kitchen floor tiles popped out of floor (Colleyville: house, landscaping)

[nitynity]

This morning we noticed few of our breakfast nook tiles next to the patio door popped out of the floor. Not sure what happened overnight, could be the cold weather or what not, now it needs to be grouted back to the floor, but I am no expert.

Is it an easy fix? We don't have any spare tiles (1999 built house) and luckily those are not broken yet. I am afraid it might break if someone walks over it and we have a 100 lbs lab in the house all day. The dog jumps around that area to get our attention when he wants to go out. Could that be the reason the tiles popped out? Do i need to get the foundation,moisture etc. tested to make sure there is nothing else wrong?

Please advice.

[iris86]

I have same issues with my living room.
I haven't fix it yet.
The carpenter suggest to redo the tile cement.
He said that they need to break one of the tiles affected to save the others from breaking.

On your part it would be hard to remove and re-fix one tile without breaking it but that was possible with a lot of patience and a skillful man to do it.

[Katana49]

You need to pull up those tiles. Looks like the slab has buckled underneath. That could be due to a lot of things, you could have had a pipe burst underneath that area and it forced the slab to crack and buckle.

Most of the time, when you have issues with a slab expanding/contracting, it will crack your tile, not buckle it, which makes me think that the slab itself buckled there.

Definitely something you want to take care of right away, and check your water usage at the meter to ensure you don't have a leak.

[nitynity]

Thanks for the response guys. One of my coworkers thinks it could be the foundation cable popped if it's next to the patio door.

[Nodpete]

See if one of those tiles is loose enough to remove, better yet 2 of them. That would let the others settle down and not crack. If you're afraid to do it, I'd get a tile guy for it. Being you don't have any replacements, you should try to save these as they haven't cracked yet.

[loves2read]

Have friend in Colleyville
House is about 15 yrs old--original owner
Has 12" white tile laid in hall/walkways kitchen/breakfast and bathrooms
The tiles in the kitchen started lifting before Christmas--
Around her bar and in other areas including front hall but they are more loose than popped up

She had her son in law who is builder bring in a tile guy and plumber and foundation guy
They think over the years the drainage in her yard which was not really taken care of by the long term guys she was using to cut grass--
The ground in some flower beds is up over the foundation line

Her son in law and couple of the others decided rainwater and maybe irrigation water was causing dampness to leak into foundation--no cracking indicated--
But made tiles pop during this last state of cold weather
So doing big rework of the drainage in yard--adding some French drains and reworking the beds

She is going to have all tile taken up (can't finding anything similar to replace so many pieces in different locations--and use a LVT click type flooring to lay down w/some type of pad

I think it is likely just due to the time and quality of the mortar the tiles were set in initially---
If the mortar mix was too thin or allowed to be cure in different sections (and there is lot of tile laid) then it could just have come up despite the landscaping issues

[nitynity]

OK, contacted a tile guy, he said he cant guarantee the tiles wont break when pulling out or during cleaning the grout behind and they are not responsible for it.He said there is 80% chance the tile breaks when cleaning the grout. If it breaks then my options are to get a different color tile and redo the floor to make it look like some sort of design. If not he can make the floor hardwood if I choose to. not sure what option to choose now

[nitynity]

Talked to another guy, more like a handyman. He said he can re glue the tiles without cleaning out the existing adhesive from behind so it doesn't break. I am not sure if it will stick firmly to the floor if its not cleaned out first. Any expert opinion here?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by nitynity

Talked to another guy, more like a handyman. He said he can re glue the tiles without cleaning out the existing adhesive from behind so it doesn't break. I am not sure if it will stick firmly to the floor if its not cleaned out first. Any expert opinion here?

If the floor is dry underneath the tile glue can work - actually there are two part epoxies that will cure underwater - but if the area is wet you must fix the water issue first. The proper adhesive properly applied (several will work) will be stronger than thin set mortar.

I’m thinking the tile guy was trying to work you into a bigger job.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by nitynity

This morning we noticed few of our breakfast nook tiles next to the patio door popped out of the floor. Not sure what happened overnight, could be the cold weather or what not, now it needs to be grouted back to the floor, but I am no expert.

Is it an easy fix? We don't have any spare tiles (1999 built house) and luckily those are not broken yet. I am afraid it might break if someone walks over it and we have a 100 lbs lab in the house all day. The dog jumps around that area to get our attention when he wants to go out. Could that be the reason the tiles popped out? Do i need to get the foundation,moisture etc. tested to make sure there is nothing else wrong?

Please advice.

It's called "tenting" and if you Google search "Tile Tenting" you can see the various causes. The reason for your issue would not be known until a professional removes the tented tiles to look under them for proper mortar, type, floor movement signs, etc.

Tiles are very delicate to begin with and when trying to remove the tile and/or clean the old tile mortar and grout off they can be damaged. It's a matter of luck whether any are not damaged.

It may well wind up being more expensive to try repairing this rather than replacing the tiles altogether. You can try a repair with a design at the tented tiles and around it but tile breakage may occur with tiles you don't intend to replace. Obviously that can extend the replacement area out.

If you go with a full replacement it is worth considering using an isolation membrane between the tile and slab to help prevent this in the future. One type is the Schluter Systems Ditra Uncoupling Membrane. You can read about it here https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us...DITRA%29/c/M-U . With our slab movement issues it is worth considering.