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Expert Answers
Are Tiles That Sound Hollow a Problem?
QUESTION
Are tiles that Sound Hollow a Problem? - We had a floor installed recently that exhibits many of the characteristics you describe in the spot bonding section (particularly the tile on the left side of photo 19). Beyond the uneven tile edges, we're occasionally hearing popping sounds when we walk on the floor - much like someone snapping their knuckles. It also seems like 4 or so of the tiles are loose enough to be lifted out. I took a picture when the contractor removed 27 tiles in the kitchen to try to get the edges to line up better - from what I see it appears that 5 or so of them came out whole.So, we're trying to figure out whether the entire floor needs to come out and be put back in: In your report, you say that more than 25% of a floor tapping with a hollow sound can indicate a problem. Is that an industry standard? (For our floor, about 45% of the tiles tap hollow for at least a portion of the tile). Also you later mention that the ansi standards for contact in commercial floors, exterior applications and interior wet applications - are there similar standards for residential interior applications?ANSWER
ANSWER - Having hollow tiles by itself doesn't mean there is a problem. But that fact that when the tiles were removed they came up in one piece is an indication they are not bonded well. They should come up in small pieces if they were bonded well. Seeing that the thin-set adhesive had more than 20% voids and not being supported with the thin-set along the edges or corners does not meet industry standards for residential installations in dry areas. The requirement is at least 80% continuous contact between the back of the tile and its substrate, no voids larger than 2 square inches, and full thin-set contact at edges and corners. There is no standard for how hollow a floor can sound. Hollow sounds are only an indication that something is different beneath those areas as compared to areas where other tiles sound different. It could represent a problem or not. Hearing popping sounds is not so good. Considering your situation the sound is probably caused by tiles becoming debonded due to the lack of adhesion and other potential deficiencies in your floor. The only way to tell for sure is to perform a forensic inspection by an expert such as CTaSC. Good luck.15 thoughts on “Are Tiles That Sound Hollow a Problem?”
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How can I tell if my tile was installed wrong. I bought a spec home in 2009. In 2014 I heard a cracking noise and the tiles lifted up completely in a section of the house.
I called the builder and they said it is common. That this is an expansion problem.
They started lifting and refilling the tiles. But than more would lift
Up or become hollow
Sounding.
After they. Role all my tiles they than started injectong. This has been going on for 3 years. Some tiles have been injected 5 times and it does not hold.
The builder refused to replace the tile. They say this is a courtesy and all they will do is inject. That it’s not a warranty issue but expansion. I feel it’s bad craftsmanship.
Thank you.
Maria,
If the tile was properly installed it should last the life of the home.
If the tiles are lifting then they did not install the tile correctly. They probably did not install movement joints, per industry standards, at the tile perimeters and within the field of tile, and they probably didn’t bond the tile correctly to the substrate.
Injecting tiles with epoxy is not an acceptable repair. They are treating the symptom rather than the problem. I have never seen this type of attempt to remediate a bond problem work. It doesn’t fix the problem.
Based on your description, the problem is bad workmanship because the tile was not installed correctly.
My sister had good ceramic tiles put on a floor that was uneven. I think floor was evened with plaster of Paris and not concrete. The floor is strong but sometimes you can hear Hollow spots. It’s 4 years old. Without cracks and no loss of grout. I used to work for a handyman part time for about 20 years. Was this job done correctly yes or no what’s your opinion?
Hollow sounds is not a defect. It might be a symptom of a defect, but the only way to tell is to remove the tile and inspect it.
Depending on the configuration of the underlying materials that could be causing the hollow sound. Some installers install the tile using a spot bond method where they only put dabs of thin-set down, which isn’t an acceptable industry standard method. If something heavy enough is dropped on a portion of the tile where it isn’t supported then it would have a propensity to become damage.
If the tile and grout isn’t cracked then the floor is performing correctly so far.
She has a good tile guy in case it fails. He did not do the original job. The floor is okay so far. Thank you for answering.
After installing tile properly and plenty of adhesion..i still hear hollow sounds..what could this be?
There are many reasons why a tile floor can sound hollow.
If the entire tile floor sounds hollow, then it is likely because of the underlying conditions. A tile floor over a wood subfloor will sound more like a hollow sound compared to a tile floor installed directly to a concrete slab.
If the tile is installed over a non-bonded mortar bed it will sound more hollow than tile installed over a bonded mortar bed.
If the tile is installed over some sort of membrane it will sound more hollow than a floor that is bonded directly to the mortar bed or slab.
If a portion of a tile sounds hollow and other portions of the same tile sound solid, then it is likely that there is a void under that portion of the tile.
If certain areas of a tile floor sound hollow and other areas do not sound hollow, then it is possible that the tile is not bonded in those areas or something to which the tile is attached to is not bonded or has a condition that projects that sound.
Some portions of a concrete slab can sound hollow due to conduit trenches or other conditions, which then the tile attached to it will sound hollow.
The only way to know for sure what is causing a hollow sound is to strategically remove tiles under various conditions to look for the evidence that will explain why there is a different sound in those respective spots.
Hi, today my kitchen floor ceramic tiled cracked and popped very loudly across the whole floor. The tiles are down 16 years. We had cracks on 3 tiles at the back sliding door for years… The noises made sounded like a sink hole was going to appear in the floor it was that loud. Any idea of the cause or potential causes. All the tiles now sound hollow, the sounded crunchy under foot earlier to walk on now not so much.
