Tiles that pop up and push against one another are in a sticky situation. As a general rule, tiles needs a bit of space to 'stretch teir legs' from time to time. As your building ages, or as weather changes, the foundations to your home can move, expand or shift in ways usually undetectable to the eye.

What happens when these changes occur is that your tiles need to move too! 

When your tiles want to move, given a shift in the foundation beneath it, or the walls surrounding it, if the area in question does not allow room for the tile to move, then the tile has nowhere to go, and eventually will go the only way it can-UP.

The pressure built up by a shifting substrate can result in tiles pushing against each other, building pressure to a point that the glue adhering the tile to the substrate gives way, and the tiles 'pop' up, often in a tenting formation, like the image above.

This can be avoided if the tiles are given room to move, usually through the installation of an expansion joint, which provides that crucial couple of millimetres that tile need to shift around over the course of their lifetime. These are especially important with bigger areas.

If this pressure is not released, the issue of tenting tiles can spread throughout your floor, as more and more tiles seek the pressure release they need to handle the movement of your house's foundations.

The important thing to remember is that fixing the SYMPTOM does not fix the PROBLEM. Replacing or re-laying tented tiles will only act as a temporary solution, but soon enough, even more tiles will be exploding off the floor as they search desperately for a release!

As we mentioned, an expansion line will generally do the trick to release pressure on the tiled area and restore normality for your tiles. Sometimes more than one expansion line is necessary. if you do not know how to install one of these yourselves, contact a professional.

But what about the tiles that have already popped? You COULD rip up those tiles, clean the substrate of any old glue, scrape the tiles clean and relay the tiles as they were before they popped. A simpler solution would be to contact Barefoot Floors to arrange for an inspection of your tiled area- often whilst some tiles have popped and tented, the full extent of the damage caused by this pressure buildup is hard to spot to the untrained eye. Check this video for more info on how to check for delamination (your glue 'letting go').

Barefoot Floors unique tile injection system can restore those popped tiles in minutes, without the need to replace, clean or relay the tiles. Our system re-bonds the tile to the substrate, meaning you do not need to worry about any further issues with delamination or pressure buildup-we'll even throw in an expansion joint or two for you!

​Any questions, feel free to contact us and we can help however we can!

You may have heard the term 'expansion joint' thrown about quite a bit when building your home, getting renovations done or when making small talk with your builder or local tiler. But what exactly are they and how can they help you avoid the age old problem of loose, hollow floor tiles?

Loose tiles, or tiles that have 'tented' or become hollow, often occur as a result of too much pressure. Pressure from beneath that can cause your tiles to 'explode' without warning, which can be very dangerous for you and your family. 
This pressure is usually caused by movement in the substrate, be it from changes in temperature, moisture in the foundations of the floor, or simply the effects of old father time.

This pressure is unavoidable. Your house will always shift, and pressure will always build. The important thing is to ensure that pressure has somewhere to go. That's where expansion joints come in.

An expansion joint is simply a space within your concrete slab or in the case of your floor tiles, a gap in the tiles that provides the space needed for that natural substrate movement to occur without causing damage to your tiles. Sometimes referred to as movement joints, expansion gaps or expansion lines, these are vital to ensuring your floor tiles stay strong and do not become loose or drummy. Surprisingly, often these expansion joints are often overlooked when installing tiles for the first time, particularly in small areas such as bathrooms.

Without an expansion lines, the pressure only has one way to go. UP. This will cause tenting tiles or in worst cases, exploding tiles! Often your grout will crack, and your tiles will start to make a hollow 'thunk' noise to signal the presence of too much pressure under the tile.

An expansion line is a gap, slightly wider than a normal grout line, usually filled with silicone or another substance that allows for movement. Check your bathroom or tiled floor today- if you cannot find an expansion joint you may need to arrange for one to be installed  or else risk damage to your tiles.

Have your tiles become loose or drummy?
If you believe that a lack of expansion joint has caused your tiles to come loose, you need to contact a professional to have one installed. Barefoot Floors can both install an expansion joint for you, and fix your loosened tiles in one easy, cost effective application.

Contact us today to find out how.

 And when you live in hot, humid areas like many of our customers do in Gladstone, Bundaberg, Rockhampton or even further north, that loose tile can quickly become a trap for mould and excess water. If left untreated, that one loose tile can quickly spread throughout your whole floor!

If you can catch the problem early, it is crucial to get the loose tile fixed before it spreads.

Loose bathroom tiles can be caused by a number of factors, but the most common is too much pressure. Without an expansion gap installed in your bathroom floor, the floor will begin to struggle under the pressure built up over time. This pressure under your floor tiles can be caused by changes in temperature, or movement under the substrate. This pressure will continue to affect other tiles if not rectified early on.

So what can I do?
There are a number of 'DIY' options for fixing loose tiles, including Shalex's off the shelf option. This product will help you re-fix the tile to the substrate without having to fully replace the whole tile. However, this product can be very pricey and cumbersome should you wish to fix more than a couple of tiles at a time. If you have multiple tiles that are loose or sounding hollow, you should contact Barefoot Floors to have your tiles restored using our unique tile injection technology. Shalex's off the shelf option is only suitable for small spot fixes in your floor.

