I discuss the false aging of the grout and what I'd charge a customer for a job like this over on my Patreon here: www.patreon.com/gosforthhandyman 👍 Or if you just want a break from this crazy, crazy world, subscribe to some virtual farming here: th-cam.com/users/andymacdrums 😀
I just saw this at work today, Andy (sorry it's in danish) it is specially made for this problem (not removing tiles first, just drill two holes in the grout and inject): link: www.lip.dk/produktoversigt/pleje-og-vedligeholdelse/lip-injektionslim/?lang=da
Hi Gosforth, this is Jane from Vankyo, would love to invite you to test new-released Vankyo 10 inch tablet? If so, pls let me know how to contact you, thank you in advance.
A wonderful demonstration along with showing the real life situ where lifting a tile is not an option. I believe you did a fantastic job. BTW, you are my favorite handyman over all the TH-cam channels and it's mainly because of your aura.
This process ensures better coverage in the area of the disbond. I don't think edge bonding will stand the test of time and depending on depth of disbond, the tile could eventually crack. I would use a 2-part epoxy or other type product rather than the fix-a-floor product, but the process of drilling and filling is proven and works for wood floors over concrete, as well as composite construction used in aerospace, automotive and boats.
@@billbarclift6348 I don't follow what will you exactly use. Can you list the product name? Also what expeocne you have to make such a statement. Just curious not trying to offend. I rather take advise from someone who is not just using comonsense but also has some real world.experience in the matter.
I use an emptied and cleaned caulking tube which I fill with either watered down, exactly the same consistency you have used or self levelling compound which I then inject into old grout lines. Excellent explanation of why tiles drop, thanks.
Whenever I have had tiling done professionally or done it myself, I always get a good number of spare tiles. This may seem wasteful at the time, but it pays for itself again and again when you get a broken or cracked tile etc.
Totally agree - wish I'd asked the builders to leave some, although the tilers are long gone by the time you get the keys so not sure if it would have been an option. Defo worth asking the house builder in future though. 👍
Exactly. I live on a development where after 20 years people replace kitchens and bathrooms. I have liberated some choice spare parts (including tiles) from skips.
Discovered your video researching the same problem in my home. Loved your explanation and illustrations of slab foundations. My house, too, is on a slab; 13 years old and now it starts to crack? Aha, I see, the foundation is settling. No cracks in walls yet, but am afraid they're coming too. I've bought two tubes of Fix a Floor (five or six of my tiles are creaking) and intend to use them today. Wish me luck.
Hi Andy. I had to fix a similar issue in my old house circa 1950 due to subsidence. Mixed the adhesive really thin and used a concrete vibrating poker wrapped in a rubber inner tube to stop the steel marking the tile. The adhesive makes its way under the tile in seconds. Doesn't level up the tiles but it's better than a new floor cost wise.
I discovered that running one of those semicircular carbide multitool blades over a cheap diamond plate let me blunt the sides whilst keeping the edge as-new. This is dead handy for getting the grout out of tiling that's been done with very small gaps between the tiles, as it greatly reduces the risk of chipping them or grinding them by accident. HTH.
What a great tip! I ruined some tiles in our kitchen before we had it redone because the kerf of the blade was just a little too wide - if I'd thought of that I might have reclaimed them!
I use 'Bondcrete'. It's used to make concrete joins stick but I've found it useful for drummy tiles, also drummy render. You can get it in a bottle with a nozzle. It's really just wood glue, or PVA. Thin it about 50/50 and drill holes in the grout down as far as you can go safely. Using the bottle with a nozzle squeeze it in and let it sit. If you have it thin enough it should disappear into the grout. Just keep putting it in until it won't take any more. Works a charm.
Glad you carried on filming and created another way of trying to solve the problem aswell as talking about all the problems we seem to have,great and honest video!👍👍👍👍
Forget trying to lift tile up with scraper get a twin glass sucker on it as twins put more pulling power over area of tile. Single sucker can sometimes break tiles. With grout removed the sucker will be a huge help
Whenever I tile or get tiling done I have a spare box that I store in the house, usually under a kitchen unit behind the plinth. that way no need to find a match as its from the same batch. Sometimes its a whole box of tiles of each type in the house - floors, walls, between worktops and wall units etc.
Andy, you’re spot on as to what you need to do, the only thing I would do differently is pump the adhesive into grout lines with a mortar/ grout gun. Which pumps whatever you put in it into the void. Best application for where tiles have been spot bonded to the floor.
Spot bonding (or dot and dab as I have heard it called) causes so many problems down the line all too often. I can see your solution working well on that, how skinny are the nozzles?
@@KevinGarcia-yp5rk Just checked that out. grout width aint much, so just assumed nozzles would be too fat, but can cut em pretty skinny... ahh assume, I shouldn't do that, My dad used to say makes an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me'. That would have been handy to point a relay of a slate patio I did, ahh well.
Brian newton the smallest attachment can fill up a 3mm grout line. The best way to the get the adhesive under the tile is to break out only a small section of the grout of where you believe the void is. That way when you pump the gun the adhesive does not come back up through the grout lines somewhere else.
epoy glue, flows like water and can be injected from a small 1-2mm tube, also put some pressure on the tiles to make them slightly more even with the other surface
Clean out the joints, pour in 'Unibond', SBR or PVA adhesive, mix with fine aggregate if necessary. That's a method we have used to inject under floor screeds where voids have occurred during levelling etc. It works!
Much the same as I was about to suggest. A good runny PVA mix would run under the tiles and fill the void.Its purpose isn't so much to be an adhesive, more a filler.
Sometimes I have been able to lift large tiles like those with suction lifters. I have one with 4 cups and a centre handle. If it doesn't come loose with one jolt from that, it ain't moving at all. At least not in one piece.
I did similar job just 2 weeks ago. Very apprehensive but got up 6 tiles plus 2 more that were already cracked through. Re-layed putting cracked ones near edge where not walked on and dead chuffed with the finish and crack's hardly noticeable. Was lucky how they came up. It was a join between a 20 year old extension and much older build.
