CHAD...where are you? I have a tile question

[Bonibelle]

I have tile in my kitchen and mudroom (wouldn't do that again)..anyway I am painting today and moved everything out. I noticed that a few of the tiles in the mudroom make a crunching noise when I walk on them. I guess they are loosening from underneath..the grout in this area appears to be fine.

The stupidest thing I ever did..let the guy that did my kitchen lay my tile...He said he knew what he was doing but I have spots were the grout came out and now something is going on under these tiles   ...  I am wondering if this means I have to rip up the whole floor..if so I will replace it with vinyl  :-/

[wewannahottub]

I have tile in my kitchen and mudroom (wouldn't do that again)..anyway I am painting today and moved everything out. I noticed that a few of the tiles in the mudroom make a crunching noise when I walk on them. I guess they are loosening from underneath..the grout in this area appears to be fine.

The stupidest thing I ever did..let the guy that did my kitchen lay my tile...He said he knew what he was doing but I have spots were the grout came out and now something is going on under these tiles   ...  I am wondering if this means I have to rip up the whole floor..if so I will replace it with vinyl  :-/

Boni--

My  husband has laid tile before and has done repair work on tiles in our old house.  If the tiles are intact, you should be able to score out the grout and re-lay the tile with fresh mortar and regrout==he has had to do that and it worked out ok.  

But won't hurt to get Chad's opinion!!

[Vinny]

Although I'm not Chad, as you know I am Italian! As such I am an expert in tile and concrete!!

Seriously, what wewannahottub said is correct. you need to score the grout, lift the tile, put new mastic (thin set mortar NOT the white goop at home depot) and then re-grout.

Theroretically it seems fairly easy as long as the tile is loose and it comes up without a problem. I have never done it but the home improvement shows (remember them?) showed the process a few times.

[Bonibelle]

Thanks guys, so basically the tile came loose from the back? Like I said the grout around the two tiles that crunch is still fine, so I will have to remove it first. I wanted to remove all my grout and regrout the entire floor at one point but I havent been that ambitious yet..guess that might be the best thing to do since I will be pulling out those tiles anyway.    My next house will have dirt floors

[anne]

Boni, Hopefully Chad will have some information for you too, and you're already getting advice here, but you should check out the John Bridge forum. GREAT resource.

http://johnbridge.com/vbulletin/index.php

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What's the subfloor consist of?  The tiles that are making a noise to your ears,when you tap on em,do they sound hollow?

You need to establish why the tiles are loose(if that's the case) and proceed from there.

And,mastic is different than thin-set.

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Also Bonnie,do you have spare tiles,in case you break the tile/s upon removal?

[Vinny]

And,mastic is different than thin-set.

I'm glad someone here knows what their talking about!!

[wewannahottub]

I'm glad someone here knows what their talking about!!

My bad--I know my hubby would have corrected me on the "mortar" ---  I know he used mastic.  

[Vinny]

My bad--I know my hubby would have corrected me on the "mortar" ---  I know he used mastic.  

He was correcting me! I used both in a sentence describing what to use.

[Chad]

What's the subfloor consist of?  The tiles that are making a noise to your ears,when you tap on em,do they sound hollow?

You need to establish why the tiles are loose(if that's the case) and proceed from there.

And,mastic is different than thin-set.

Bonni, I apologize for not seeing your post until now.(We had an untimely death in the family). Luckily there's two tile pros on here(Thanks Jim). How's the repair going?

ps- The only time imo mastic should be used would be if you're installing soft-bodied wall tile on a kitchen backspash and even then....

[Bonibelle]

I had a mason come over yesterday to have my chimney repointed and put in pathers around my fish pond..I asked him if they also do tile work...He said yes and will look at my crunchy tiles..The fist thing he asked me was about the type of floor the tile was put on..I know I can't go wrong...he is Italian and his name is VINNY!!!