Normally when you hear tiles pop, it indicates the tiles were under compression stress because they have expanded and there were no or not adequate movement joints installed to mitigate the anticipated stresses. Tiles do expand from heat and moisture.
All tile installations are suppose to have movement joints that are filled with a resilient caulking meeting ASTM C920 at all perimeters and throughout the tile installation every 20 to 25 feet for interior applications or every 8 to 12 feet for exterior applications or interior applications subject to direct sunlight.
In this case, with the tiles sounding hollow and making crunching sounds indicates they are not bonded adequately. If that is the case, then they need to be removed and properly re-installed.
We are near the end of a very expensive tile project. They did not grind the thin set and put mortar right in top of it. I didn’t know this until it was 2/3 done. Some of the thinset is in bumps and ridges and they would just grind a bit here and there if something pushed the tile up. Is this correct? Also, about 30 tiles have 1/4 to 1\3 hollow upon tapping. We had them replace several and then found more, my previous tile had no hollow points nor did our remodeled bathrooms. This is so concerning. They say it’s acceptable. For the money we are paying we see it as poor workmanship. What do you think?
If the thin-set mortar remaining from the tile that was previously installed in that area is well bonded to the substrate, then it is possible to install over it without removing it all under the right circumstances. But it could cause the new installation to have too thick of thin-set mortar to compensate for the pre-existing thin-set that can lead to other problems.
When some tiles sound hollow and others do not, or when one portion of a tile sounds hollow and other portions of the same tile does not sound hollow, then it makes it questionable on whether there are excessive voids under the tile or if for some reason it is not bonded at that hollow portion of the tile. The only way to determine if it is a problem or not is to remove a couple of those partially hollow tiles and evaluate the underlying conditions. Then remove one of the tiles that do not have any hollow sound and make a comparison between the 3 tiles removed.
The standards say that for an interior dry application the thin-set contact should be at least 80% coverage and the 20% voids must be equally dispersed. Plus the corners and the edges of the tile need to be fully supported. The standards for stone tile and porcelain tile panels say that there should be no voids more than 2 square inches, which is about the size of a golf ball.
Hi, Great blog! I had some ceramic tile work done. The subfloor is concrete. I found out the installer used over an inch and a quarter of thin set in a large portion of floor. He basically was trying to use the thin set to level as he went. Now I have large areas of hallow sounds under many tiles. There are also some tiles that stick up higher than others and my furniture is not sitting level. Can you recommend the best way to repair these errors? I’m so disappointed. Also can you provide a link/source to the standard you mentioned in prior posts i.e. 20/80% and 2 square inches of voids… Are there also standards of flatness/level per area (like 1/4 slope per 10 ft….), this is for large 8×30 ceramic porcelain tiles, that you can share?
There are new industry standards that limit the thickness of the thin-set to not be more than 1/2″ thick after embedment if you use a Large and Heavy Tile Thin-set formally referred to as medium bed thin-set. The ANSI A118 standards state that you can’t use the thin-set to adjust the floors to compensate for substrates that are not adequately flat.
Some manufacturers of thin-set will allow up to 3/4″ thick applications of thin-set. The installer should not have applied the thin-set over what the manufacturer recommends. They should have used a self-leveling mortar or patching mortar to adjust the substrate.
The ANSI A108 standards state that floors can not vary in flatness from the intended plane more than 1/4″ in 10′ or 1/16″ in 12″ for tiles less than 15″ in size tiles, and anything over that size the floor has to be within 1/8″ in 10′ and not more than 1/16″ in 24″.
There are standards for the maximum allowable lippage for tiles; meaning the vertical displacement between two adjacent tiles. Tiles with a 1/4″ wide or less grout joint can’t have any more lippage than 1/32″ plus the actual allowable warpage of the tile, which is typically about 1/32″ of warpage. Thus you should never have lippage greater than 1/16″ for ceramic tiles with 1/4″ wide grout joint or less, and no more lippage than 1/32″ for natural stone.
Hi, I am an adjuster. I have a property claim that the intire House has a ceramic tile floor. A water pipe in the attic burst and water went all through the house . The water ran for a day or so. Now the insured says the ceramic floors are damaged. There not loose any where just a hollo sound when you tap on the tiles. Not all of them. So my question is will water damage ceramic tiles if they were wet for a few days?
Thank you in advance
Assuming the water was clean and sanitary category 1 water, if the tile floor was installed correctly with the correct installation materials the water should not harm the tile.
On the other hand, if the tile was not installed correctly such as there were not adequate movement joints to mitigate tile expansion and stress from absorbing water. And/or if the tile tile was not bonded as well as it should. And/or if the tile is a higher absorbing tile that would have a greater propensity to expand, the water loss event could lead to the tile to tent-up (buckling ), and/or causing the tile to loose bond and become hollow to some degree.
Generally speaking, insurance companies will cover a loss if there are resultant damages to the tile floor; regardless if it wasn’t installed correctly. Although they will not cover the loss if there is evidence of pre-existing damage.
To determine if the damages are resultant damages or pre-existing damages, it requires a tile forensic expert like http://www.CTaSC.com to investigate and make those determinations.