Masking tape surface tiles then bolt resin injected in gap after removing the old grout. Rock hard and fast setting. Make sure you leave enough gap for grout. Do it all in a day.
@@tonydibratto5333 it's just a very fast setting adhesive cement.. Its similar to hydraulic cement so it expands a bit. unless he's meaning a 2 part epoxy type of product.
self leveling compound, thin enough to get down and it will fill the void. The tiles are glued down, you just need to fill the void and remove the druminess.
I have had to deal with same problems on jobs. I do exactly as you have done except I do do first small batch runny then the same as your batch for last batch. Agreed not as strong on first batch but will fill tinny voids first.
i always use "fix a floor" sold on amazon its a construction bond that you pull out the grout and squirt it around the tile, its runs well looks like pva and you use a silicone gun to apply. around 10 quid to buy, hope this helps
@@GosforthHandyman you're supposed to drill between the grout lines to apply but that's dodgy... scrapping with a stanley is best for no tile chipping.... flows like water keep filling until it stops, wipe excess off with damp rag put some weight on tile around 2 bags of sugar or bucket of water and leave for 24 hours, always worked for me
Is this the right stuff? I have the same issue with lose tiles on timber suspended floor that I suspect has too much bounce/whip in it which has caused a 1 or 2 of the tiles to become lose
Mark, have used a very similar product, but it is a very thin two part epoxy that is pushed under the tile with a syringe. Also as it's a (relatively) new build where are the spare tiles? It's normal here to be left spares of any tiles used in the house, including roof tiles.
hello fellow handyman i had a job where somone else layed the tiles and out of say 300 tiles size 600mm x 600mm x8mm thick about 50 almost tiles was not layed with enough glue under causing the grout to crack and hollow noice when knocking on the tile so i got old acrylic tubes silicone tubes pulled them apart put a new nosel on them and filled them up with runny tile adhesive went around the grout line with a thin screwdriver and made holes in the grout then with silicone gun pushed the nosel in the hole and pumped adhesiveness under tile until the adhesive started spreeding under tile and coming out the holes surrounding the tile cleaned up overflow adhesive and let dry once dry the hollow noise was gone and then re grouted just a cauasion dont pump to much as the pressure will lift a very weak tile
A friend of mine had loose tiles at the front door & broke the tiles when tried to repair... so they smashed the tiles a bit and made a random mosaic feature that matched the rest of the floor!
Another way could be if the site's still active ask the local builders or site manager. You will at least get the name of the tiles. Buy them. Smash the loose tiles and replace as needed. Trouble is with flow filling the edges is it never really makes its way to all the gaps. So when it comes to moving house or bringing your heavy tools in over night it could pop the tile. Looks alright to me though 👍
Hi, I hope you can see this comment and respond. I moved into my brand new house 4 months ago and now the grout of my kitchen, front entry way and the powder room are all cracked in between almost every tile. The tiles are not even anymore. If you run your fingers on them, you can feel one is higher and the other is lower. I have 1 year warranty for the builders to fix it. The builders just want to patch up the cracked tiles. Now im worried they just want to patch up until my warranty is expired. Should they be doing something else? Or is patching up all that is usually done? What about the tiles not being the same level? One is high, one is low. It's not so visible to eye but once you run your hand on the tiles, you can feel the unevenness. What should I do?
I have underfloor heating and the tiling hasn't been levelled properly. I want to remove the tiles myself but I have underfloor heating pipes underneath. Is there anything I need to know? Can i remove grouting and remove the tile with a utility bar? And suction cups etc?
Just a quick shout.... can of soudall foam.... rake out the grout as you have done and a few quick squirts underneath the hollow areas on the tile. Weight on top to stop possible pushing up of the tile and that will support the tile once cured 👍
Gosforth Handyman good point... I did comment half way through watching this video and then saw your overall results and had second thoughts. Had the same in my old kitchen. Wooden floor to concrete floor. Cracked between the two different areas. Since had a kitchen extension and had the whole floor concreted and karndean floor on top to save any cracked floor tile scenarios again.
Im in South Africa. We would put the foundations in like you do in the UK but the concrete floor slab would be placed on top of the grade as well as the foundations. Why isn't this done in the UK?
On stuck tiles I use glass suckers and try and get as much as I can sucked and slowly try lifting it. If that doesnt work I've done the sloppy mix and pouring it under the tile and then just leave it for a good 72 hours to dry. In a bad case I've actually cut the tiles down the middle and then matched them in a line so it doesnt look bad just 1 tile being obviously repaired stands out so if you do a line in the door way it's not as noticeable I've found and clients prefer it over to being 1 single repaired that you can tell it's been broken.
Have / did you considered a construction flowable non shrink grout - (Sika & Fosrock do these), they are more commonly used to flow underneath machine bed plates etc but are basically designed to flow & fill the void between flat surfaces, it looks like once you had removed the grout you access to the void under the tile, and could have tried the construction grout at that point. Tile grouts & adhesives are blended cements with other additives if you mess about with the manufacturers formula by adding pva, water, plasticisers etc I cant see that being ideal and may cause repeat problems in the future? If there is settlement in the house, is this not covered in the NHBC guarantee ?
Not exactly the same task but when I am grouting I use a large syringe/turkey baster to force the grout into the gaps AND under the tiles. Fast and less mess to clean up. Also ensures a good waterproof seal in tile joints in bathrooms
I use a cake icing bag, for grouting. Your adhesive would probably need to be a bit more runny but it could force it under the tile. Much better than trying to force it under with a paper scraper. Also you might not have to take all the grout out, just do it in sections to force the adhesive under rather than out of the sides. Suppose it would depend on the direction of the initial adhesive lines as well.
I did as well where they made 2 holes with a drill through grouts and inserted foam type material and you can see the foam was coming out the other hole which meant it filled the area so it was worth trying and surely it would have had added extra support ?
