Why is the grouting of my kitchen floor tiles coming loose ?

Question

I had a new extension built a year ago and new porcelain kitchen tiles were laid down on the floor. I have since rented the house. The tenants are now complaining that the grouting between the tiles is coming loose and leaving dark gaps between the tiles. Also one of the tiles is actually wobbling slightly. The tiles are 600mm x 300mm. I was expecting the tiles to stay forever after spending nearly a year choosing them. Does anyone know why this could be happening ?

Answer 1

The problem here is if your floor is chipboard no matter what adhesive you get it will always crack, you should've laid 6mm or thicker plywood on the floor first and screwed or nailed it every 150mm squared, then when that's all done coat the plywood in a watery mix of PVA, let it dry then use the flexible adhesive to stick them down, it seems a lot of work but does the trick.

Answer 2

rake out the grout then size the joint with unibond (neat) then mix a

thicker mix of grout and apply; if a tile is loose lift it clean out the

area size it and apply the thicker mix of floor adhesive, if that fails

get some fast drying cement add water and do the same

Answer 3

Could be damp, take up the tile and see .

Answer 4

The only thing I can think of is that water has gotten in between the tiles.

I know this happened to us in the kitchen many years ago.

Wobbling is usually caused by the settling and uneven glue underneath.

You have to replace those tiles eventually.

:-)

Answer 5

Grout shouldn't be coming up. The problem could be due to poorly mixed grout (too much water, too little water, inadequate mixing, improper curing) or it could be due to a subfloor that is flexing. As for the loose tile, it might just be a tile that didn't get enough adhesive. If the problem extends to other tiles, however, it could be poor preparation of the underlying surface, flex in the subfloor, or improperly mixed adhesive (if thinset was used instead of mastic).

There could be several other factors, so your best bet is to talk to the contractor who built the addition and the person who installed the tile. Compare their descriptions of what they did to the specs provided by the Tile Council of North America.

Answer 6

If the grout was to wet when they were grouting the tile it will become brittle, which may have happened to you. for the loose tile you will have to pull that till out and replace it.

Answer 7

the tiles should of been laid with ''flexible'' tile adhesive and grout, if you redo it make sure you uni-bond it first otherwise it will crack the adhesive and become loose again