Tile Questions

[Crabricorn]

We had a house built about 8 years ago and 80% of it is tiled. The problem is that the builder did a very poor job of laying these tiles and a large percentage of them are cracked. We had bunches of them replaced when it was under warranty, bur now the builder has long been out of business and many of the ones they replaced have cracked again. I don't think they prepped properly, but that's a whole other story.

We have rugs down and we can live with it - until it's time to sell of course (which will likely be in a year or two). Or we may use it as a rental - haven't decided yet.

The question: what would you do about this? Replace all the tiles with some other flooring? Try to get a match - which may be a challenge- and repair the 50% that are cracked? Do something else? I'm wondering what would be the most cost efficient.

I'm really interested to hear what your ideas/opinions are on this.

Thanks!

[c]

Someone here recommended this site in my tiling thread http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/

Everyone there is so helpful and it's very interesting to read about all the different issues involved in proper tiling. I learnt a lot about cracked tiles and what causes them - basically the tile foundation is very important. The fact that you are having the same tiles crack means there's a deeper issue (no pun intended).

As you are moving, what you choose to do about is a different consideration. If you use it as a rental, I'd probably have a few people come and take a look at the issues, especially if they are in wet areas as there may be more serious issues.

One of the more eye-opening things I noticed when reading through the threads on those forums is that many builders will take short cuts and choose to deal with the issues if and when the home owner come back to them. The guys on the forum have a thread about the worst tile jobs they've seen/been asked to repair, it's quite frightening really.

[Nate R]

Someone here recommended this site in my tiling thread http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/

Everyone there is so helpful and it's very interesting to read about all the different issues involved in proper tiling. I learnt a lot about cracked tiles and what causes them - basically the tile foundation is very important. The fact that you are having the same tiles crack means there's a deeper issue (no pun intended).

As you are moving, what you choose to do about is a different consideration. If you use it as a rental, I'd probably have a few people come and take a look at the issues, especially if they are in wet areas as there may be more serious issues.

One of the more eye-opening things I noticed when reading through the threads on those forums is that many builders will take short cuts and choose to deal with the issues if and when the home owner come back to them. The guys on the forum have a thread about the worst tile jobs they've seen/been asked to repair, it's quite frightening really.

Yep, there's likely no fixing it. Best course of action is to rip it all out and start over, with guidance from those at the John Bridge forums in evaluating what you have underneath and how to build it up from there. Or rip it up and replace it with another more resilient flooring. (Laminate, carpet, vinyl, etc)

[tooqk4u22]

[Yep, there's likely no fixing it. Best course of action is to rip it all out and start over, with guidance from those at the John Bridge forums in evaluating what you have underneath and how to build it up from there. Or rip it up and replace it with another more resilient flooring. (Laminate, carpet, vinyl, etc)

This issue is not the tile it is the subfloor and underlayment not being firm enough and it flexes, and even very slight flex will cause a tile to crack.  There is no way to fix this.

Tearing it all up and doing it properly will be costly and time consuming.  A floating laminate floor of some kind is probably the cheapest and quickest solution and can still look really good. 

This sucks, sorry.

[Spork]

I have a caveat:  What kind of tile is it?

The most likely scenario is the one everyone seems to have addressed and that is the underlay beneath the tile... but I'll throw a curve.  Some tiles are super-duper soft.  I had one room with Saltillo tile.  That's the really thick, hand made Mexican tile.  This stuff is so soft that very minor changes underneath (or things dropped on them) can start cracks.

The awesome thing is: the tiles are repairable with just labor.  You can sand off the finish, take a mix of tile dust and glue and fill them in.  You'll then have to refinish the tile.  It's work, but it's doable.  (I'll never have saltillo again!  It's too fragile.)

[Crabricorn]

I'll definitely check out those tile forums - thanks for the intel.

I have thought since the start that they did not prepare properly; I know this builder took short-cuts  this house is crappy in a lot of ways!

FYI: It is ceramic 12x12 tile - not saltillo.