I'd try and get in contact with the house builders and simply get replacement tiles. They might break in the future anyway so it's always good to know who made them, what model they are, and even have a few spares stashed away.
Few months back, had to re-tile my masterbed .. mostly had hollow sound and after sometime started to tent up. Last week another bedroom tiles started to tent up..was thinking is it possible to drill couple of holes near joint area to release underneath pressure and fill em back up with adhesive ..
Andy, I own the Makita battery powered caulking gun. It comes with a large tube and nozzles which you could fill with runny mortar and then power it in. I think that would work.
Andy could have used Detramat or similar before tilling. We did that no problems after 15 years. In USA they pump in slurry to lift sagged concrete in some instances.
You could fill it with a load of pallet wood and scaffold board in a fancy pattern and call it reclaimed upcycled flooring that will shrink and look terrible in 3 weeks.
Alright bud work selling tiles to the trade I would of first dripped a bit of acrylic primer down first then made sure the Addy was a flexi one that'll stop the chance of cracking then on the grout front use a flexible admix (BAL grout admix in t,he BAL range is one) to it that'll make it extra flexible and stop it cracking in the future so quickly. Top vid though everything moves in a new house and 'settles' so spot on bud time and money exercise at the start gone wrong. Also floor might not have been prepared properly to begin with lol .
Nightmare job ,we had a cracked conservatory tile ,wanted to change it ,luckily we had a few spare tiles ,good job we did ,as we broke another three trying to get the first one out ,we drilled a centre hole in first tile that was broken ,hoping to go from centre out , only chance it if you have a few spare tiles is my suggestion.
I have created a method to inject a self leveling glue to fill any and all voids without removing or using caulking gun. Can do 1,600 sqft in about 4 hours.
Perfect video (for me). Thanks for sharing. We own a 114 years old cottage which we bought 28 years ago. Originally it didn't have any foundations or concrete floors. So we had the whole cottage lifted up, Don't ask how they did it because (un)fortunately I wasn't there at that moment. I don't remember how long time after laying the concrete floor the tiles were put. Somewhere between 6 months and 2 years, I guess. For twenty plus years we didn't have any problems at all with the tile floor in the entrance room. But during the last few years the problems occurred rapidly and massively. Many tiles are broken and grout is missing at many places. So we are about to change the whole tile floor.there. But I'm very curious if I'll find out what the reason for the cracking is/was. The bathroom has the same tiles and there everything is OK. (so there we leave everything as it is. Around our brick (chamotte) wood stove are the same tiles. Some of them are damaged as well because some fool (I) has been chopping wood on it. I need to save some of the tiles from the entrance room to replace near the broken tiles near the stove. I'm really looking forward to that job..... We rent our cottage to tourists all year around. But thanks to the Corona virus our friends from Italy will not come this year in May. So we have a gap there.
@@GosforthHandyman I doubt it's tree roots. For 99% I'm sure it's not. I can't remember there was a tree growing in the cottage. In front of the cottage were no trees. We planted 2 trees about 7 meters from the cottage away (but on the rear side). The apple tree has very undeep roots (it fell down already a few times, we call it a cat tree now). The cherry tree is stronger but I doubt the roots go around the cottage (the bathroom is closer and there nothing happened) And in front of the cottage is a terrace (concrete shaped bricks) and a concrete path) I'll let you know if we find something special.
It's already adhered to the floor, you were trying to get something under the tile to support it,because you couldn't remove the tile without breaking it. However I wouldn't use leveller unless I could test it on something that doesn't matter because it could fail spectacularly. It would make a good video though😃
it's because the houses now are build way too fast for the concrete to cure and crack properly. i've build some where the concrete slab was poured two years before laying the tiles and the owner never had any problems with tiles cracking. we did left some expansion gaps around some doors but the living room and kitchen had like 100sqm never had any cracks
I have used a tool from a moto factors for pumping oil into transmissions.. basically a big sringe with a pipe at the end instead of a needle. I cut the end of a silicone nozzle off and stick to the end of the pipe. Drill a hole in the grout as wide as possible for the nozzle to fit and mix a grout very wet mix and pump as much in as possible into all effected areas.. I have tried pumping adhesive but that doest pump. I'm no pro BTW
Great vid. I've moved into a 60s property that's been extended and has tiled kitchen and bathroom.. The tiles sound hollow and I can't lift them up as it could lead to at least 6 tiles... Not fun.... I tried to regrout over the old one but it still cracks so i wonder if I mixed it too dry or watery... I will try the same consistency as yours so it flows in and under.... At least it will be less messy.... Only thing is, can't leave it for 48hrs as kids in house make that impossible ! Anyway my regrout lines are thicker than the original for some reason 😲☹️ When I rake out the old grout the adhesive appears to go too as the tile rocks... Pain in backside!
So well explained mate. Just a question, Why are block and beam floors less common nowadays? I'm guessing they'd be cheaper, the only reason I can think of is insulation.
Hi Andy, to get tiles out even with adhesive still sticking to the ground is quite easy. Did this before. Just cut out the grout and after this heat up the tile with with a propane flame and use a rupper hammer to slightly tap the tile after heating up. Takes 2 min per tile to get them out. With partly loose tile I guess just a few seconds. Of coourse you dont want to damage the tile with beating them up with the hammer. Just carefully tapping.
First floors in The Netherlands are always placed on top of the foundation. And the load is only on the foundation. Most houses even have a crawl space under the first floor.
On strip foundations with traditional slabs ye brickwork sits on ye foundation 450mm below ground. An ye slab sits on the brickwork so it’s basically like a block and beam ;) the ground below will sink but ye slab is suspended the same as block and beam it just hasn’t got the gas membrane
I'd have used a tube of the Dexgreen 14B 2 pack polyeurethane resin we have at work (for sealing telecoms cable joints) when it's warm its very runny straight out of the tube so it could dissipate under the tiles so long as there's a gap but it sets hard after 30 minutes or so.
