Ceramic tiles buckling?

fordman84

fordman84

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Calling you homeowners and DIY guys, ever seen kitchen tiles buckle? I'm talking dead in the middle of the house, not against a wet wall, an area about 3'x3' this morning popped up as I was standing a few feet away. I heard a grinding/shuffling sound and noticed they were lifted up. We have a plumber on the way out to look for a slab leak (concrete tensioned slab). I pulled one up and looks dry underneath. No other tiles around it are messed up or sounding hollow. Following the line through the house there isn't any drywall or moulding cracks/gaps. Doors all close normal.

Damndest thing I've ever seen. All I can think is for whatever reason as we were warming up from two days below freezing those 9 tiles warmed faster than the others and crammed together? Seems like in the 20 years this house would have had it happen before, never has.
 
fordman84 said:
Calling you homeowners and DIY guys, ever seen kitchen tiles buckle? I'm talking dead in the middle of the house, not against a wet wall, an area about 3'x3' this morning popped up as I was standing a few feet away. I heard a grinding/shuffling sound and noticed they were lifted up. We have a plumber on the way out to look for a slab leak (concrete tensioned slab). I pulled one up and looks dry underneath. No other tiles around it are messed up or sounding hollow. Following the line through the house there isn't any drywall or moulding cracks/gaps. Doors all close normal.

Damndest thing I've ever seen. All I can think is for whatever reason as we were warming up from two days below freezing those 9 tiles warmed faster than the others and crammed together? Seems like in the 20 years this house would have had it happen before, never has.
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Perhaps it's the grout and not the actual tiles breaking down?
 
This is why I no longer build my houses on fault lines or ancient Indian burial grounds.
 
rsw626 said:
Perhaps it's the grout and not the actual tiles breaking down?
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Plumber did all the tests and 1) verified I'm not an idiot and my digital water meter is broken, and 2) that it is highly unlikely I have a slab leak. he couldn't see any signs, hear it, and the static test held firm.

Our leading guess is now that the foundation is shifting (as all houses in DFW go through) or the tiles were under pressure from the beginning and the mastic finally gave out. That's the easiest solution, so I'm going with that one. Except now that a tile is popped out my wife is saying "we need to replace all the flooring like I want and redo the back half of the house". FML, gonna end up being a LOT more expensive.
 
fordman84 said:
Plumber did all the tests and 1) verified I'm not an idiot and my digital water meter is broken, and 2) that it is highly unlikely I have a slab leak. he couldn't see any signs, hear it, and the static test held firm.

Our leading guess is now that the foundation is shifting (as all houses in DFW go through) or the tiles were under pressure from the beginning and the mastic finally gave out. That's the easiest solution, so I'm going with that one. Except now that a tile is popped out my wife is saying "we need to replace all the flooring like I want and redo the back half of the house". FML, gonna end up being a LOT more expensive.
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Just tell her it’s probably a whole bunch of baby snakes in a nest.

Then eat out the rest of your life.
 
fordman84 said:
Plumber did all the tests and 1) verified I'm not an idiot and my digital water meter is broken, and 2) that it is highly unlikely I have a slab leak. he couldn't see any signs, hear it, and the static test held firm.

Our leading guess is now that the foundation is shifting (as all houses in DFW go through) or the tiles were under pressure from the beginning and the mastic finally gave out. That's the easiest solution, so I'm going with that one. Except now that a tile is popped out my wife is saying "we need to replace all the flooring like I want and redo the back half of the house". FML, gonna end up being a LOT more expensive.
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That makes some sense. I built a bunch of slab houses, and if the concrete is substandard or the compaction of the ground that the concrete is poured on is substandard then you could have a good bit of movement in your concrete.

You’ll be able to tell a light once you break the ceramic tile up and take a look at what’s underneath.

I had an issue with the house back in the mid 90s. We paid for 3000 PSI Concrete & had an issue with the house back in the mid 1990’s.

Big separation in tiles and glue down hardwood flooring. Got all the flooring and everything removed did some course samples and found out that our concrete was more like 1100 psi in the affected areas

We bought the house back from the homeowner. I bought the house and fixed it up and lived in it for about eight years.

The bottom line is that any slab house can have some issues as Concrete will crack and shrink and have issues which transfers right to the flooring of your home. Unless you’re lucky and have carpet which hides some of those issues.
 
BadMotoWeazal said:
That makes some sense. I built a bunch of slab houses, and if the concrete is substandard or the compaction of the ground that the concrete is poured on is substandard then you could have a good bit of movement in your concrete.

You’ll be able to tell a light once you break the ceramic tile up and take a look at what’s underneath.

I had an issue with the house back in the mid 90s. We paid for 3000 PSI Concrete & had an issue with the house back in the mid 1990’s.

Big separation in tiles and glue down hardwood flooring. Got all the flooring and everything removed did some course samples and found out that our concrete was more like 1100 psi in the affected areas

We bought the house back from the homeowner. I bought the house and fixed it up and lived in it for about eight years.

The bottom line is that any slab house can have some issues as Concrete will crack and shrink and have issues which transfers right to the flooring of your home. Unless you’re lucky and have carpet which hides some of those issues.
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Slab movement and failures is a known issue in north texas. It has to do with our clay content, which is why all the smart people have soaker hoses around the full perimeter or run the sprinklers religiously. The drying and expanding clay just causes a lot of movement, to the point we have to have a special rider on our insurance policy to cover leaks due to slab movement. The only way around it was how my parents built their house, slab on beam. Had beams installed to bedrock and then the slab poured incorporating the beams. Foundation repair/leveling is a HUGE business around here and every homeowner knows every house is going to have settling cracks, sticking doors, and slab corner pops within a few years of construction. it's part of the reason I don't want to build a house, but buy one at least 5-10 years old so it has had a chance to settle and see just how bad it is.

Dig 6" down anywhere in north texas and you hit a very thick layer of black clay.

I pulled a tile up and half the mastic came with it. I think the builders just didn't clean well before installing it. But it lasted 20 years before coming up. Neighbors all around us have had the same, and we have a few hollow sounding tiles around. Means it will be easier when it comes time to pop them up to replace. I just wish I were 15 years younger and could do all the work myself. Now I have to pay someone. shit.
 
fordman84 said:
Plumber did all the tests and 1) verified I'm not an idiot and my digital water meter is broken, and 2) that it is highly unlikely I have a slab leak. he couldn't see any signs, hear it, and the static test held firm.

Our leading guess is now that the foundation is shifting (as all houses in DFW go through) or the tiles were under pressure from the beginning and the mastic finally gave out. That's the easiest solution, so I'm going with that one. Except now that a tile is popped out my wife is saying "we need to replace all the flooring like I want and redo the back half of the house". FML, gonna end up being a LOT more expensive.
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Your wife while you were at work...
iu


Something happened to the tile, honey!? :laugh:
 
beardown07 said:
Your wife while you were at work...
iu


Something happened to the tile, honey!? :laugh:
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lol. The craziest part is that I was standing in the kitchen when they gave out. The odds are massive that would happen. It wasn't any loud pop, just a slow crunching/shifting sound. I honestly thought my wifes cat had gotten into the lower cabinets.
 
Today the rest of the tiles in that row buckled all the way across the kitchen. I ended up taking them all up and there are no cracks of any sort or signs of moisture. But at both ends of the strip of the tiles that came up the floor is clean, the thinnest came straight up with the tile. I'm sure that's the failure, just years of thermal expansion and contraction broke it loose. In the middle of the floor there is no room to expand so they buckled.

That's my story at least :)
 
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