Ceramic Tile Repairs | Floor Tile Replacement | Shower ReGrouts

Ceramic Tile Repairs Floor Tile Replacement 

and Shower ReGrouts

MA Reality persuaded us to rewrite several of Tile Excellence's blog posts for their publication, including contractor "Guides" and "Expert Contributors". Nice gig!

This "Guide" is on Ceramic Tile Repairs: Floor Tile Replacement and Shower Regrouts. The article is about the controversial issue of Copper Pans vs. Rubber Membrane in shower installation. Catch them all on ask tile excellence, or read a couple here! Read Chris's Profile on MA Reality.

Links to his profile and articles. 
http://www.massrealty.com/experts/chris-lawson

Ceramic Tile Repairs: Floor Tile Replacement and Shower Re-grouts

Ceramic Tile Repairs: Floor Tile Replacement and Shower Re-grouts 

By Chris Lawson

Tile repairs are a very specialized service and it can be hard to get tile contractors interested in small, sometimes difficult, detailed repairs. The trick to these repairs is to remove and replace the broken materials without it being obvious that it has been repaired. To complete these repairs and have it not look like an afterthought is a very tricky undertaking.

The first step 

is to remove the grout around the targeted tile so as not to disturb the tiles around it that will not be removed. Grout binds together tiles and gives it solidity and if not removed then action against one tile can affect others. Many times it takes a hammer and a chisel to remove tiles and if the grout is not removed first then the impact can break surrounding tiles as well.

After the grout is removed, the tile to be replaced can be broken from the middle out in 

pieces and removed carefully using the hammer and chisel a little at a time or all at once if the tile is not bonded very well. If it is bonded strongly, then a little at a time is the only way to remove it. After the tile is removed, the task of chipping off the thinset or adhesive is the next step and can be very difficult and time-consuming - as well as creating a mess and a lot of dust! Again, the hammer and chisel will be your best bet unless you have an electric alternative. Once you've removed all the adhesive, you can re-adhere your replacement tile back in place of the one you've removed, wait some time for it to dry, and then re-grout the repaired area with the same color grout as the rest of the area around the repair.

Shower re-grouts are in some ways much easier because you don't have 

to worry about breaking tiles from removal. But scraping and cleaning of the grout and old caulk can be very patience-testing. Any loose grout or caulk has to be removed completely before the new can be applied. The trick to these repairs is getting the new grout to adhere to the old grout. This is generally accomplished by removing enough grout from the area so the new grout has room to stay. Generally you need 1/8 of a inch of new grout on top of the old for it to adhere and not flake out later. Repairs are in some ways much harder than standard installations and in many cases you should get a professional to come out and implement the repair if possible. If you can't seem to gather any interest from any tile guys to do your repair, I will be glad to assist you in any way I can - just give me a call and I'll gladly walk you through it right over the phone!

Tile Experts, Small Contractors, Consumers:We Need You!

If you are a small business or a consumer who has experience with online reviews, ie: yelp, yahoo, thumtack, merchant circle, manta, etc., good or bad, please write up your experience,  pro/cons and especially businesses,  if you're received a bad review you thought unfair, please share how you handled it and what the outcome was.

Tile Excellence,  Inc.  (owner/operator of asktileexcellence-THIS BLOG) continues to encourage readers to contribute their experiences,  opinions, niches and stories relating to all things tile related as well as small business/contractors issues.

The goal is to continue to become a consumer,  DIY, small business and contractors resource for all. We offer honest, ethical tile businesses the opportunity to share their specialty or niche,  and to offer exposure by opening up discussions and encourage feedback on posts written by Chris Lawson, Owner of the Cape Ann, MA company, Tile Excellence,  (and part of Tile Excellence, Inc. -which is the "umbrella" company responsible for all content and all non-blog post data and related sites for tile contractors and other small businesses). and others - locally and even across the globe. Chris continues to provide his day-to-day experiences with pictures and DIY instruction plus answers to reader questions. Due to this exposure here and referrals/repeat clients, he is unable to write posts as often as he'd like, and has personally invited other tile related businesses to contribute to this blog to share other perspectives and niches.

We are still looking for guest bloggers who work in the tile installation/supplier/designer/contractor field. Please consider contributing to this valuable community resource.

Send any questions/concerns/suggestions/advertising and affiliates requests to:  diana@seopoweredwebsites.com

To share any posts on items mentioned above, please feel free to post it here on asktileexcellence blog.

To ask any tile related/contractor/DIY/consumer related questions or things you would like to see here, again, use this page here to enter your post here.

To be considered as a guest blogger please send Diana a brief note telling me a little bit about you, your company,  your niche, what you'd like to write about, etc. All considered will be contacted with further questions/information.  diana@seopoweredwebsites.com

Finally, to book chris for a tile installation project in Cape Ann and North of Boston,  you can call him directly at 978 471-9127 or email him at tileexcellence.com.

ceramic tile repairs floor tile replacment and shower regrouts

Tile repairs are a very specialized service and its hard to get tile contractors interested in small sometimes difficult detailed repairs.The trick to these repairs are to remove and replace the cracked or broken materials without it being obvious its been repaired.To complete these repairs and it not look like a after thought is  a very
tricky undertaking.The first step is to remove the grout around the targeted tile so as not to disturb the tiles around it that will not be removed.Grout binds together tiles and gives it solidity and if not removed then action against one tile can effect others if the grout is not removed first.Alot of times it takes a hammer and a chisel to remove tiles and if the grout is not removed first then the impact can break surrounding tiles around the tile being removed.
   After the grout is removed  then the tile to be replaced can be broken from the middle out in pieces and removed carefully using the hammer and chisel a little at a time or all at once if the tile is not bonded very well. If it is bonded strongly  then a little at a time is the only way to remove it.After the tile is removed  then the task of chipping of the thin set or adhesive is the next step and can be very difficult and time consuming as well as very messy and create alot of dust.Again the hammer and chisel will be your best bet unless you have a electric alternative such as a way to sand or chip away at the concrete left stuck under the tile on the wall or floor.Once you've removed all the adhesive,you can re adhere your replacement tile back in place of the one you've removed, wait some time for it to dry and then re grout the repaired area with the same color grout as the rest of the area around the repair.
   Shower re grouts are in some ways much easier because you don't have to worry about breaking tiles from removal. But scraping and cleaning of the grout and old caulk can be very patients testing. Any loose grout or caulk has to be removed completely before  the new can be applied.The trick to these repairs is getting the new grout to adhere to the old grout.This is generally accomplished by removing enough grout from the area so the new grout has room to stay.Generally you need a 1/8 of a inch of new grout on top of old for it to adhere and not flake out later.Repairs are in some ways much harder than standard installations and in many cases you should get a professional to come out and implement the repair if possible.If you cant seem to gather any interest from any tile guys to do your repair  I will be glad to assist you in any way I can  just give me a call and Ill gladly walk you  through it right over the phone Chris Lawson owner operator tile excellence inc   978-471-9127