There is no need to dig up a beam and block as often there is a gap below it and there will be insulation. A beam and block floor is similar to the timber floors we used used to have.
Suction cup to lift the tiles? And going on previous experience, with thin tile gaps on some layouts its extremely difficult to grind out the grout without damaging the tile! I'm guessing yours was 4mm?
I had 2 thoughts watching this. Use a suction glass lifter to try try and get the tiles up - you are applying force to the centre of the tile rather than levering the edges and use self levelling compound to flow under the tiles to get plenty of support in the voids. Although I dont know if levelling compound sets by air drying or chemical setting so it may not be suitable.
In the process of buying new build. Did you have to fix tile because it was outside the two year warranty? Also I can’t find your mount anything to dabbed plasterboard video do you gave a link thanks
The builders wanted thousands to tile the kitchen floor so I declined and bought some carpet tiles for around £300 and fitted them myself. Any nasty spillages and I can rip out the tile and replace it in a jiffy - and they're warmer underfoot. I've got some shiny ceramic tiles in the cloakroom and one of those Aero360 moisture absorbers leaked slightly and left a chemical stain...any ideas how to clean it off as nothing seems to work.
@@justintemp Easy - just vacuum the dirt like any carpet. They're cheap, easy to fix and easy to replace if necessary, plus they're warmer under foot in the winter when not wearing shoes and should a plate or cup fall to the floor less likely to break. Okay, spillages are not so easy to clean up but the tiles are rubber backed so can be gently washed and scrubbed or indeed replaced.
Yea but what about those retro (40 years ago ) tight together super thick tiles?? They still around and it would be good to make a video about how to change those !! Thanks
A customer wanted me to replace a 600x600 porcelain tile, I checked around the tile noticing all of the others sounded completely hollow underneath. Felt like it was going to be more trouble than it was worth, especially at the end of the job when a customer asks for it as a "favour", so I asked them to evaluate over the next 6-12 months see if more start cracking and didn't do the job and those were also new builds.
So, one advantage if you had done the tiling yourself ion the first place, is that you would probably have some spare tiles lying around somewhere, to allow for breakages?
@@briannewton3535 yea you could be right. I suppose with some of the tile being on tile adhesive and some expanding foam then the difference in flexibility between the two could be a problem
I discuss the false aging of the grout and what I'd charge a customer for a job like this over on my Patreon here: www.patreon.com/gosforthhandyman 👍
Or if you just want a break from this crazy, crazy world, subscribe to some virtual farming here: th-cam.com/users/andymacdrums 😀
I just saw this at work today, Andy (sorry it's in danish) it is specially made for this problem (not removing tiles first, just drill two holes in the grout and inject): link: www.lip.dk/produktoversigt/pleje-og-vedligeholdelse/lip-injektionslim/?lang=da
Hi Gosforth, this is Jane from Vankyo, would love to invite you to test new-released Vankyo 10 inch tablet? If so, pls let me know how to contact you, thank you in advance.
Great idea. Well done.
@@janejia6071 +
@@DMJ1978
Lĺllĺ
i’m studying level 1 brick laying and we’re learning about foundations at the moment, this video helped a lot
Cheers Josh - you can't probably put me right! 👍😀
A wonderful demonstration along with showing the real life situ where lifting a tile is not an option. I believe you did a fantastic job. BTW, you are my favorite handyman over all the TH-cam channels and it's mainly because of your aura.
I think the product is called Fix a Floor, you drill holes into the Grout then inject the glue which is very thin
This process ensures better coverage in the area of the disbond. I don't think edge bonding will stand the test of time and depending on depth of disbond, the tile could eventually crack. I would use a 2-part epoxy or other type product rather than the fix-a-floor product, but the process of drilling and filling is proven and works for wood floors over concrete, as well as composite construction used in aerospace, automotive and boats.
@@billbarclift6348 I don't follow what will you exactly use. Can you list the product name? Also what expeocne you have to make such a statement. Just curious not trying to offend. I rather take advise from someone who is not just using comonsense but also has some real world.experience in the matter.
Love the realism here, DIY always means tradeoffs Awesome VID!
Indeed - expect the unexpected! 😁👍
I use an emptied and cleaned caulking tube which I fill with either watered down, exactly the same consistency you have used or self levelling compound which I then inject into old grout lines. Excellent explanation of why tiles drop, thanks.
Whenever I have had tiling done professionally or done it myself, I always get a good number of spare tiles. This may seem wasteful at the time, but it pays for itself again and again when you get a broken or cracked tile etc.
Totally agree - wish I'd asked the builders to leave some, although the tilers are long gone by the time you get the keys so not sure if it would have been an option. Defo worth asking the house builder in future though. 👍
Exactly. I live on a development where after 20 years people replace kitchens and bathrooms. I have liberated some choice spare parts (including tiles) from skips.
But where do you store them?
@@timwalters5355 Wherever I can! House loft, garage, garage loft, shelves in garage... I don't have hundreds!
@@timwalters5355 loft or under kitchen kickboards
Discovered your video researching the same problem in my home. Loved your explanation and illustrations of slab foundations. My house, too, is on a slab; 13 years old and now it starts to crack? Aha, I see, the foundation is settling. No cracks in walls yet, but am afraid they're coming too. I've bought two tubes of Fix a Floor (five or six of my tiles are creaking) and intend to use them today. Wish me luck.
Did it work?. Similar situation wanted to know..thanks
Hi Andy. I had to fix a similar issue in my old house circa 1950 due to subsidence. Mixed the adhesive really thin and used a concrete vibrating poker wrapped in a rubber inner tube to stop the steel marking the tile. The adhesive makes its way under the tile in seconds. Doesn't level up the tiles but it's better than a new floor cost wise.
I discovered that running one of those semicircular carbide multitool blades over a cheap diamond plate let me blunt the sides whilst keeping the edge as-new. This is dead handy for getting the grout out of tiling that's been done with very small gaps between the tiles, as it greatly reduces the risk of chipping them or grinding them by accident. HTH.
