A pickle: Replacing a few tiles, or the entire kitchen floor?

I agree with RH in that re-doing the floor would probably be your best bet.  However, other factors may be the reason for tiles coming up,  such as the tiles being laid out on old flooring, plywood or cement boards rather than on actual cement.  If either of those is the case, then chances are that more tiles will eventually come up.  Also keep in mind that more than likely a tenant will not be cautious and careful in making efforts to prevent further damage.  Keep these factors in mind when making a decision on how to move forward.  Good Luck!

LorEnz14

in Flooring 13 years and 7 months ago

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greencat | 13 years and 7 months ago

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Hi brownstoners-  We thought that the kitchen floor just need a couple tiles glued down, and it seems that the contractor didn’t do a particularly great job installing the tiles 4-5 years ago, and a number of them came loose and/or broke — about 8-10 tiles. My question is there an easy way of reinstalling new tiles in these places (it seems so hard to remove the thinset down to the wonder board)? Is this even possible, or do we have to rip out the entire floor? We have a tenant moving in Monday. Thanks, Cat

Tomkinley | 13 years and 7 months ago

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A new tile wall backdrop can provide kitchens with a brand new look and feel. Tile can be used on the floor as well as countertops. Remove the old tile. This can be accomplished by breaking up the tile into pieces using a hammer and a chisel. Clean the area thoroughly and allow to air dry.

brucef | 13 years and 7 months ago

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Have you tried sharpening the scraper with a file or grinder? It shouldn’t be that hard to remove the old thinset. Sounds like you need a bigger scraper or more leverage (sharpened ice chopper, etc) While an entirely new installation would be nicer, you may have run out of time. If, for some reason, you can’t get the old thinset mostly off, you’d have to replace the backer board to get a permanent job. And that might run under cabinets and might not be so easy a job. Figure one day for demo, fix underlayment, a 2nd day to cut and thinset new tiles, a 3rd day to let the thinset “cure”, and 4th day to grout, and a 5th day to let the grout set up??? With Murphy’s law in full effect, it doesn’t sound doable by Monday.

greenwoodgeneral | 13 years and 7 months ago

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It shouldn’t be that hard to do 8 tiles. How big are the tiles? We have fixed ours in the past (hex tile) by using a grout bit on a dremel toll, then a chisel on the tile, the the dremel to remove the thinset.

rh | 13 years and 7 months ago

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The bad news is that you should probably redo the whole floor. If that many have come up in 5 years, the job obviously wasn’t done right and more will come up while your new tenant is living there. The good news is that if you get the floor up by tomorrow and start tiling, you could have it grouted by Friday. Make sure the wonderboard is secured well and there is no movement. The tiles could be coming up because of movement or because the thinset wasn’t mixed properly.

greencat | 13 years and 7 months ago

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thank you everyone for your responses, very helpful!