Why Are My Tiles Cracking or Loose?

Why Are My Tiles Cracking or Popping Up?

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1 - Lifting and Cracking Tiles

2- Prevent your Tiles from Cracking 

3 - Always follow these 4 Tips

Why Are My Tiles Cracking or Loose

Lifting and Cracking Tiles

Have a good look at your home and think that you have just spent a lot of money on your new home construction or renovation. No one wants their home to be built or renovated incorrectly, as you have given a lot of your time, energy, and dedication to making sure your home is correct and has quality during its construction or renovation. You may have consulted and taken help from different professionals and even asked market vendors, home retailers and many other people regarding your construction or renovation to help overcome any problems that may arise in the near future. Besides structure construction, you may have brought tiles from different parts of Australia's region or even the world from suppliers for your kitchen, bathrooms or floor areas. However, when family members or friends visit your home, and even yourself, can feel a sense of satisfaction and pride because you have spent your hard-earned money and time to bring joy, happiness and beauty to your home while installing high-quality tiles (Ceramics, Porcelain, Marble, Travertine).

Now, imagine after all your hard work making sure your home and renovation was completed with quality in mind, your tiles are damaged somewhere in your home, either in your bathroom, kitchen or floor areas. You would be disappointed and shocked. For a moment, you will think that the beauty of your home and all the money that you have spent on your new tiling are all in vain now. However, if you have been taking proper care of your house. Then, how did this happen?

While seeing your cracked tile floor or walls, you will start thinking about how to ask your contractor about this mishap. You will keep trying to find out the actual reason and try some tips to limit the cracks look to a minimum extent.

There are distinct possibilities that the maximum water limit or soil movement has caused your concrete or timber foundation to shift or maybe shifted upward perpendicular to the earth level. A slight hairline crack in your concrete slab foundation may create problems. Sometimes poor drainage system allows your water to damage your underground foundation, resulting in cracks.

To find the leading cause of your crack tiles,
here are some significant issues listed below:

1. Pressure Impacts

Dropping heavy objects from a specific height can lead to tile damage. Usually, when a heavy object has been dropped on your tile, it may appear like a finger chip. You may find cracks and chips in your kitchen tiling due to falling objects such as pots, pans, glassware, and other heavy items. If the falling object is not well balanced at the edge of your kitchen benchtop or slips due to a wet surface, it can lead to cracks or chips on your tiled floor. However, due to expansion, inevitable cracks may also appear near your cupboards and door frames if your tiles have been cut too close.

2. Improperly preparation of Subfloor

A concrete slab can provide an excellent base for a tiled floor. But without the proper surface preparation, there will be no end to problems and headaches. You may find that sometimes the concrete or timber subfloor is not flat and adequately managed, resulting in damage to your tiles soon after tile installation. Sometimes on concrete floors, vacuum bubbles can form when the subfloor is not flat and stable. That's why you should always get professional advice from your local tilers at Tiler Tiling Perth. It's always best to remember that any floor areas to be tiled should always be clean, dust, oil, wax, grease, and paint-free.

3. Climatic Factors

As we all know that porcelain tiles can tolerate the environment in which the temperature changes simultaneously, but somehow ceramic tiles cannot bear rapid temperature changes. Ceramic tiles are more porous. Due to their porous nature, they can hold much moisture from the environment. The more a tile is porous, the more it will be at risk to be damaged. To overcome such a problem, you are required to use high quality powdered adhesives that can stick to the surface firm and adequately.

4. Expansion Joints:

Cracks occur within the tiles when their expansion joint is not larger enough. First of all, we should have a slight introduction of expansion joint. Expansion joints are gaps left free from the grout filling and are typically filled with a silicone product. These joints can divide the whole pressure into equal sides under the surface of the tiles and prevent them from getting damaged. If these joints are thinner than required, the tiles would have maximum room to move and contract, causing damage.

5. Foundation problem

Resolving the Foundation problem is always essential for tiles installation. A slight problem within the foundation can cause the floor tiles to pop up, resulting in visible cracks and drummy tiles. This sometimes occurs when the underlying surface of your house settles down. To overcome the problem, you should install tiles using the correct high-quality flexible adhesive. This adhesive can help absorb the weight impacts and expansion in the floor.

6. Inferior Tiles & Poor Installation:

Suppose you are facing damaging tile problems that are not closely related to heavy impacts. This problem could be the use of incorrect low-quality tiles or sometimes having them installed incorrectly. An unqualified and unprofessional tiler could also be blamed because low-quality adhesives have been used, resulting in tile cracking's in your walls or floors. As well as giving the tiles less time to dry before being walk on and using the incorrect non-flexible tile adhesive can also be the leading cause of your damaged tiles.
After the cracks appear, countless questions come to mind, which is probably not the solution. It must be realized that tiling is never a decorative layer only but should meet the specific performance standards and last a long time.

Prevent your Tiles from Cracking

If you have recently installed new tiles in your property or workplace, you should inspect them regularly, cleaning and removing stains from them properly. Take care of the grout, observing if any cracks or chips appear. Cracks within grout sometimes absorb moisture which will consider contraction and suspension with the floor tiles.
If you have noticed any cracks in your floors or walls, you should immediately replace those tiles or hire a professional tile removal and replacement company for your task. Sometimes a hairline crack could lead to larger damage. If you are planning to replace those damaged tiles, then you must take the following preventive measures:

1. Prepare The Subfloor Correctly For Tiling

Be aware of your floor condition first. Ask professionals. Either clean your existing concrete ready for tiling, screed uneven damaged floors and sheet timber floors correctly with tile underlay.

2. Hire a professional Tiling Contractor

If you are looking to install new tiles in your home or any other commercial area, you may be tempted to do it yourself, but it is absolutely a more challenging task. At least you should not create problems for yourself. Go! Hire a professional and skilful tiler for your job.

3. Always follow these 4 Tips

Clean Floor Area

Always make sure your floor area is clean from any dust and non-compatible coatings.
Once your floor area is clean, it will be a lot easier to see cracks or damage on the floor substrate.

Patch or Screed Floor

When tiling floor areas, you must always have a sound and solid surface to adhere to.
If small cracks are noticed, they can be directly tiled over, but you must prepare the crack with bandaging tape if larger cracks are found. Always ask a professional to help with this. If you find your concrete substrate has holes or is a bit bumpy and not level, it's best to fix this with either a levelling compound or a tiling screed to make your surface flat before tiling.

Dry and Prime

Always ensure your floor has dried thoroughly before proceeding. In some circumstances, the substrate may have to be primed before any tiling is started. Always check with the adhesive manufacture or your tiler.

Start Tiling

Once you know all areas are correctly prepared, your tiling can now start, always making sure you are using the correct tiles and products for the situation.

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