Tiling problems

Cracked and hollow tiles, tenting floors, lippage, crumbling grout and slippery porcelain — what each tiling fault usually means.

Floor Tiles Cracking Across A Room

Tiles are cracking on a solid floor — one at a time, or in a line running straight across several.

Tiles laid over floorboards or a chipboard deck are cracking, sounding hollow, or losing their grout.

Tiles have arched up off the floor along a line, sometimes with a bang, leaving a ridge you can catch your foot on.

Since the underfloor heating was used, tiles or grout lines have started to crack across the heated floor.

Some tiles give a drummy, hollow note when tapped, and you want to know whether they are about to fail.

Tile edges stand higher than their neighbours, so the surface catches the light, the mop and sometimes a bare toe.

A tiled floor is treacherous as soon as it gets wet, and someone has already slipped or nearly gone over.

Marble, limestone, travertine or slate has taken a stain, dulled in patches, or darkened around the tile edges.

Grout is powdering, washing out or coming away in lengths, leaving open joints between the tiles.

A white powdery bloom or a dull film keeps appearing on new tiles or grout, and cleaning only shifts it briefly.