Repairing Broken Floor Tile

Frequently I notice broken floor tiles when visiting a client’s home. Not everybody experiences this problem; however, in most cases if there is a ceramic floor, there are broken floor tiles. Considering there is a lot of movement along popular areas of a home in places such as kitchens and entrance halls, it is not surprising to see this often.

I observed this problem the other day when visiting a customer’s kitchen. The client had a lovely home, which was well kept, other than the broken floor tiles. My customer, who I will call Linda, has a brand new renovated and contemporary oversized kitchen. The kitchen is outfitted with all the latest amenities, and up to date high tech machinery as well as a washer and dryer and even has a sliding door leading to the yard.

Linda has a clean and gorgeous off white ceramic floor in her kitchen. The only thing marring the floors beauty is a few dreadful broken tiles. The worst thing about these broken tiles is that the broken fragments look like ragged black lines are on the tiles.

Linda told me that she would invite me back in the fall to fix the flawed tiles, however I explained that she did not have to wait that long. I made it clear that changing a few broken tiles is a job that most do it yourself people are capable to easily do by themselves. If you are a person with broken and deformed tiles like Linda, here is the method you would use to repair this problem.

The first thing you would do is remove the grout. Rid of the grout surrounding the tile by using a grout saw to do this task.

The next step is to remove the tile. This can be simply done by gently chipping away at the tile until you can remove it all. It would be a good idea to score the surface of the tile before chipping at it with a glasscutter. Use a chisel to carefully remove the tile, and wear goggles to protect your eyes.

Thoroughly clean out the area of any tile and material underneath it. Use your chisel to remove any material because if it is left behind, it will keep your new tile from laying evenly flat, and will spoil the look.

Next, you would install the replacement tile. Do this by using a notched trowel or putty knife, and spread the replacement tile with adhesive. I recommend using thinset mortar when replacing tiles that will be exposed to water; however, you can substitute ready-made tile adhesive to tiles, which are not exposed to water often. Firmly press down the tile, and wipe off any extra adhesive.

Now you must wait for 24 hours before putting grout around the tile. This is so the adhesive could dry.

It is a big help if you have saved some tiles from the original installation in order to get a perfect match. If not, do not worry, there are places to find tiles to replace your broken ones.

Many tile stores have many different types of tiles, and may carry the exact tile that you can use to replace your flawed one. If this is not the case, you can find a close match. In addition, someone with experience, can remove tile from an unnoticeable area in your home, and use it as the replacement.



The last option may be to have your tiles made to order. This option might be expensive, however, North Prairie Tileworks in Minneapolis, can match your tile if the color of the glaze is something that they carry.