Two weeks ago I laid 1 X 2 ft ceramic tiles in my bathroom using premix tile adhesive. After reading some reviews, I should have mixed my own – lesson learned.
This weekend I added grout and all went well, but this morning (Monday) the grout around one of the tiles which aligns against the bathtub seems to be cracking/splintering slightly. I have now found that when I stand on diagonal sides of the tile and shift my weight, I hear a creaking sound. Seems that the tile is moving, hence the grout issue.
The tiles were laid on a floor heating mat.
If there was no heating mat, I wouldn't hesitate to pull up the tile, but it seems the mat will be a problem for me. I know most of you guys are not psychics, but what are my odds here of pulling up a tile and ripping up the mat also? If the tile is creaking, I assume that it is loose? Also, how does one pull up a tile?
I don't want to dog a hole bigger that I need to (so to speak). Is there an option to fix this without pulling the tile?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice.
Tile – How to remove a tile with floor heating mat
ceramic-tilefloorheatingremovalrepair
Best Answer
I have repaired the issue I had with this tile. I did not take the advice given above and looked around for an alternative as the risk of damaging the tile-warmer element was too high (and expensive). I spent a few hours and carefully dug out the grout around the tile and surrounding tiles - this was very tedious as I didn't want to damage the heating element. I vacuumed and cleaned thoroughly. I then mixed up some epoxy grout and with a putty knife pushed the grout as far as possible into the gaps. Since I had used grooved trowel to lay the tiles, the epoxy grout filled under the tile into the gaps. After 2 days I tested the tile and it does not move at all. The epoxy grout is INCREDIBLY strong and hopefully stabilized the tile. I am glad I didn't resort to breaking up the tiles.