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View Full Version : Tile & grout Q's.



Joe Tonich
08-13-2004, 2:12 PM
I layed a tile floor in my Kitchen last year and now some of the tiles came loose. :( There is the cement on the floor AND the tiles. Seems sorta like the cement spalled or something and seperated. Is there an adhesive (like PL400 or something) I could use to re-lay the tiles or do I have to do the whole thing over again? Also, how thick do you make the grout? My neighbor helped me do it and he said it should be like stiff peanut butter. I thought it was supposed to be thin, but not soupy. I'm removing the grout cause when I fix the tiles I won't be able to find grout to match the rest of the floor and need to re-grout it all. I KNEW I should have went with a WOOD floor in there!

Joe

Chris Padilla
08-13-2004, 2:41 PM
Ouch, Joe! This doesn't sound like much fun for you for the next few weekends.

Let me start by saying I've tiled one floor in my life. It was my 1/2-bath and it was only 30 12" green marble tiles. I layed down cementboard as my subbase and I used a thinset adhesive. The grout is as your neighbor described: thick peanut butter...difficult and forearm-breaking to mix (use a 1/2" drill and a mixer).

First, I smoothed a very thin coat of thinset on the tile (back butter if you like), then I layed down a thicker coat on the cementboard, then notched it with a 3/8" notch trowel. This is a VERY important step, the notching. Otherwise, you may not get good coverage of the thinset and end up with a weak bond. I've got a year+ on the floor and is seems shipshape.

You have the let the tiles set up with the thinset for like 24-48 hours before you grout. Mix the grout, and then lay it down and allow it to cure for 7 days. Basically, I just followed the directions on my package of grout! :)

How do you plan to remove the grout? How did you install the tile? It might give us some clue as to the failure. How big are the tiles? Do you have adequate substructure support to minize deflection of the floor--i.e. how much does the floor bounce when you walk on it? Larger tiles need a smaller deflection or they could pop loose in time.

Dean Baumgartner
08-13-2004, 10:23 PM
Joe, I've only done one tile project but it was a backspash in our kitchen. I used tile mastic. Kind of like a thick glue. It's got better hold than thinset but I'm not sure how well it would hold up to foot traffic. It remains a little flexible for some time.

Dean

Joe Tonich
08-13-2004, 10:39 PM
This was my first (and last) tile job. My neighbor did his floor and LOML liked it and wanted our linoleum replaced with tile. I ripped all the plywood out and installed cementboard, taping the seams with fiberglass tape & thinset. Applied the thinset with a notched trowel, and tapped the tile in place. The next day I grouted and sealed the grout 4 days later. Now some of the tiles (8") are loose and the grouting is cracked in places. I bought a scraping tool to remove the grout (Looks like a screwdriver with a triangular carbide end on it) as I need to re-grout the whole floor. I'd never match the existing color. I really don't want to re-do the whole floor but if I have to, I have to. I'm just hoping someone can come up with an alternative to that.

Joe

Joe Tonich
08-13-2004, 10:43 PM
Joe, I've only done one tile project but it was a backspash in our kitchen. I used tile mastic. Kind of like a thick glue. It's got better hold than thinset but I'm not sure how well it would hold up to foot traffic. It remains a little flexible for some time.

Dean
Dean,

I'll check that out. I'm hoping there's some kind of adhesive that would work. If not, I might just end up with a wood floor yet.

Joe