Expert Answers in Ceramic and Porcelain Tile

ANSWER – When tile debonds and buckles up we do refer to that as tile tenting.  The cause of tile tenting is normally due to several compounding conditions.  First is that normally the tile installation…

ANSWER – It is not clear what kind of sealer you used.  Normally sealers are not mixed into the grout when you install the grout, so that may be part of the problem?

Grout turning…

ANSWER – What they did is called spot bonding, which is against industry standards unless the adhesive is an epoxy on an interior wall application over cementitious backer board application.

It does no good skim coating…

ANSWER – When the interior atmosphere is humid and warm, and the outdoor temperature is very cold, then the tile surface is relatively cold, and in effect it becomes the warm side of a vapor…

ANSWER – I assume that the crackling noise that you are hearing can also be considered a squeaking sound that some say they hear on tile floors over wood sub-floors.

Because you say that the…

ANSWER – I saw the photo.  I couldn’t zoom in to get a good look at the tile.  It looks to either be an unglazed porcelain or ceramic tile mosaic or it is a natural…

ANSWER – If in fact the tile you are selecting is a porcelain tile with the physical properties as required in ANSI A137.1, and it is installed correctly, it should be suitable for bearing the…

ANSWER – First of all there is nothing wrong with using sanded grout as long as the grout joint width is 1/8″ or wider.  There are some benefits to using an epoxy grout in terms…

ANSWER – It is possible to adhere Mexican Talavera glazed decorative ceramic clay tiles to a concrete tile surface.  Not knowing if there is a sealer or stain or some other coating or contaminate on the…

ANSWER – The tile industry standards say that grout joints should never be less than 1/16″ wide, and tiles should never be butted up to each other.  It is recommended that the grout joints be…