There's nothing quite as irritating than when you step into your tiled bathroom and feel that tell tale 'thunk' of a loose tile. The tile may sound 'drummy' or you may notice grout coming loose around your tiles.
And when you live in hot, humid areas like many of our customers do in Gladstone, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Melbourne, Brisbane & Hervey Bay, that loose tiles 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.
What if I have lots of loose tiles all throughout my house?
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.