Solve Common Tiles Problems in Your Home

Jul 2022

Whether you are building up a new home or looking forward to maintaining the overall look of your house, tiling is something you need to focus on while carrying out the job. Many times, people forget to keep an eye when tiling is carried out, which results in various minor to major defects that might damage the look of your home. Be it the floor tiles, walls, or even bathroom tiles, each of them needs equal attention at the time of tiling to avoid tiling problems in the future.

Today, through this article, let’s discuss some of the tiling issues experienced by the tiling experts from Lavish Ceramics and the solution they would suggest for solving the tiling issues.

Loose Tiles

One of the most common tiling issues as loose tiles. Many times after the installation of the tiles, they become loose. Hence, when checked, a hollow sound is heard in the areas of the floors and walls. This happens when issues are experienced in soft joints or control joints at the time of installing the tiles like the usage of thin-set. When the concrete slabs expand underneath and contract due to the temperature, it results in a loose tile after some months or years.

Thinking about how to fix the loose tiles? The best way to prevent it is to use a quality thin-set at the time of installation. Apart from this, a good quality substrate is also essential which allows the concrete under the tiles breathes naturally no matter the temperature. For avoiding cracks on the tiles while installation, using a high-quality underlayment membrane is advisable.

Poor Workmanship

Most of the time when the tiling is carried out, the owners leave the entire responsibility to the workman. Hence, they avoid inspecting the job also. Checking the grout lines, the space between the tiles, etc. should be carried out once the tiling job is over. But most of the owners don’t do so and hence, end up with tiling issues.

When carrying out the tiling job, make sure you take an inspection of the tiles from a distance of nearly 6 feet as per ANSI standards. This is highly recommended if you have hired a contractor for the tiling process. If anything is found suspicious regarding the tiling job, inform the workman about it quickly. This would help them take the necessary steps for repairing the damage or making changes. When such inspection is carried out several times, would help in avoiding any kind of tiles issues.

Cracked Tile

Cracked tile or grout is a common tiling issue due to tile cracking or loose tile after the installation. When the installation is not carried out properly, it ends up on an uneven floor that leaves wreaks havoc on the entire installation project. Again, the cracked tile ends up with a damaged look.

The best way to prevent tile cracking, as per the experts from Lavish Ceramics is using steel reinforcement bars while using the concrete mix. Adding some fiber is also effective. Again, you can also use crack isolation membranes prior to placing the tiles. This would be helpful in certain movements at the time of temperature changes. It would help in the expansion and contraction of the tiles during a stabilized temperature without damaging the tiles. Another secret to avoiding tile cracking is to mix grout and pack it tightly in the tile gaps as leaving gaps in the tiles can allow the water to seep inside, resulting in cracks.

Mold Growth

This is something that is very common in bathroom wall tiles. The growth of mold is observed in the tiles due to increased moisture levels which mostly happen in showers and bathrooms. As the grouts have a permeable nature, mold can easily grow from between the minor spaces between two tiles and grow out from there. But as the moisture is sure to increase in the bathrooms and showers, a quick fix is needed to prevent the growth of the mold.

One of the best prevention measures the experts of Lavish Ceramics would suggest is mixing baking soda, around a half cup, and some teaspoons of water. Applying this mixture to the grouts and tiles. Leave it for some minutes on the walls and grouts. Scrub using a scrub brush. Clean with water. In this way, you can easily remove the molds on the tiles and give them a clean look.

Grout

Grout is another common issue that nearly everyone faces after the installation of tiles, especially the bathroom tiles. But don’t worry, there are various ways one can remove the grout with ease for a clean bathroom.

The first solution to the growth of grout in the bathroom or anywhere in the house is applying some hot water to the grout and wiping the dirt out from the surface or tiles. Using hot water will help in removing the grout easily from the tiles. However, if the grout buildup is intense, you can also use strong cleaners like chlorine bleach, alkaline, oxygen bleach, etc. for cleaning the grout and other stains from the tiles. Using a scrubber or even a small brush for scrubbing the tiles would help in eliminating the unwanted debris. Once the grout is cleaned, coating the grouts with an effective sealant is also recommended for avoiding any kind of stains, or buildup in the future. This would also make the future cleaning of the tiles and grout easy.

The solution to the polished glazed vitrified tiles installation issues depends on the type and nature of the issue. The minor issues can be handled with ease oneself at home. Again, cleaning and maintaining the tiles on daily basis would eliminate any kind of damage in the future. However, if the damage or tiling issue is intense, make sure you contact an expert or contractor from Lavish ceramics who would find out the tiling issue and work on its roots. So, are you ready to work on the tiling issues in your house?