The 12 by 12 tiles were laid 7 years ago and nothing is different, but last October some of them over by the exterior wall of the house started tenting. There had been no more or less rain. What would make them do this?Here‘s some more info:-They started cracking in the part of the house that was added on.-The new foundation may not have been sealed.-My brother put them down and he tends to do a crappy job at best. He thinks they were cheap tiles.-I found traces of termites when I started pulling them up (seems unrelated since they‘re ceramic tiles, but one never knows...)Any advice on replacing them would be greatly appreciated!
Ceramic tiles are rated at 3 4 5 and 5 being the best as far as breakage goes and if you have some that are rated at 3 or maybe 4 they may break through the years this is one reason. Another reason is that the floor may have settled through the years and this has caused them to crack especially if you say this part was added on. A good floor and sub floor if it was laid right and then they did use a cement board when they laid tiles I doubt moisture is the problem unless the floor became totally saturated. You can take the cracked tiles up carefully and scrape all the thin set off of the cement board or underlayment what ever you have. Make sure it is dry and level if you have any part of the floor that is not level you will have a few cracked tiles for sure. Apply new thin set and place new tiles. Re grout and you are done. You say these started cracking in the part of the house that was added on it may be that part of the floor has settled down more and you may to make sure that this is all level before you can place new tiles. Good Luck
Tiles will crack for generally 3 reasons 1) Improperly prepared flooring - The floor needs to be sealed from moisture from below/exterior walls, and cleaned from any and all previous floor coverings (ie glues.residues from laminant or previous tiles). Highly recommended not to apply thinset to partical board or OSB as they call it here as the thinset aggravates the adhesives from the board. Best to use plywood. 2) Improperly applied tiles - There are specific thinsets for different floor coverings (ie, concrete flooring in basements, plywood, or even on top of existing ceramic floors) It is very important that the correct thinset is used, and that the application is uniform and complete underneath each and every tile. If there are air pockets under the tile, chances are very high they will break. 3) Cheap materials - You generally get what you pay for. Tiles at .60/sqft will break in your own hands. If you can snap the tile in 2 with your bare hands, how do you expect it to handle 200+ lbs. It sounds like it is possible that termites deminished the quality of the wood beneath the tiles, but you would be able to see yourself from the tile whether the tile let go from the thinset, or the thinset let go of the floor surface. If the bottom of the tile is caked with thinset, the problem is moisture in the floor (or your termites), if there is no thinset on the tile it was either not properly installed, or improper/poor thinset was used.
could be your floor is not level you can test it yourself just get a leveler and test the areas that are cracking. The only other thing I can think of is the termites ate a hole and there is too much moister coming into the house and causing the tiles to crack. I doubt its because of the tiles or the job otherwise something would have happened sooner. But get someone out there to check for termites hope that helps good luck.
When installing floor tiles you have to have the right surface under them. You would need either a self leveling cement surface applied or cement board installed first before the tile is installed. If this wasn't done first the floor below the tiles will absorb moisture and expand and contract from the different humidity levels causing the tiles to break loose.
