Hollow tile solution (tiles that have not had enough adhesive applied to them)

googlefast

Hi all

Has anyone here had experience with hollow tiles (tiles that have not had enough adhesive applied to them)? The builder who did my tiles has done a shoddy job and some of the tiles are hollow, and I'm afraid they're going to start getting cracked soon. If this is something that you've dealth with, how did you go about fixing it?

Thanks

Edit: This is and issue to do with floor tiles.

Martin_the_Unjust

‘Hollow tiles’ do you mean they sound hollow when tapped?

googlefast

Martin_the_Unjust said:

‘Hollow tiles’ do you mean they sound hollow when tapped?

Basically, tiles that have not had enough adhesive applied to them, and when you tap on them they sound hollow compared to the ones that have had enough adhesive.

grumbler

IMO, this is perfectly normal for  wall tiles and not a "shoddy job".

And certainly this cannot cause cracking.

koalakoala

I take it you mean floor tiles? I don’t know the solution but I have had this in the past and they were ok for many years

googlefast

grumbler said:

IMO, this is perfectly normal for  wall tiles and not a "shoddy job".

And certainly this cannot cause cracking.

One has cracked already! And it's for floor tiles by the way.

neilmcl

googlefast said:

Martin_the_Unjust said:

‘Hollow tiles’ do you mean they sound hollow when tapped?

Basically, tiles that have not had enough adhesive applied to them, and when you tap on them they sound hollow compared to the ones that have had enough adhesive.

Sounds like they've used a dot and dab method of applying the adhesive instead of a notched trowel. Nothing inherently wrong with that method as long as they've achieved enough coverage on the back of tile.

googlefast

neilmcl said:

googlefast said:

Martin_the_Unjust said:

‘Hollow tiles’ do you mean they sound hollow when tapped?

Basically, tiles that have not had enough adhesive applied to them, and when you tap on them they sound hollow compared to the ones that have had enough adhesive.

Sounds like they've used a dot and dab method of applying the adhesive instead of a notched trowel. Nothing inherently wrong with that method as long as they've achieved enough coverage on the back of tile.

They haven't, I saw them fitting some of the tiles and they were using a notched trowel, only some of the tiles sound hollow (like 1 out of every 10), and one of them has cracked already so I think more will crack if I leave it as it is.

FreeBear

One has cracked already, others will follow suit as you start to move around in the area. The only way to fix it is to lift the tiles and put a full bed of adhesive down. Problem is, you won't get the tiles up without damaging them, and it will be difficult to get the replacement down level & without lippage.

If these are large format tiles, for a perfect job, they should have been "back buttered" and then laid using one of the many leveling systems out there(Vitrex for example).

You need to get this "builder" back to lift & refit all the hollow sounding tiles at his expense.

neilmcl

googlefast said:

neilmcl said:

googlefast said:

Martin_the_Unjust said:

‘Hollow tiles’ do you mean they sound hollow when tapped?

Basically, tiles that have not had enough adhesive applied to them, and when you tap on them they sound hollow compared to the ones that have had enough adhesive.

Sounds like they've used a dot and dab method of applying the adhesive instead of a notched trowel. Nothing inherently wrong with that method as long as they've achieved enough coverage on the back of tile.

They haven't, I saw them fitting some of the tiles and they were using a notched trowel, only some of the tiles sound hollow (like 1 out of every 10), and one of them has cracked already so I think more will crack if I leave it as it is.

Could be faulty tiles rather than lack of adhesive.

Jeepers_Creepers

Or a too-springy floor.

Googlefast, if this tile cracked for no obvious reason, just in normal use, then they should come back and replace it. Simple as that.

I suspect you'll struggle to get them to redo the whole floor, tho', unless more tiles start to crack at which point you can then legitimately claim the work wasn't carried out to an acceptable standard.

One tile? Could still be a one-of (I dunno - a particular dip in the floor that wasn't filled with adhesive). Hard to ask them to redo a whole floor based on a single tile.

Did you witness the work? What type of floor do you have? How did they prepare it - any sheets, levelling compound, etc? And then they laid a notched layer of adhesive? Silly Q - how thick? Square-notches? What type of tiles are they?