Hello to all who take an interest in my problem, I appreciate it. We have installed a porcelain tile floor in the foyer of our new church. The problem is, that we laid a subfloor of 3/4 inch plywood without making sure there were no gaps underneath{haste has made some waste}. There is a small area,approximately 14″x14″, that is causing the grout to crack because it is unstable. Our tile guy is from Florida and was positive that we could purchase an injectable epoxy to stabilize this small area, but the most knowledgeable company here in Pittsburgh told me to post my problem on this website as there is no such product available here. Does anyone have an idea on what we should use?
Thanks and God Bless
Replies
I can't figure out what the situation is ...
a 14x 14 "gap" in the sub floor is a big hole!
I'm not sure what's going on ... but in Pgh ... I'd call Best Tile to see if they have anything that might help.
I'm doubting an epoxy can fix a sub floor problem .... maybe that's why the guy ran back to Fla?
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
I'm thinking the subfloor was laid over joist? maybe there is a gap between the joist and ply causing it to flex and the grout is cracking at that spot on top.
Or maybe the ply was laid over concrete? not sure why it would be that way... but maybe the guy was suggesting injecting epoxy into the gap?
then again, I'm probably way off.....
maybe the gaps are between the ply sheets themselves?
so where's the gap?
Is the tile laid directly over the ply?
Jeff, didn't mean to direct it to you....
Edited 11/4/2003 6:47:01 PM ET by CAG
The plywood was laid over concrete with an old layer of asbestos tile on top of the concrete. The gap that we need to fill between those two layers is no more than a 1/2" in depth. We removed all the loose asbestos tile and should have leveled any gaps then, thats where the problem is, a gap caused by tile that was removed. Thanks for your reply, Krista
I would get a pint of long-setting epoxy from a marine store. Get a couple small plastic funnels, drill holes in the grout line until you hit concrete and press-fit the funnels in there tight. Keep slowly pouring epoxy in there until it rises up in the funnels and stays there for an hour. That should fill the void. Probably. Once the epoxy starts getting rubbery (4 hours maybe) , pull the funnels and scrape out any epoxy you can see. Scrape out the grout near the holes so you're not trying to re-grout on top of epoxy. Re-grout the tile in a day or two. A tile pro may have a better product or suggestion, but that would be my guess.
Hey Bob,
Thanks for taking the time to post your suggestion for our sub-floor problem. I wanted to let you know I found a product that sounds tailor made for this out of Florida, it's called Inject- A-Floor. It comes in a caulk gun and is made for soft spots under the tile which I guess they have alot of in Florida. They have a web-site with more info. Anyway, thanks again. God bless you, Sistah