suggestions anyone!!!!!!!

[Spurs]

hello everyone.once again i am in need of a higher intellectual power.i recently hired a tile contractor ,i use the word contractor loosely,to lay a 18x18 travertine tile on a level cement floor.if i would go by appearance alone the job looks beautiful but upon further investigation here in this forum and other sites there are problems i think! i hope someone can put me at ease about this.first some of the tiles have a hollow sound to them compared to others ones next to it that sound solid and its random.should i be concerned?i was told that this is normal to have a few sounding hollow and that as long as nothing is dropped on it it will be fine, is this true?now this is before grouting the floor with a 1/8th gap does that make a difference in relation to strength to the tile?now depending on what you gurus tell me, if this is normal then i'm ok but if not, is there a way to remedy that hollow sound by somehow injecting some kind of bounding liquid or glue threw the grout gap?or do i have a fat to slim chance of repairing the problem?or should i have the contractor lift the hollow tiles?or leave like that and hope for the best?i have told the contractor not to grout untill i hear from you guys and gals.as always i appreciate any and all advice.best regards,al.

[rddrappo]

Try carefully lifting the hollow sounding tiles, maybe with a suction cup. The entire floor should sound and be solid, and if you paid a contractor, you should not only get a beautiful job, but peace of mind as well. If there's not enough coverage under the tiles, the installation will fail sooner or later and you shouldn't have to baby a new floor.

[Mountain Tile]

I agree with Robert

[cx]

Welcome back, Al.

Some housekeeping first. Please go to the UserCP, find Edit Signature and enter a first name there for us to use so we don't gotta go searchin' about to find one, eh?

Is this the same floor from a year or so ago where you were fixin' to mix up your own special pookey to use to set the tiles?

[ceramictec]

Try carefully lifting the hollow sounding tiles, maybe with a suction cup.

better be one powerful suction cup.....you think the cured thinset would stop this from working ???

i recently hired a tile contractor to lay a 18x18 travertine tile on a level cement floor.

most likely you will need to smash then, pry to remove and clean up the mess.
I would have him take up the hollow ones and reset with better attention to coverage.

[Shpedly]

Never would think to grade a tile job by sound. Hollow sound when you walk on it? When you ping a tile with a hammer? When you bang your forehead against it? OK, I'm totally freaking out at this point. All I want is a flat, lippage free floor.

[Spurs]

hello everyone and thanks for the quick response.great to be back CX .i've been lurking but until now had no need to post.no it's my family room CX not the same floor.it's about 1000sq ft.to much for my tired bones to handle. shpedly it sounds and feels solid when walked on. only when you tap on it ,with a wood handle or in my case a utility knife ,do you hear the difference from the solid sound tiles to the hollow sound tiles.so you guys agree it's better to crack and replace rather than repairing?will these hollow tiles crack fast or if left alone can they last for a while.the reason i ask is before i was aware of the hollow tiles i moved my fridge right over the hollow area and nothing happened to the tiles.these are premium tiles and cost me a pretty penny.the thought of this guy cracking several of these tiles makes me cringe. in such cases is it customary for the installer to pay for the hollow tiles?like i stated before he tells me that it does happen and that if you don't drop anything heavy on it they will be fine for years to come. as i stated before it looks like the guy knew what he was doing by the look and finish of the floor.it has no lipage that i could see and the grout gap is uniform.any info as usual is appreciated.best regards,al.

[bbcamp]

Hollow sounding tiles on a floor is not a good thing. You probably won't be able to remove the tile without breaking it. Replacing the tile should be the tilesetter's responsibility. Hopefully, you are still holding some of your tile guy's money.

[Dave Taylor]

Brian and Bob C. are right on in what they say.

HERE is a post about one woman's odyssey with hollow tile over a slab.... and what she did about it.

The thread is long so I tell you that it gets down to brass tacks at post 116 HERE
Hope this helps

[Spurs]

hi dave .wow just checked sherry's ordeal, what a nightmare!i'm going to talk to the installer today about what he thinks about the removal of the hollow tiles and who pays for the new ones since they are premium travertine.i guess this should happen now before he grouts the majority of the floor?thanks again for any and all advice.best regards,al.

[Davestone]

If a small notch trowel(1/4") was used on tiles that big you will get some lack of coverage.Also depending on the filler you may hear hollows,very large voids filled poorly(and Turkish travertine can be poorly filled)can actually start coming out later.

[tilelayer]

i would have used a 1/2" notch and my mallet would have been by my side too, did he install and after he installed hit them with a soft mallet to insure good coverage?

[rddrappo]

I suggested the suction cup because usually when I hear hollow tiles, I find it to be a bonding issue. Someone did suggest that maybe a small notched trowel was used. I suppose in that case it could be lack of mortar. I just can't understand why anyone would set tile with an obvious lack of coverage, but then again there's lots I don't understand, and lots of bad work going on, so who knows? I stand by what I said though, if you pay for a quality install, don't settle for anything less.