Loose Tiles

[Jerry Carr]

I have a few loose tiles in our Kitchen and Entry of our '06 Pat. We have also seen some grout breaking out in some of these area,  I am sure that we have at least 2-3 tiles that are loose. My concern of course is that we fix them before we break them.  Has anyone done a repair on the tile floors? I was told, on my last stop in Bend(Ken), that this repair would require special tile cement and grout.  Would anyone have information on these products?

I think I could do the job, but am not sure what in below the tile.  Is the tile just put on the the sub floor with a thin set?  Or is the tile on a cement wafer board?
If the tile's are directly on the sub floor, perhaps some type of mastic cement would be better than the thin set?

Thanks for any member input.  

[George H. Wall]

The guys @ Beaver Motorcoach would be glad to give you all that info you are asking about, as they do that work on a regular basis.

[Jerry Carr]

Well I did give Ken a call at Bend he thought that if I had just a few tiles loose that I should just use some silicon as a mastic and then re-grout the seams. I think I will still use a deep tooth trowel so I don't have a hollow that would allow the tile to crack.
If anyone else has had a problem like this and done a repair I am all ears

[Bruce Benson]

We used an elastomeric thin set (perhaps it was an additive) to replace loose and broken tiles.  Bend (dealer or factory) had used silicon to secure some prior to our purchase.  Removing the silicon is difficult if you have to revisit these tiles at a future time.

[Jerry Carr]

Thanks Bruce I really didn't want to use sillycon on the tiles I felt they needed a good base spread over the full surface if I can get a small premix of thin set I think I will just use this.

[Jerry Carr]

OK I did get the full tile up in the kitchen area, what I found is the tile had been glued to the OSB floor at Monaco('06) the problem with this is OSB has a wax coat, so the adhesive used by Monaco never really bonds well! Rather than use a thin set as planned I choose to use liquid nails Heavy duty,. I think this will bond to the sub floor better than the cement product. I will let is set over night the do the grout tomorrow.

[Steve Jewell]

Jerry,

I would use Modified thinset that has a latex additive which allow a better/stronger bond. You will need to scrape all the silicone out and use a bonding agent on the OSB to make sure it sticks. you will also want to put flex agent in the grout so it will stay flexable.

Steve J