Lumps and bumps under tiles.

[Lorne]

The living room and dining room floors have depressions and or bumps in a couple of places in the peel and stick floor tiles. 18" tiles.

The previous owner tore out the 20 year old shag carpeting [yuk] and tiled the kitchen, dining room and living room about 4 months ago, just before we bought it.

After 4 months of being walked on it is starting to conform to the flooring underneath.

Nail heads are trying to push through here and there and a square area in front of the bed room door is showing a square depression. May have been a flooring repair done sloppy.

Can an iron or heat gun be used to soften the adhesive?
I will hammer down the nails and use leveling compound in the depressed areas and try to
re stick the tiles.

I love this house because it presents so many maintenance challenges. It's like living all the episodes of This Old House. Love it!

[Greg]

I think the first thing you should do is check the home and make sure it is level. Nails coming out of floors is one of the signs, as are door & window problems. Remember to check the FRAME for being level with a water level not a bubble level. Greg

[Yanita]

Hi Lorne,

You do not have a profile so I do not know what you have for subfloors.

I suppose you could try to remove the tiles as you explained, but personally I think the edges will receive damage when you try to pull them up.

The square area does sound as though it is a sloppy repair job. If there is no luan under there you will get all the imperfections that you have described.

We try to stress the importance of proper repairs, as the cheap and easy ways are not always that...generally someone will have to go back and repair properly. Unfortunately for you it seems as though this will have to happen.

Your subfloor needs to be screwed down and some even run a bead of construction adhesive as well. If laying sheet vinyl or tiles the preparation is key to having a long lasting finished project.

LOL, glad you love your home! I also like renovations, but after 13 months of owning this one I am getting to the end of wanting to do repairs or upgrades. Not one day of living here has every room been clean and put together at the same time. Always something tore up!

Have a great day,

~Yanita~

[gram2logan]

If you want to take up the tiles, try using a hair dryer to soften the adhesive. I did that years ago and it works pretty well. Time consuming but the tiles don't get damaged. Good luck.

[JD]

The nail head problem may be bigger than it looks now. If you use nails to replace subfloors, they should be 8d ringshank nails so they won't work their way out. When these nails are used in good wood, the subfloor will swell up past the nail head while the nail stays in place. These nails should be 4-6 inch on center around the perimeter and 8" oc in the field.

If you do pull and reset the tiles, they may be slightly elevated when you put them back. The glue gets roughed up and distorted when pulling the tile. If this happens, you can reheat the tile as Barb said and press the tile down real good with a hand roller. The good metal rollers can get pricey if you won't be using it much. But you can get a good rubber one in the home stores where they sell countertop laminate adhesive.

JD

[Maureen]

Hi Lorne,

Well, lumps and bumps mean only two things to me. Either the floor wasn't prepped correctly before the tile was laid, or the subfloor is particle board that is failing.

Does the floor feel spongy anywhere? Weak and squeaky? If it does, that could be the subflloor. If it's just lumps and bumps in the tile itself, you might be able to salvage the tiles. I'm afraid that it would be a painstaking job though!

LOL Yanita, I've been in renovation burn out for 3 years now! Warren was just asking when we were gonna start projects again. I almost bit his head off. I've got both boys home now and Warren and an elderly dog.... all my spare time is spent cleaning up after them! At that, the house isn't really clean to my standards! Couple that with me trying to keep everything alive outside. I basically told him that we're structurally sound, pretty will come when mama gets time to breath LOL!

Maureen