How would you repair or replace a ceramic tile floor that is done poorly?
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Depends primarily on the substrate, (what is supporting the finished floor). Is it installed over a concrete slab on grade, - or over a wood floor system?
Let's say it's over a residential wood joist & 3/4" T & G floor system. (If it's over concrete, or installed over gypsum crete or precast conc. plank or other floor system - please e-mail me, and I will give you specific instructions for specific sub-strate types.
Anyway, remove the old tile,and grout completely, vacuum up all the dust, and damp mop the exposed sub-floor or underlayment. You should be looking at plywood or OSB, (Chip Board/ OX Board/ or what looks like pressed chunks of wood glued together to form a 4'-0" x 8'-0" sheet.
Walk across this sub-floor - from several different directions - and see if you can make the floor "squeek" or move between the joints. If so, look for the nail heads of the existing fasteners, and either used 1 5/8" galv. deck screws or 1 5/8" ring shank nails to do additional fastening of the sub-floor / underlayment & subfloor to the floor joists or TJI's that support the floot system - so that you have a good "Tight" floor.
Now cover the subfloor or underlayment just cleaned up with 1/4" GP Tile Backer Board. (I think the sheets are actually 5/16" thick. These sheets go down perpendicular to the direction that the sub-floor is installed. The tile backer board gets glued and screwed to the subfloor - (follow manufacturer's installation instructions. (If you want to save money, (the "old way" was to use 1/4" mahogany plywood - but I strongly recommend the tile backer board instead).
When the tile backer board is down, install a commercial quality liquid self-leveling anti-fracture membrane, (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP, Go to a Tile Supplier that services Comercial Contractors for your supplies. When your anti-fracture membrane is dry. Snap out your center lines each way on the floor. Additionally, I recommend that you take a 20 mil flexible membrane flashing and extend it up the walls 1/2" below the top of your cove base line around the perimeter of the room, down to the inside corner of the wall/floor junction, and out 6" onto the floor - seal in place with water proof setting adhesive. At the thresholds I recommend stone thresholds = 1/4" higher than the top of the floor tile. This will hold back water - if there is a leak in the tiled floor area , (this is also why I recommended the membrane flashing around the perimeter of the room, - behind the cove base - or whatever base you're using.
Set the tile with thin set method. To get a better purchase on the tile backer board, you can add a a water based masonry adhesive called Accro 60 to you setting bed mortar, (DO NOT USE ACCRO 60 IN JOINT GROUT). (See manufacturers instructions for adding this milky like adhesive to the mix - or get direction from the experts at the tile store.
Good luck, take your time, work in stages, and don'r take on more than you can comfortably handle in a reasonable amount of time, if your not experienced. I'm pulling for you!
Set tile as usual - use proper notch for tile & grout. Good luck.
If the tiles are popping you will need to remove the areas affected (possibly event the entire area) and remove the tile cement from the floor with a wide chisel. Buy new pre-mixed tile cement from a hardware store (you may want to buy a gallon of white all purpose glue and mix 1 cup (250 ml) per gallon (3.8L) of cement) with the cement for better holding power) and spread it over the the floor with a 3/8" notched trouwel. To help with spacing you can buy a bag of 100 plastic tile spacers for a couple bucks. Let the tiles sit for two days (NOBODY CAN WALK ON IT) and then grout it with tile grout (also available from hardware store premixed in a variety of colors). The job is simple to do, but will take some time. If the tiles aren't popped but the grout is chipping out, you can simply re-grout it with premixed grout.
Your three options are: 1)nurse it along with constant repairs, 2)Demo it out till you reach a solid foundation on which to rebuild,3) cover it with a rug, and pretend it is not there.
What you do depends on 1)How bad it is, 2) how much you want to spend, 3) how badly it bothers you.
Quick and dirty tips:
For loose tiles,- Lift completely out, vacume loose dust,squirt conctruction adhesive such as liquid nails (in the caulking tube) replace tile, let dry 1 week, grout with polyseamseal brand caulk. clean up/finish edges right away with a wet sponge - have a bucket of water handy to squeeze out the sponge.
Cracked/ missing grout- same polyseamseal tecnique.
Hope this helps
Not sure what your meaning by poorly, need more information of whats wrong here? Grout cracking? Tiles laid out of square or at different levels? Tiles coming loose? Or having movement sounds as if the mason board is lowering and raising?
Movement sounds is loose mason board. A grout cutter can be used to cut out tiles where screws can be added to resolve the problem. This may also be reason of cracking grout and tiles coming loose.
If it is appearence of how they was laid, it's all your call to replace or not
Questions: was the tiles sealed after they was installed? If not you are always gonna get problems from moisture breaking down the grout.
Was the tiles walked on before they had proper time to set up? This could of caused them to move and get imprints in grout or pushed grout up in the joints.
Does the tiles have a haze look? If this is the problem the tiles can be striped of wax/sealer and cleaned. Alway use a haze cleaner and sealer after tiles are laid for long lasting protection.
Answering this question correctly I can only say if you don't like it, fix it. Sorry that's the best I can do for you without more details.
go to Home Depot, they offer FREE courses on how to do tileing and its a HANDS ON course.
Did I mention its FREE..
By replacing it.
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