What would cause ceramic tile that was laid over ceramic tile to bow up at the grout lines and how to prevent it?

Similar questions: ceramic tile laid bow grout lines prevent.

The seams of the new layer of tiles should not be lined up with the seams of the previous tile floor. If they are it may be causing this. Also in the preparation process the previous tile floor should be sanded down to roughen its surface and give the new tiles something to grip on to.

If that didn't happen then the tiles may be floating and causing the bowing at the grout lines. Can you confirm if these steps were done by the installer? Is this widespread across your entire floor, or only happening in certain spots?

Fixing this will likely involve removing and relaying the tiles. Org/installing-over-tile.

I had this happen to 9 tiles in my kitchen about four months ago and I carefully took them up and relaid the same tiles using glue so as to not have the tile at a different height because of the thin set on the back which I couldn't remove. So far, so good with them. Now I've got about 40 tiles loose in the middle of living room floor.

Unfortunately when I started to take them up hoping to do the same as with the kitchen, there were tiny hairline fractures in the tiles which caused them to break when I removed them. I checked the seams and with only one exception the seams didn't line up because the old and new tiles are different sizes. And they didn't pop up at that seam first.

I sat here and watched them pop up. Pretty strange to watch. When the kitchen tiles did it I thought it was the result of a small earthquake a few days prior but I can't blame the ones in the living room on anything like that.

I don't know that the old tiles were sanded. They were about 30 years old and not in any way shiny. The installer put down some blue stuff with a paint brush called Plasterbond and then the thinset on the back of the tiles and put them down on top of the blue stuff.

I think the blue stuff was dry so I don't know if that was the problem or not. I had never seen the blue stuff used before but the installer assured me that people here never take up the old tile, they just put new down over the top of the old using the blue stuff for adhesion. I think I'm too trusting sometimes.

The problem now arises that the particular tile I have has been discontinued and is not available anywhere in the country. So I have to find a complementary color/design and put it in the center of the floor so it looks like it was planned rather than a patch job. Thank you for your comments.

Regards, Carole Saylor (morlaine) morlaine 16 months ago .

Morlaine, you may want to contact the manufacturer of Durabond to get a sense of wether or not the way it was used in your flooring is appropriate. The contact information can be found in the link below. It says that DUREX PLASTER BOND must penetrate into the substrate to be effective.

I'm not sure if that's possible given the substrate is a tile. Pdf.

The brand name on this product is Intaco Plasterbond Concentrado. I googled them and found this website, ns.intaco.com/ficha.php?prd=MTU2 and there is an email address on the bottle of plasterbond. I'm going to contact them.

From what I can tell by reading the directions, they are in Spanish, it was done correctly. But I am going to write them just to see if they have any ideas or suggestions. I sure don't want it happening to the new tiles I put down.

Thank you for the suggestion. Regards, Carole Saylor (morlaine) morlaine 16 months ago .

Do I use grout or caulking in between a tile backsplash and granite countertop.

They are so dark & dirty looking, even with scrubbing.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.