Wish I'd thought of that before I chewed up the tiles in my utility room.👍
Great tip! 👍
Only ever had wood and bimetal blades in my multitool so far, a tip for the memory bank, cheers.
What a great tip! I ruined some tiles in our kitchen before we had it redone because the kerf of the blade was just a little too wide - if I'd thought of that I might have reclaimed them!
I use 'Bondcrete'. It's used to make concrete joins stick but I've found it useful for drummy tiles, also drummy render. You can get it in a bottle with a nozzle. It's really just wood glue, or PVA. Thin it about 50/50 and drill holes in the grout down as far as you can go safely.
Using the bottle with a nozzle squeeze it in and let it sit. If you have it thin enough it should disappear into the grout. Just keep putting it in until it won't take any more. Works a charm.
Love this content , such simple but honest professional tips
A good honest video. Helpful in many ways. Thank you for that
Glad you carried on filming and created another way of trying to solve the problem aswell as talking about all the problems we seem to have,great and honest video!👍👍👍👍
Forget trying to lift tile up with scraper get a twin glass sucker on it as twins put more pulling power over area of tile. Single sucker can sometimes break tiles. With grout removed the sucker will be a huge help
Whenever I tile or get tiling done I have a spare box that I store in the house, usually under a kitchen unit behind the plinth. that way no need to find a match as its from the same batch. Sometimes its a whole box of tiles of each type in the house - floors, walls, between worktops and wall units etc.
Makes sense that.
Andy, you’re spot on as to what you need to do, the only thing I would do differently is pump the adhesive into grout lines with a mortar/ grout gun. Which pumps whatever you put in it into the void. Best application for where tiles have been spot bonded to the floor.
Cheers Kevin! 👍
Spot bonding (or dot and dab as I have heard it called) causes so many problems down the line all too often. I can see your solution working well on that, how skinny are the nozzles?
Brian newton depends on your grout lines width , the mortar gun from screwfix comes with various nozzles
@@KevinGarcia-yp5rk Just checked that out. grout width aint much, so just assumed nozzles would be too fat, but can cut em pretty skinny... ahh assume, I shouldn't do that, My dad used to say makes an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me'. That would have been handy to point a relay of a slate patio I did, ahh well.
Brian newton the smallest attachment can fill up a 3mm grout line. The best way to the get the adhesive under the tile is to break out only a small section of the grout of where you believe the void is. That way when you pump the gun the adhesive does not come back up through the grout lines somewhere else.
I've got to address the same issue, and wondered about a self levelling compound, in the hope this would fill any voids
epoy glue, flows like water and can be injected from a small 1-2mm tube, also put some pressure on the tiles to make them slightly more even with the other surface
Also use combination of glass suckers and levers to pull up a tile. Sometimes helps and works but not always.
Clean out the joints, pour in 'Unibond', SBR or PVA adhesive, mix with fine aggregate if necessary. That's a method we have used to inject under floor screeds where voids have occurred during levelling etc. It works!
Much the same as I was about to suggest. A good runny PVA mix would run under the tiles and fill the void.Its purpose isn't so much to be an adhesive, more a filler.
Great tip! 👍🤘
You are good! Had my bathroom floor tiled but after a day several tiles lifted.
Sometimes I have been able to lift large tiles like those with suction lifters. I have one with 4 cups and a centre handle. If it doesn't come loose with one jolt from that, it ain't moving at all. At least not in one piece.
Yeah, don't think these would have shifted in one piece. Absolutely solid in the middle. 👍
The proper fix is to raise house building standards but everyone is focused on profit, profit, profit.. depressing.
you are forgeting about bad professionals
I did similar job just 2 weeks ago. Very apprehensive but got up 6 tiles plus 2 more that were already cracked through. Re-layed putting cracked ones near edge where not walked on and dead chuffed with the finish and crack's hardly noticeable. Was lucky how they came up. It was a join between a 20 year old extension and much older build.
Masking tape surface tiles then bolt resin injected in gap after removing the old grout. Rock hard and fast setting. Make sure you leave enough gap for grout. Do it all in a day.
What is bolt resin?
@@tonydibratto5333 it's just a very fast setting adhesive cement.. Its similar to hydraulic cement so it expands a bit. unless he's meaning a 2 part epoxy type of product.
self leveling compound, thin enough to get down and it will fill the void. The tiles are glued down, you just need to fill the void and remove the druminess.
Use a decoupling mat between the floor and the tile. Movement is transferred to the membrane not the tile.
Only possible when you first lay a tiled floor!!
I have had to deal with same problems on jobs. I do exactly as you have done except I do do first small batch runny then the same as your batch for last batch. Agreed not as strong on first batch but will fill tinny voids first.
i always use "fix a floor" sold on amazon its a construction bond that you pull out the grout and squirt it around the tile, its runs well looks like pva and you use a silicone gun to apply. around 10 quid to buy, hope this helps
Interesting! Will check it out! 👍
@@GosforthHandyman you're supposed to drill between the grout lines to apply but that's dodgy... scrapping with a stanley is best for no tile chipping.... flows like water keep filling until it stops, wipe excess off with damp rag put some weight on tile around 2 bags of sugar or bucket of water and leave for 24 hours, always worked for me
Is this the right stuff? I have the same issue with lose tiles on timber suspended floor that I suspect has too much bounce/whip in it which has caused a 1 or 2 of the tiles to become lose
Mark, have used a very similar product, but it is a very thin two part epoxy that is pushed under the tile with a syringe. Also as it's a (relatively) new build where are the spare tiles? It's normal here to be left spares of any tiles used in the house, including roof tiles.
I used this and it worked
Hey I have home in Barbados an my floor keeps blowing what can I do ?
