Kitchen Floor Issue

[Gracie714]

Hi all. Love this forum as it's helped me successfully lay tile in 4 different rooms. My son and I are laying 18X18 in kitchen. We have a "problem child" tile that was laid over an unlevel spot in the floor. This spot was not off too much, but did end up having a small (less than a dime) lip in one corner (this was after 1 tile broke there as he tried to set it level in a bed of thinset troweled with a 1/4X3/8X1/4 trowel). We noticed the day after it was laid that there is a hairline crack about 4" long. It is so hard to see we really don't know when it occurred. Any idea on the likelihood this will get worse?

As we move to the hallway we will have another unlevel issue in an area that will house 3 tiles (I've cut and dry laid). One piece is the whole 18X18, the others are about 11X18. Any advice on the best way to lay them to avoid any cracks?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Gracie714]

Forgot to mention...this is a concrete slab floor...

Thanks! :-)

[bbcamp]

Gracie, I don't know if the cracked tile will get worse, but it's never gonna get better! It sounds to me like you are using the minimum size notch for your big tiles, and your floor isn't flat enough to make it work. Those "unlevel" spots are really "unflat" spots. You have a lump, hump, dip, or valley in your concrete slab that needs to be ground down or filled in before attempting to set the tiles. Use a straight edge over that area and see what's going on.

[Gracie714]

How do you get one tile out of the middle? Do you pound on it in the middle until it breaks into pieces then remove bit by bit with a crowbar? Or is there another way I'm not thinking of?

Thank you for your help!

[bbcamp]

If you've already grouted the tile, you remove the grout first, then bash the middle of the tile until it breaks, then pry up the pieces. Wear gloves and safety glasses, flying tile shards and glaze can hurt!