Before you fix your loose tile, however, you should always check to ensure that an expansion line IS installed in your bathroom floor, otherwise the issue will simply continue to happen! Barefoot Floors always recommends a professional installs your expansion lines, as it can be a dangerous task!

Find out about expansion lines here.

Your next step is to identify the number of tiles that need restoring.

Once you've identified the tile to repair, the next step is to fill the void beneath the tile with your chosen adhesive. This can be done by injecting the adhesive through the grout line until the tile sounds 'full' when tapped. You will need to buy a small amount of similar coloured grout to re-fill the hole in the grout line when finished.

So what if I have lots of loose tiles in my bathroom?

Barefoot Floors tile injection system is different to any 'off the shelf' option available right now in Australia. Barefoot Floors uses a unique 2-part self-leveling adhesive which easily finds and fills any de-laminated areas underneath your tiles. Barefoot Floors tile injection system allows for the repair of multiple tiles in one easy application. So effective is our tile injection system we can have an entire floor repaired and ready to walk on within 2-4 hours- all the while saving you thousands by avoiding having to rip up and replace your tiles or having to spot fix a large area using off the shelf products.

If you think you may need Barefoot Floors to help fix your loose bathroom tiles, contact us today for a free quote. We service areas from Brisbane to Bundaberg, Gladstone, Rockhampton and all the way up to Cairns.

​

Barefoot Floors Co-Owner Lynn Rathbone travelled to Brisbane with Steve recently to help quote on a job where plenty of drummy tiles were found! 

Who could imagine that working on a Sunday, namely Fathers Day could be a pleasure?
Today Steve and I are in Brisbane doing a series of Tile Injection quotes around the Brisbane area.
We met 2 lovely ladies at one job as Steve inspected the tiles in their house, which have gone 'drummy'.  
It's a small world- these ladies grew up in Bundaberg, where Barefoot Floors of course was founded and where we both live!
​
Steve was inspecting the floor and I was talking to the owner, and during the course of conversation we talked about how it is that tiles 'let go'.

Steve came back into the conversation- (yes, he managed to 'get a word in'!) and explained that often tiles started to 'creep'  from the outside in, after one or two tiles originally start to de-laminate from the floor substrate. One drummy or loose tile can quickly start a chain reaction that can lead to the entire floor coming loose!
 Our host quite rightly pointed out that 'A stitch in time, saves Nine'. 

Steve went on to say that if one can deal with the small areas of drummy tiles early- a larger, more expensive job can be avoided.

Luckily for our hosts, despite the widespread damage, the tile injection procedure is extremely non-invasive. No furniture needs to be moved and no one needs to leave the house! 

Steve walked the client through the process of restoring the tiles using the re-glue method, including inserting new expansion joints if required and repairing the de-laminated tiles in a quick, one-step application. Once the tile injection process is complete the client will have clean, solid tiled floor without the need to rip up and replace any of her original tiles!

But tiles also come with their fair share of problems. One of the biggest problems faced with tiled floors is discoloured grout.
My grout looks gross.. what do I do?
They say that prevention is the best cure-and the same goes for your grout lines. When you first have your shiny, new tiles laid, and everything looks spick and span, be sure to SEAL your grout lines. Most good tilers should do this for you, but be sure to ask them before they head out the door! If your tiler is already riding off into the sunset-never fear. A good quality grout sealant costs around $15-20 and should be available from all good hardware stores. Grout sealant is easy to apply- simply buy a thin paintbrush and apply once over your groutlines, both on your wall tiles and floor tiles. NOTE: You should ALWAYS be careful not to coat the entire tile- only ever coat the grout lines. Grout sealant is water-resistant and could easily make your tiles super slippery!

But what if it’s too late? My grout lines are already discoloured!
If your grout lines are unprotected, or the grout mix used when the tiles were laid was improperly mixed or applied, it can cause your grout lines to discolour or look patchy. Find out all about WHY this happens over here, but in the meantime you have a few options:

The first is the age-old ‘soda and vinegar’ trick. Mixing baking soda and vinegar to use as a cleaning product is one of the all time greatest money saving hacks in existence-clean your sink with it, clean your benchtops, clean your shower. And it even helps with minor discolouration in grout! Now, this is probably not going to be the answer if you have widespread grout discolouration due to a poor grout mix, but for leaf-stains, coffee spills, or dirt in your grout, it can often provide the quick fix you need.

Chances are your grout discolouration is a bit more widespread and a bit more serious than the odd stain around the house. Now, in this case, your best option is to ‘re-colour’ your grout or have the grout professionally cleaned. Depending on the size of the area, your best bet is probably to have the area professionally cleaned and of course SEALED upon completion.

However, if you have a bit of time up your sleeve (perfect rainy day job), you can choose to ‘renew’ your grout with grout colourant. This essentially involves you ‘painting’ your tiles with a toothbrush and a special grout renewal product such as this one. Whilst it takes a bit of extra hard yakka, it can make your grout lines good as new within hours, and save you the cost of a professional clean.