QUESTION

Tile Installation Flood Damage - I own a condo in florida that sustained a roof collapse and flood. At one point there were 6 inches of standing water on my porcelain tile. The standing water was not drained for 4 hours. I also have cork underlayment. Since the flood was the responsibility of the condo association(roof rain drain pipe broke), the assoc. is trying to argue that the tile floor will be fine. I am concerned that the cork and concrete floor below have absorbed water and will eventually cause tenting of the tiles.....over time. I need an expert to simply write a letter of professional opinion explaining why the tile floor will need to be taken up and replaced. Is this something you do and if so, what is the fee.

ANSWER

ANSWER - I understand that your Condo's porcelain tile installed over a cork sound control mat over a concrete substrate was subjected to about 6 hours of flooding.  You are concerned that it may have caused damages that may require replacing your floor.

The only way to determine if your floor has sustained damages is to intrusively remove small sections of the floor and look for evidence of damages.

Porcelain tile is impervious so water would not migrate through it, but it could migrate to some degree through your cementitious grout joints.   The tile would not significantly expand from the water because it is impervious.   The ceramic tile itself would not be harmed by the water condition.

Tenting of floors is primarily caused by a deficient tile bond and lack of expansion joints or movement within the floor would secondarily contribute to the problem.

The legitimate cork sound control mats being sold are not affected by water because of its binders and the way it is made.  If it were not a legitimate cork product then it could retain moisture and lead to microbial growth if it didn't dry quickly.

Because the water could only migrate through the grout joints, I am not sure if the underlying materials would be that damp or saturated or anything in between.  If there were voids under the tile within the thin-set adhesive then it might further perpetuate water migration into the underlayment.

I would be concerned about your non-tile walls that are likely a paper face gypsum product that is very prone to water damage.

Again, the only way to determine if your floor assembly has been damaged by the flooding is to perform an inspection.  We could only make the comments I have given you in a letter, since we don't have any evidence showing whether there is a problem or not.

We do have local inspectors in Florida and could perform an inspection to determine if there are any damages. As expert consultants we do charge for our time during the whole process. Depending on the extent of your problem, it may or may not be practical for you to employ our full forensic and consulting services.  Please visit our forensic investigation section of our website at www.CTaSC.com. Good Luck.