Suggestion Best Posts in Thread: Change Ceramic floor tiles

Dave,, I am not sure if I have the right answer to this posting, but I will as Pat has been my friend for years go to his him and give my best recommendation... based on my experiences here. In Addition we live very near each other and I will help him organise the repair with workers that have helped me for 6years if thats required...

 

I am not Pat (nor Spartacus) but one problem I see with laying tiles over tiles is that the bottom tiles may lift off and so take both layers with them. You stated this is happening now to your existing tiles and, with time, this could be a bigger problem. My suggestion would be definitely NOT to lay over the existing tiles as they are an unknown.

 

As you are in the UK I can understand the logic of your answer. In UK, there may be just one bad spot in the floor and all the rest are well attached.

So this is Philippines. Some of the tiles laid in Jack's house have already come loose within a few years. What are the chances that the "professional tile layer", who put down all the tiles, got them all done correctly except for those few that are loose? I can tell you I would not put any money on that bet but it may be the case.

Gerry undoubtedly does it right, either by doing it himself or personally supervising the workers, so he can overlay existing tiles. We don't know who put down Jack's tiles or how good a job they did. So with the cheap cost of labor (labour) here, why not get them all pulled off and do it right this time?

 

My tiller could use some help, got a terrace 15m X 2.5 m. needs the ground to be prepared and 15 m role bars going in and concreted and tiled and a balcony needs tiling 15x 2.5. PM me Brian, but let Dave have preference.
Cheers.

 

Because so many of them are warping the same way it looks like this is an issue of expansion/contraction. The sun shining on the floor heats up the tiles faster than the concrete below them. Maybe the person below you is running their air conditioner while you are not.

I always wondered why the grout lines were so wide:
Grout joints also allow for contraction and expansion of the tiles; outside installations exposed to hot summers and cold winters will fail if they are not set correctly and properly grouted. Inside, tiles can buckle and come loose if not properly set with adequate grout and the occasional expansion joint.

https://www.tilelines.com/grout/

I am a bit picky when it came to grout lines in my tile floors. I always required that the grout be steel troweled with a spoon after the grout began to set up. This hardens and seals the surface. Tile setters vehemently resisted doing this when I asked and then demanded. I always paid a helper by the hour to do this as the tile setters do not factor in the time when they quote the job. They positively reflected on the results after they finished.

It is the same as finishing concrete with a steel trowel after it has been floated and the bleedwater sheen has disappeared.

https://www.concreteconstruction.net/how-to/tools-of-the-trade-and-how-to-use-them_o

Typically grout is washed with a wet sponge. This washes away the fines and leaves a rough surface that entraps dirt and stains.

 

@cabb You said you will butt the titles against each other.
Just a word of advise. The tiles are probably not perfectly flat. I laid a bunch of 800 x 800 mm tiles and ended up with ridges where a convex tile met a concave tile. Next time I will use a straight edge and grade the tiles as either smiley face or frowny face. With some planning you can avoid ridges or at least keep them out of the center of the room.

 

I've always worked out the number of tiles assuming no use of the 'offcuts'. That way I usually end up with a few extra tiles at the end of the job. Much better than ending up a couple of tiles short - Sod's law says that those tiles will be 'out of stock, sir' when you go back to the shop.

 

Always best to let the Tiler measure, he knows where he can use the "Cuts"

 

Take the loses one's up only, no need to take them all up.