Yes I always read the description! Great vid, great job!
hello fellow handyman i had a job where somone else layed the tiles and out of say 300 tiles size 600mm x 600mm x8mm thick about 50 almost tiles was not layed with enough glue under causing the grout to crack and hollow noice when knocking on the tile so i got old acrylic tubes silicone tubes pulled them apart put a new nosel on them and filled them up with runny tile adhesive went around the grout line with a thin screwdriver and made holes in the grout then with silicone gun pushed the nosel in the hole and pumped adhesiveness under tile until the adhesive started spreeding under tile and coming out the holes surrounding the tile cleaned up overflow adhesive and let dry once dry the hollow noise was gone and then re grouted just a cauasion dont pump to much as the pressure will lift a very weak tile
A friend of mine had loose tiles at the front door & broke the tiles when tried to repair... so they smashed the tiles a bit and made a random mosaic feature that matched the rest of the floor!
That's one way of sorting it! 🤣🤘
Will method this work for a loose wall tile?
Another way could be if the site's still active ask the local builders or site manager. You will at least get the name of the tiles. Buy them. Smash the loose tiles and replace as needed. Trouble is with flow filling the edges is it never really makes its way to all the gaps. So when it comes to moving house or bringing your heavy tools in over night it could pop the tile. Looks alright to me though 👍
Hi, I hope you can see this comment and respond.
I moved into my brand new house 4 months ago and now the grout of my kitchen, front entry way and the powder room are all cracked in between almost every tile. The tiles are not even anymore. If you run your fingers on them, you can feel one is higher and the other is lower.
I have 1 year warranty for the builders to fix it. The builders just want to patch up the cracked tiles.
Now im worried they just want to patch up until my warranty is expired. Should they be doing something else? Or is patching up all that is usually done? What about the tiles not being the same level? One is high, one is low. It's not so visible to eye but once you run your hand on the tiles, you can feel the unevenness.
What should I do?
I have underfloor heating and the tiling hasn't been levelled properly. I want to remove the tiles myself but I have underfloor heating pipes underneath. Is there anything I need to know? Can i remove grouting and remove the tile with a utility bar? And suction cups etc?
I do it pretty much the same as you, but as I am applying the adhesive I will vibrate the tile with the edge of an orbital sander.
I have problems with tiles too close to each other which makes the grout with little space to get it cemented..can help? Thank you
Sorry but you'll need to re-lay the tiles! If there's not a big enough grout gap you'll have no end of problems. 👍
Just a quick shout.... can of soudall foam.... rake out the grout as you have done and a few quick squirts underneath the hollow areas on the tile. Weight on top to stop possible pushing up of the tile and that will support the tile once cured 👍
Would it not flex too much?
Gosforth Handyman good point... I did comment half way through watching this video and then saw your overall results and had second thoughts. Had the same in my old kitchen. Wooden floor to concrete floor. Cracked between the two different areas. Since had a kitchen extension and had the whole floor concreted and karndean floor on top to save any cracked floor tile scenarios again.
I had the same thing, I used expanding foam to stop the tiles either side of the loose one to stop them rocking
Expanding foam for porcelain tiles? Haven't heard of that before! 👍
Well, it did stop the tiles rocking, done it about 2 years ago an had no probs since
I like to remove the gout. Then mix concrete glue 50/50 with water. Pour mixture in grout joint tap with rubber mallet until solid.
Good tip! 👍
Im in South Africa. We would put the foundations in like you do in the UK but the concrete floor slab would be placed on top of the grade as well as the foundations. Why isn't this done in the UK?
On stuck tiles I use glass suckers and try and get as much as I can sucked and slowly try lifting it. If that doesnt work I've done the sloppy mix and pouring it under the tile and then just leave it for a good 72 hours to dry. In a bad case I've actually cut the tiles down the middle and then matched them in a line so it doesnt look bad just 1 tile being obviously repaired stands out so if you do a line in the door way it's not as noticeable I've found and clients prefer it over to being 1 single repaired that you can tell it's been broken.
I was actually considering cutting down the middle and adding a threshold, but very hard to cut these tiles in situ. 👍
Great advice that’s helped me fix the same problem, thanks buddy!
Have / did you considered a construction flowable non shrink grout - (Sika & Fosrock do these), they are more commonly used to flow underneath machine bed plates etc but are basically designed to flow & fill the void between flat surfaces, it looks like once you had removed the grout you access to the void under the tile, and could have tried the construction grout at that point. Tile grouts & adhesives are blended cements with other additives if you mess about with the manufacturers formula by adding pva, water, plasticisers etc I cant see that being ideal and may cause repeat problems in the future? If there is settlement in the house, is this not covered in the NHBC guarantee ?
I thought they had the injection type adhesive where you can drill holes in the grout and pump the adhesive in beneath the tile?
My advice after just watching my 2nd video of yours is this: Ask QUEST to give you a TV series.
Not exactly the same task but when I am grouting I use a large syringe/turkey baster to force the grout into the gaps AND under the tiles. Fast and less mess to clean up. Also ensures a good waterproof seal in tile joints in bathrooms
Haven't tried that!
@@GosforthHandyman
I found it effective. Obviously got to keep filling it (with a spoon) but no difference really to loading a spatula or whatever
You could have borrowed the wife's icing bag and nozzles.
@@davidmarsden9800
I could. But I would probably be minus ma clackerbag if I did 😂
I use a cake icing bag, for grouting. Your adhesive would probably need to be a bit more runny but it could force it under the tile. Much better than trying to force it under with a paper scraper. Also you might not have to take all the grout out, just do it in sections to force the adhesive under rather than out of the sides. Suppose it would depend on the direction of the initial adhesive lines as well.
Interesting! I got a lot of adhesive under with the scraper. 👍
Reminder: Always order and store several extra tiles for these situations.
I’ve seen someone use a little expanding foam under tiles seems like a good idea but also a messy one
I did as well where they made 2 holes with a drill through grouts and inserted foam type material and you can see the foam was coming out the other hole which meant it filled the area so it was worth trying and surely it would have had added extra support ?
