Hollow ceramic floor tiles...quick fix?

Question

Ugh, I'm apparently not real good at laying tile...I just finished a 348 sq ft room with 16" ceramic tiles, I let them "cure" for a day & went around tapping, I found a few that were hollow sounding, so I popped them up, spent over an hour scraping up all the dried morter (thin-set), cleaned the area, mixed up more thin-set & laid them again, this morning they seem good, but I've found 2 more...ugh, it's such a pain redoing these! I found one little "quick fix" that seems to work some of the times, within about 6 hours of laying the tiles they should sound pretty solid, if there is one that stil sounds hollow I pour a bunch of water around the edges & work it inbetween the tiles with a thin blade, next I try to shake & pound on the tile with my fists (this loosens the morter a bit & gets the water working), then I put something heavy on the tile & give it another few hours, it works sometimes, any other tips besides the inevitable re-doing?

robling_dwrdesign · Accepted Answer

My advice, don't do the water pouring, fist pounding method again.  All it does is fill the voids with weak bonding mortar.  Sure it doesn't sound hollow, but you compromised the bonding of the tile.

My suspicion is used a 1/4" notched trowel to set the 16" tile.  Usually use a 3/8" trowel with tile over 12"  That's a basic rule of thumb, so there may be exceptions.  Or you mixed the mortar too runny and it couldn't hold it ridges, so you have some hollow spots.

If you find some pieces that sound hollow, take them back up, if the mortar is still a little soft it is easier.  Try this when you re-lay the tile, spread mortar on the floor as you would, then spread a thin layer on the back of the tile.  Set it and wiggle it around.  The mortar will ooze up a bit making a bit of a mess, so wipe it up.  That should assure full contact.  It's called backbuttering, for obvious reasons.

Anonymous · Answer

Don't be too hard on yourself. I had a "professional" do a tile job for me and they sent a drunk and a kid to do the install. Probably 30% of the tiles sound hollow. 
I found out what they did wrong was to rock the tiles to set them as if they were gluing them. The proper technique is to "lay" the tile and bed it in the mortar and then stay off it.  When you rock it you are squishing the thinset out from under the tile and creating voids.

Martin · Answer

Robling is correct (please don't listen to the person who said to wet the tiles, they have no idea what they are talking about. Two minutes on the Ceramic Tile Institute website will confirm that this produces a poor bond)

Unfortunately, your "fix" has also compromised the bond, as Robling said. The only way to remedy the situation is to pull the tiles, scrape the floor clean, and reset.

Another possible reason for your problem (besides too wet thinset) is failure to mix the thinset completely. Dry clumps of mortar will result in the same poor bond.

? · Answer

the cause of the hollow sound is from not getting enough mortar under the tile. the only way you can fix it is to bust the tile out with a hammer and replace it. it is not a problem it is just annoying. DONT BOUNCE A GOLF BALL ON IT, it will bust the tile all to pieces

Anonymous · Answer

The hollow sound or actually UN stick tile is cause of you install dry tile .To install the tiles you must put them in to the water beforee install and take them out 1 min befor installation ,moist tile will cause to stick thin-set or concrete better to surface .

Hollow ceramic floor tiles...quick fix?

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