unfortunate.




agree it sounds like there's been differential horizontal movement between the concrete base, and the tile overlay.

and this could be due to the tiles expanding due to warm kitchen or




could be that, as the tiles were laid when the concrete base was new, over time, the concrete slab has shrunk horizontally. The tile ovelay is stiff and will resist the shrinkage and hence it's maybe got pushed up in the middle (arching). If flexible grout has been used then some of the shrinkage may have been accommodated by compression in the grout lines. Was flexible grout used?




Poor priming may have not have given a sufficiently strong bond to the addy to keep the tiles stuck down; to absorb the compression forces, caused by the concrete slab shrinkage, and hence they've sprung up as an arch.



Surprised it seems to have all managed to stay intact, with no report of any tile displacing when it's walked on, or where there is a chair, table etc.




Is the situation the same in both the small and the larger room? Does the hollowness appear to be within the center of the rooms? Agree it would be a good idea to lift a tile to see what's going on.

 

[robgrant]

yer both rooms are the same flexy adhesive was used carnt remember about grout (wide joint bal i would think) i havent taped every tile but i think its every 1 .the woman said the noise was deafening 1 tile after another like gun shots for about 10 seconds seemed to have draged them selfs apart ! am taking it once 1 went then the lot went

 

[mz30]

Just reading the thread if it was me i would be thinking earthquake just for the fact they all went at once,i see you dot and dabbed a few tiles but that should'nt cause that sort of reaction,but 7 years on is it really still your problem ? at lot could have happened in 7 years subsidence ,slow leak under the floor etc

 

[Alan.P]

Mmmm, like mz30, I was thinking subsidence as a possibility, have a talk to the neighbors to see if anything similar has happened to them.

 

[ythan]

robgrant, can only suggest you go back and do a full survey, with some pics and have a look under a couple of tiles.

difficult to believe the grout lines are still all in place.

 

[kilty55]

have the tiles not tented at all?

so this happened 18 months after job was done and shes only just called you 7 years down the line?

 

[steve187]

so the floor has been like this since the noise 5 and a half years ago, and no visable signs of any problems, loose tiles cracked joints etc.

 

[ythan]

so what happened next?

 

[bugs183]

Is this a concrete or an anhydrite screed?
Does sound really odd how the whole floor popped though.