When reviewing condition assessment reports for houses on the market, you can usually find markings indicating loose or hollow tiles. It is important to note that even if the tiles were installed correctly, it is not uncommon for small areas of a tile’s surface to lack proper adhesion.

Generally the accepted amount of a tile’s surface area that can lack proper adhesion is 20%. This means that if a tile measures 30 × 60 centimeters, an area of approximately 6×12 cm may be hollow. 20% is the maximum so that the tile can still function properly, the tile itself should of course feel solid.

Loose or hollow tiles generally make an irritating noise that you can easily remove with ADIN.

You can check if your tiles are loose by gently tapping on them and listening for a hollow sound. Another sign you can look for is if the grout around the tile is cracked.

How to fix it

If you are unlucky enough to have cracked tiles, and it is not possible to change them, there is a method that that can be used to manually restore them. However it is an expensive solution and would therefore usually be cheaper to have them repaired first.

One of the common causes for loose tiles is lack of sufficient adhesion between the tile itself and the surface said tile is mounted on. In rooms where water and humidity are an issue, loose tiles can lead to growth of mold and even unpleasant odours.

Here are some examples of different problems and their solutions:

• Premature installation on aerated concrete before shrinkage has occurred.

• How to correct this: Once the concrete surface has cured and a hollow area has formed, inject ADIN to completely eliminate the problem.

• Insufficient preparation of the tile or mounting surface.

• How to correct this: If a surface has not been cleaned or primed correctly before installation, ADIN should be injected afterwards. The adhesive also acts as a primer, ensuring optimal adhesion.

• Incorrect choice of tile adhesive. If the incorrect adhesive is used it can dry out quickly when used on larger tiles.

• How to correct this: If an incorrect or insufficient amount of adhesive has been used on natural stone tiles during instillation, you should use ADIN’s free flowing properties to fill any remaining air pockets

• Ignoring the directions for waiting time on the package when opening.

• Failure to follow best practice techniques.
• The underfloor heating has not been turned off when the tiles were original installed. 
• This can easily happen, causing the adhesive not to set properly. If this has occurred, simply inject ADIN to restore proper adhesion of the tiles.