Have you tried drilling two holes across tile near hollow end and use filler like cellulose or concrete paste with syringe
I'd try and get in contact with the house builders and simply get replacement tiles.
They might break in the future anyway so it's always good to know who made them, what model they are, and even have a few spares stashed away.
Few months back, had to re-tile my masterbed .. mostly had hollow sound and after sometime started to tent up.
Last week another bedroom tiles started to tent up..was thinking is it possible to drill couple of holes near joint area to release underneath pressure and fill em back up with adhesive ..
Andy, I own the Makita battery powered caulking gun. It comes with a large tube and nozzles which you could fill with runny mortar and then power it in. I think that would work.
Possibly! Might just ooze out the sides mind - would somehow need forced under the tile, but worth a try! 👍
@@GosforthHandyman I'm thinking that a runny self-levelling concrete might be the way to go.
Here in the US I use a product called fix a floor. Not sure if it's available in the UK. It's basically PVA glue in a caulk tube.
Did fix a floor really work?? Any problems long term from using it? Thanks!
Andy could have used Detramat or similar before tilling.
We did that no problems after 15 years.
In USA they pump in slurry to lift sagged concrete in some instances.
I didn't tile it unfortunately! 👍
Well if you'd broken a tile... you could've poured sparkly epoxy in the gap and called it Live Edge River Tile !
I like your thinking! 2m views on TH-cam guaranteed! 🤣👍
Kintsugi is the Japanese name for highlighting cracked pottery with Gold.
You could fill it with a load of pallet wood and scaffold board in a fancy pattern and call it reclaimed upcycled flooring that will shrink and look terrible in 3 weeks.
Well done good job
Cheers Michael! 👍🤘
well done St.Andy. I don't think anyone else would have had the patience to do that LOL
Cheers! Yes, it took forever. 🤣👍
Alright bud work selling tiles to the trade I would of first dripped a bit of acrylic primer down first then made sure the Addy was a flexi one that'll stop the chance of cracking then on the grout front use a flexible admix (BAL grout admix in t,he BAL range is one) to it that'll make it extra flexible and stop it cracking in the future so quickly. Top vid though everything moves in a new house and 'settles' so spot on bud time and money exercise at the start gone wrong. Also floor might not have been prepared properly to begin with lol .
Nightmare job ,we had a cracked conservatory tile ,wanted to change it ,luckily we had a few spare tiles ,good job we did ,as we broke another three trying to get the first one out ,we drilled a centre hole in first tile that was broken ,hoping to go from centre out , only chance it if you have a few spare tiles is my suggestion.
I have created a method to inject a self leveling glue to fill any and all voids without removing or using caulking gun. Can do 1,600 sqft in about 4 hours.
Perfect video (for me). Thanks for sharing. We own a 114 years old cottage which we bought 28 years ago. Originally it didn't have any foundations or concrete floors.
So we had the whole cottage lifted up, Don't ask how they did it because (un)fortunately I wasn't there at that moment.
I don't remember how long time after laying the concrete floor the tiles were put. Somewhere between 6 months and 2 years, I guess.
For twenty plus years we didn't have any problems at all with the tile floor in the entrance room. But during the last few years the problems occurred rapidly and
massively. Many tiles are broken and grout is missing at many places. So we are about to change the whole tile floor.there.
But I'm very curious if I'll find out what the reason for the cracking is/was. The bathroom has the same tiles and there everything is OK. (so there we leave everything as it
is. Around our brick (chamotte) wood stove are the same tiles. Some of them are damaged as well because some fool (I) has been chopping wood on it.
I need to save some of the tiles from the entrance room to replace near the broken tiles near the stove. I'm really looking forward to that job.....
We rent our cottage to tourists all year around. But thanks to the Corona virus our friends from Italy will not come this year in May. So we have a gap there.
Interesting! It's not tree roots or something is it? Seen that before!
@@GosforthHandyman I doubt it's tree roots. For 99% I'm sure it's not. I can't remember there was a tree growing in the cottage. In front of the cottage
were no trees. We planted 2 trees about 7 meters from the cottage away (but on the rear side). The apple tree has very undeep roots (it fell down
already a few times, we call it a cat tree now). The cherry tree is stronger but I doubt the roots go around the cottage (the bathroom is closer and there
nothing happened) And in front of the cottage is a terrace (concrete shaped bricks) and a concrete path)
I'll let you know if we find something special.
Any leaking drains that have washed away the soil below the slab?
Excellent video, such a simple job that turns into a nightmare, then you have to justify the cost to the customer as it’s so time consuming.
I wonder if pouring floor leveler in the grout line would run under the tile and support it
I'm not sure if leveller should be used as tile adhesive? 🤔👍
It's already adhered to the floor, you were trying to get something under the tile to support it,because you couldn't remove the tile without breaking it. However I wouldn't use leveller unless I could test it on something that doesn't matter because it could fail spectacularly. It would make a good video though😃
it's because the houses now are build way too fast for the concrete to cure and crack properly. i've build some where the concrete slab was poured two years before laying the tiles and the owner never had any problems with tiles cracking. we did left some expansion gaps around some doors but the living room and kitchen had like 100sqm never had any cracks
2 years is ideal. I think this was tiled about 6 months after the pour. 👍
I have used a tool from a moto factors for pumping oil into transmissions.. basically a big sringe with a pipe at the end instead of a needle. I cut the end of a silicone nozzle off and stick to the end of the pipe. Drill a hole in the grout as wide as possible for the nozzle to fit and mix a grout very wet mix and pump as much in as possible into all effected areas.. I have tried pumping adhesive but that doest pump. I'm no pro BTW
Nice work!
Great vid. I've moved into a 60s property that's been extended and has tiled kitchen and bathroom.. The tiles sound hollow and I can't lift them up as it could lead to at least 6 tiles... Not fun.... I tried to regrout over the old one but it still cracks so i wonder if I mixed it too dry or watery... I will try the same consistency as yours so it flows in and under.... At least it will be less messy.... Only thing is, can't leave it for 48hrs as kids in house make that impossible !
