QUESTION

I purchased a brand new home built from the ground up where wood tile flooring was installed all throughout the house. I have been here for about a year. 3 months ago, I noticed that my wood tile floors have several areas where the wood finish is peeling and coming off. I moved in Jan 2020, noticed the peeling in Nov 2020. Some areas are bigger than others. They look like dime to maybe even quarter sized chips in certain areas, while others look tiny like the size of a grain or two of rice. I have about 11-12 of these chips throughout the house and various areas. I'm working with my home construction company since these floors are not even a year old and should be covered under warranty. I had two men come over to inspect at different times. One took pictures of all the defects who I assume was with the home construction company. The second was a guy who came over representing the flooring company and just wanted to see if I had any more extra sample tiles in my attic. I assume he wanted to take down the model #/color/finish. Both men told me not to worry, that my floors would be fixed. After that visit, months went by and I heard nothing. I finally got in touch with the flooring company who said they sent a report to my home construction manager. The letter reports that they tested their tiles and have found no defect in them. The words that were used were: "A calibrated punch using various weight loads was used to test the chips resistance of the tile. The testing showed that the tiles were not prone to facial chipping when force was applied. " They never tested my exact tiles, so I gave my home construction manager some samples of my wood tile flooring this week for them to test. I am awaiting test results. My question is - what is causing the wood finish to lift/peel/come off/chip off? I have a 1 year old black labrador retriever and I was told that the flooring company may not do anything for me as the may blame this on my dog. Does this statement have any merit to it? How could my dog cause this? Today, I noticed another "chip" near the toilet of the bathroom that I never use. I have kept this door closed all year and just happened to open it today to make sure the water faucet is working properly since its been cold. My dog, as well as myself, never go inside this bathroom. I bought the house right before Covid-19 hit, so I haven't had any guests and the only people that live here is myself and my dog. Furthermore, I never walk around the house with shoes. Either barefoot or with socks. I'm feeling a bit hopeless based on how my situation is being handled and would appreciate any and all advice :) Thank you in advance.

ANSWER

ANSWER - I assume that the wood finish ceramic tile is a porcelain tile.   I have seen a couple of cases where it appeared that the thin top layer of the wood looking tile was peeling.   Our clients did not give us the opportunity to test the tile in testing laboratory to evaluate the spots where the tile peeled.   In one case we did test samples of the tile provided by the client as attic stock from the same shipment that was used to install the tile.   Although our testing couldn't reproduce the peeling condition.  I checked with the technical service person of an American manufacturer of this type of tile and he claimed they have never seen a peeling condition.

These porcelain tiles are manufactured using an inkjet technology where with the aid of a computer CAD system the can reproduce a very authentic looking wood, marble or many other look-alike finishes.

I would find out who the manufacturer is of the tile and then contact them to file a complaint.  I wouldn't stop pursuing it with your tile supplier or your contractor.  Tiles should not peel and porcelain body tiles are normally very chip resistant.  It may or may not be practical to have the tile condition investigated and tested to evaluate the condition and what caused it, but it is possible to do.