I own a 1952 house and gutted and installed a new kitchen around 12 years ago. I hired someone to install the floor tiles.
I have good quality italian made baked tiles 12″x12″x.25″ installed on full 2x8s with a 1″ plank underlay laid at around 25 degree to the joists. The installer laid plywood on that – I think only 1/2″ and them used a thinset base with a mesh, not very deep.
Up until 2 years ago, there were no problems – then I started getting hairline cracks in the area next to a doorway and in front of the fridge. In the last month, one tile now has open cracks and loose pieces and another is close to it. I have 6 more tiles with hairline cracks only but sadly I only have 4 new tiles and the distributer no longer carries them.
Today I pulled out 3 tiles, the 2 loose ones came out easy, the third was very strongly bonded to the thinset.
I have two problems, on one area at the edge of the doorway the plywood underlay and mesh has a 6″x6″ area of water damage and mildew caused by another contracter installing a wood plank floor and failing to install proper grout/caulking where the 2 floors meet. How do I repair this in order to provide a good base for new tile?
The rest of the mesh/thinset is very strong and I cannot find any way way to remove the top layer to allow for a reinstall – I dried hammering with a brick chisel, and also tied a power hammer with a scraper attachment. How do I do that, and do I bother trying to keep the mesh, since I’m under the impression that its not the right way to install.
Replies
Tiles
I don't think using mesh with thinset is correct. Anyway anything less then a complete redo is probably wasting time, money, and labor.
SA
Consult with a professional G.C. onsite
I belive you're giving an incomplete picture of your problem. You don't get 10 years of problem free service from a tile installatin and then all of the sudden start to have issues w/o a good chance of something else going on. My advice is to hire a quality general contrator that can analyze your problem on site.
Also, long term water and mildew damage will not be prevented by caulk and/or grout. IMO, you're barking up the wrong tree with your ananlysis. Consult with a professional G.C. on site to correctly identify the problem.
Cheers!
If all you want to do is to stretch another 5 years or so out of the floor, I'd suggest you just refasten the loose tiles using tile mastic. The mastic can be used in thin layers, is slightly flexible (which you need if the floor is moving), and is easy to use in small jobs.
(The purists will of course throw up all over this suggestion, but the other options are probably less attractive at this juncture.)
(I have no advice about the water-damaged area -- would have to see it or at least have a much better explanation to be able to suggest anything.)
A complete redo is way out of my budget and energy level, it means pulling and trying to re-use the kitchen cabinets and paying for a proper tile installation. It's been a bad year from winter ice damage, I have to pay to replace eavestrough and redo the roof. Then I get to rebuild a broken fence shattered by a tree, and repair leaking rooves on two storage sheds as well as fix numerous odds and ends of bad work done by a contractor who cut corrners when I was not looking. I will be busy all summer.
I did however discover that in Toronto (where I live) it's very normal to use thinset and mesh, I talked at length to a competant grout/tile supplier and an installer who agreed that this is not the right way and provided me with a technique to do a repair. For $100 of material and my labor- I will be happy if it lasts another year.
Budget
Sorry for spending your money without accounting for the budget. Repairs short of a redo need imagination and creativity to accomplish. The underlying casue is probably the substrate. If you're not able to re-enforce the substrate - repairs may not last after the fix. Trying to do this the least expensive way complicates the solution. Maybe some form of epoxy may help adhere tiles where mastic may fail given the underlayment. Hope it works out !
SA