Anyway my regrout lines are thicker than the original for some reason 😲☹️
When I rake out the old grout the adhesive appears to go too as the tile rocks... Pain in backside!
So well explained mate. Just a question, Why are block and beam floors less common nowadays? I'm guessing they'd be cheaper, the only reason I can think of is insulation.
Hi Andy, to get tiles out even with adhesive still sticking to the ground is quite easy. Did this before. Just cut out the grout and after this heat up the tile with with a propane flame and use a rupper hammer to slightly tap the tile after heating up. Takes 2 min per tile to get them out. With partly loose tile I guess just a few seconds. Of coourse you dont want to damage the tile with beating them up with the hammer. Just carefully tapping.
Worth a try! I'd only risk it if I could test the flame heating on a spare tile first. 👍😁
@@GosforthHandyman I tried it with usual tiles AND Travertin. No change on both. Try for yourself. Worked great!
First floors in The Netherlands are always placed on top of the foundation. And the load is only on the foundation. Most houses even have a crawl space under the first floor.
No such luxuries over here! 😢👍
by first floor u mean ground right
@@girlsdrinkfeck yes. Sorry for the confusion.
@@GosforthHandymanI am building a house and nobody sees that as a luxury. Perhaps because we are used to building on bad ground. Like sea bed. 😉
@@PeterPetersNL theres no confusion lol, its just the way every country has their own dialect :)
On strip foundations with traditional slabs ye brickwork sits on ye foundation 450mm below ground. An ye slab sits on the brickwork so it’s basically like a block and beam ;) the ground below will sink but ye slab is suspended the same as block and beam it just hasn’t got the gas membrane
So would you have to regrout it again and again as the adhesive was not there under that tile in first place?
I'd have used a tube of the Dexgreen 14B 2 pack polyeurethane resin we have at work (for sealing telecoms cable joints) when it's warm its very runny straight out of the tube so it could dissipate under the tiles so long as there's a gap but it sets hard after 30 minutes or so.
Would you not be able squirt some low expending foam under each tile?
There is no need to dig up a beam and block as often there is a gap below it and there will be insulation. A beam and block floor is similar to the timber floors we used used to have.
Suction cup to lift the tiles? And going on previous experience, with thin tile gaps on some layouts its extremely difficult to grind out the grout without damaging the tile! I'm guessing yours was 4mm?
Great video.
I had 2 thoughts watching this. Use a suction glass lifter to try try and get the tiles up - you are applying force to the centre of the tile rather than levering the edges and use self levelling compound to flow under the tiles to get plenty of support in the voids. Although I dont know if levelling compound sets by air drying or chemical setting so it may not be suitable.
I put a LOT of force in to trying to lift the tiles - any more and they would have broke. 👍
What for narrow gap tiles?
Here wide gap tiles are shown.
I think you done exactly the way I would have good job
Cheers bud! 👍
Could of added some plasticiser or even washing up liquid to get it flowing better without compromising the strength of the adhesive
Possibly - not sure with this adhesive! 👍
In the process of buying new build. Did you have to fix tile because it was outside the two year warranty? Also I can’t find your mount anything to dabbed plasterboard video do you gave a link thanks
The builders wanted thousands to tile the kitchen floor so I declined and bought some carpet tiles for around £300 and fitted them myself. Any nasty spillages and I can rip out the tile and replace it in a jiffy - and they're warmer underfoot.
I've got some shiny ceramic tiles in the cloakroom and one of those Aero360 moisture absorbers leaked slightly and left a chemical stain...any ideas how to clean it off as nothing seems to work.
Carpet tiles in the kitchen? That would be difficult to keep clean?
@@justintemp Easy - just vacuum the dirt like any carpet. They're cheap, easy to fix and easy to replace if necessary, plus they're warmer under foot in the winter when not wearing shoes and should a plate or cup fall to the floor less likely to break. Okay, spillages are not so easy to clean up but the tiles are rubber backed so can be gently washed and scrubbed or indeed replaced.
Yea but what about those retro (40 years ago ) tight together super thick tiles?? They still around and it would be good to make a video about how to change those !! Thanks
Did you look into those fix a floor glue type guns?
What we do in South Africa we get the same tile remove loose tiles and just replace it in a jippy
That doesn't work if you doubt have access to a matching tile.
@@chriswoodward7609 that's why you alway take a extra square meter and keep it in storage for times like that😉
A customer wanted me to replace a 600x600 porcelain tile, I checked around the tile noticing all of the others sounded completely hollow underneath. Felt like it was going to be more trouble than it was worth, especially at the end of the job when a customer asks for it as a "favour", so I asked them to evaluate over the next 6-12 months see if more start cracking and didn't do the job and those were also new builds.
Replace all with glued LVT?
So, one advantage if you had done the tiling yourself ion the first place, is that you would probably have some spare tiles lying around somewhere, to allow for breakages?
Why do you do a lot of jobs inside with no shoes on? Is it easier to do with no shoes?
Good job
use a glass suction cup I have use before and it work well
Thank you,🙏🙏🙏
I would have maybe tried getting some expanding foam under the tiles
I think it would flex too much and the grout would crack, not sure. 🤔👍
@@GosforthHandyman possibly...but I have bedded shower trays in with expanding foam with no problems
Hmm, not sure I would use expanding foam, i suspect with a year of use it would flex and crumble.
@@briannewton3535 yea you could be right. I suppose with some of the tile being on tile adhesive and some expanding foam then the difference in flexibility between the two could be a problem
@@paulmcfadyen689 I recon the shower tray will be spot on, as there is support over the full surface, I can see the longevity of that one.
Always smash them in the middle and work outwards towards the grout lines.
I can't get matching tiles so couldn't break them 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Wow, that is a pain in the wazoo! Big challenge right there. PS started the vid but didn't watch it😁