Yesterday, sitting around drinking coffee, I hear what sounded like a small animal walking around on my ceramic tile floor or someone pouring rice on the floor. I later checked and of all those tiles in that area sounded hollow. The tile have been down for 9 ½ years and we’ve had much colder weather. Have you ever heard of this happening?
"Non-Engineer" Answer: The Cold was the final straw
Explanation: We encounter what you described quite often and especially around the first major temperature drop each season. Why now after several years? Delamination is a result of a buildup of stresses between the tile and its substrate. These stresses build as a result of continued slab shrinkage and tile absorbing moisture resulting in expansion over time. Eventually the buildup of stresses overcomes the ability of a thin set to resist and the tiles delaminate. This delamination often occurs during the first major cold snap each year since the change in temperature also adds stresses that act as the final straw.
Commentary: What to do about it? If the tile delaminate cleanly and the thin set remains bonded to the slab, simply clean the slab and reset the tile using an adhesive mastic or polymer modified thin set.
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