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After laying new vinyl tiles, we noticed many of the tiles had cracks and irregularities. After removing some of the tiles, we're thinking that the concrete wasn't properly prepared before laying down adhesive and tiles.
What do you think?
How should the concrete have been prepped?
it looks like your installer may have placed a layer of "thin-set" to create a level surface for the tile installation before applying the adhesive. Most thin-set products are moisture sensitive and will change dimension; hence, a bonded tile to that surface is flexed beyond it's ability to take the movement and breaks.
IF the concrete slab was less than 30 days old, then it would likely still have had an excess moisture content in it.
As well, if there isn't an effective moisture vapor barrier between the concrete and the underlying substrate, then moisture may be driven into the slab with significant force to the enclosed/conditioned space above. The moisture is more than able to delaminate the bond between the concrete and the installed products on top of it.
At this point, it appears that you'll need to have all of the products on top of the concrete slab removed and allow the concrete to dry out.
You may find that a slab-on-grade without an adequate moisture vapor barrier will never dry out properly to allow a proper installation of tile or any other non-breathing surface treatment. IF this is the case, then you'll need to choose a different type of flooring system because you cannot seal the concrete deck. Keep in mind that flooring such as carpet with a underlayment could be a site for mold growth if it's got a moisture source beneath it.
I don't see any adhesion lines in the black adhesive where the tile was ever stuck to the adhesive. Looks like they spread the adhesive out, waited too long, and then slapped the tile down. The tale can be told there by looking at the back of the tile that turned loose, it should be black. The adhesive looks like it's turning loose from a floor leveler that was mixed with too much water and it's turned to a loose aggregate. All of it from the small pic looks to be pretty half wit.
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