Marble Floor Tile Movement & Cracks

[PeteHardy]

Hi , Can anyone help ?

I had a kitchen and hallway laid with marble tiles in August 2010, unfortunatley I'm now seing movement in a fair amount of the tiles albeit not a lot of movement but enough to have cracked the grout in some places , and in others the tiles have cracked. The tiles were laid after a new kitchen had been fitted, the kitchen fitters laid a 12mm plyboard screwed every 6", the tiler said it was OK and he laid the tiles directly on top, the method he used was adheasive onto the the floor then the tile [ is this dot and dab].

My problem now is how do I go about sorting this out and who is responsible ? before I talk to the tiler and the kitchen team , I'd like some advice from the experts, when I mentioned this to the tile shop , they said I would have to relay the whole floor, but I also wondered if just regrouting would do or just replacing the effected tiles ? theres about 50 tiles where we have movement, mainly in the high traffic areas.

Can anyone advise a course of action ? also if I have to claim through insurance would this be mine or the fitters and how do you go about this ??

Thanks in advance

 

[nybor62]

the ply should have been min 18mm wbp ply and then ditra mat or similar product. especially when laying stone , how solid was the floor any deflection in the floor, i,e bounce
the ditra mat will help with any lateral movement , but not vertical
do u know what adhesive they used , maybe not after nearly 2 years
as for dot and dabbing really cant say if that was is method, if he back skimmed the tile after spreading addy on floor , that is correct method for solid bedding of tiles
but again if there is vertical movement in floor then the result wiil be , what you have now
as for course of action 1st thing i would do is talk with whom ever did the job and see what they say

 

[Del W]

Ditto.

 

[PeteHardy]

Thanks for the reply, the adhesive used was Keraquick white from tile giant. The method of spreading the adhesive on the tile was corners and centre f the tile.

How can I asses if the underlying issue is the plywood or the adhesive and method of applying.

Can I claim fr the repair on insurance ?

 

[Dan]

Welcome to the forum I hope you get your problem solved.

As said above, I'd get the guys/guy that originally carried out the work back so they can do soem testing (pull a couple of tiles up) and perhaps provide information with regards to what adhesive was used and confirm the method of fixing etc.

Did the kitchen company provide the tiler? Or did you get the tiler in yourself?

 

[PeteHardy]

Spoke to the tiler this afternoon, explained the issue , his thoughts was that s more than likely to. Be te sub floor, but because it,s now more than a year ago since e did ths, it wasn't covered, and he is reluctant to lift a tile because I also have underfloor heating. E suggested I take a tie up and determine if it,s te sub floor, he alo mentioned that the screws could have loosened if there s damp, so I,ll have to check. The Robles I ave is or company dd the floor as part of te kitchen ft and another did the tiles, so I suppose one will say it,s te ther unless I can show for certain the cause.

I,m going to get another tiler to lift a couple of ties and see what he finds when he lifts them, hope he doesn't,t damage te underfloor heating

 

[Tony73]

Hi and:welcome:. When you lift some tiles can you post some pictures? As above, should be 18mm ply and Ditra Matt.

 

[White Room]

Five dabs of adhesive on the back of a tile onto ply

Hi and welcome...

 

[andy-p]

A dab on each corner and a dab in the middle.. :shocked3:

 

[Dan]

You can't fit tiles like that. Whoever tiled it isn't a proper tiler, they'd have know you don't fix tiles like that to anything, especially a floor and especially to ply.

It sounds like the lot will need to be replaced as it will happen all over the floor. A repair on those loose now will only be a temporary fix.

 

[DHTiling]

What substrate was the ply laid onto..?

And the fixing method you describe isn't suitable at all..

 

[PeteHardy]

Just read through all the replies, looks like I,m stuck with this, but...... If the tiler laid these incorrectly, even if it,s 2 years, can I get his insurance to pay for the fix ? Or if t turns out to be the floor , I,m going to raise with the kitchen team, and see if they should fx, is this approach reasonable ?

If I have to lift the whole floor, I estimate ths at about 5K , far too much fr me, surely the tiler r te kitchen team , should be responsible and have to sort out , or a, I dreaming ?

 

[nybor62]

what type of under floor heating do u have. i ask this because if its a matting type and it was,nt embedded in self leveling compound to protect the wires before tiling
then i doubt you will save the under floor heating when lifting tiles

im afraid its sounding like a complete retile using correct method for fixing stone and correct prep work , so sorry

 

[PeteHardy]

As far as I remember, no levelling compound was used , nit sure how to proceed now as I can,t afford to lift and replace this floor cost 5K so to replace I reckon would be tat plus lifting,

 

[Dan]

I'd give the kitchen company a call and take it from there.

Not sure what the score is with insurance you'd also need to take that up with either the tiler or kitchen company.

Though unfortunately it does sound like the tiles have been installed incorrectly and that even a temporary fix would be pointless as they're spot-fixed and not properly fixed to the floor.