Need Lots of Ideas. Have outside tiled deck that has loose tiles and leaks when it rains. What to do?

Question

I have a an old outdoor patio where the grout has cracked and water can get beneath the tiles during heavy rains. There are 10 or so tiles that have the cracked grout and they even give a little bit when you walk on them and water will bubble up from the grout line as you put your weight on the tile.

So what are my options here if I am on a limited budget? Here's what I thought my options might be so please give your thoughts on each and give other solutions if you can.

1. I dig out the 10 tiles without breaking them and re-mortar and regrout them back into place.

2. I dig out the bad tiles and place new tiles in their place as part of some pattern I come up with.

3. I cover the entire deck (bad tiles and all) with self leveling concrete, then stain or polish it.

4. Is there some good, thick elastomeric type grout sealer that I could simply paint down on all the grout lines and would stop the leaking? Any recommended brands or types?

Answer 1

The grout is already cracking and leaking, this tells me you got moister under the tiles already and will continue softening the unprotected grout. If your tile was placed on a outside deck, there should be felt (tar) paper ontop the deck, with some kind of masonary board for the sub-floor on top of that. Then your adheisive grout and tiles.
I don't know where you live so I am doing a little guessing here.
Best bet is to buy a grout cutter (fairly cheep at local hardware store), cut out the damaged area, clean tiles and replace after sub-floor area dries. Clean using a haze remover solvant and then apply several coats of sealer over the entire tile deck. I buy AQUA MIX products for my company and we have had superb results over past 15 years.
www.aqua-mix.com

Answer 2

Certainly the first two options you suggest can be accomplished with some level of satisfaction.

The issues go directly to the substrate. You claim it's a "Deck" would that mean a "patio" / concrete slab?

The problem is likely in the age of the tile job, and the installation process used initially. Had the been set correctly in the first place, using an exterior grade mortar, completely avoiding all voids, you might still have the problem, given that any mortar/mastic might only be 1/4 inch thick, and not actually well bonded to either the tile or substrate.

I'm in the proces of replacing tile in an 11,000 sq. ft. area in a basement of a building that is prone to flooding. In this case however the cause in part is due to the fact that the adhesion was accomplished with a low grade acrylic mastik and troweled on at only 1/8 inch erradically.

I save the tile when possible, grind off the old and reset with an exterior grade thinset.

In your case I suggest #1 initially, being aware that other tiles are likely to "pop" They should be gently nudged up anyway since you state they "give" if there are voids, eventually the "give" will trun into "crack" Even # 2 is as viable an option, and consider that the substrate still needs to be scraped and cleaned before an install no matter. Agian however your problem is two fold, even with a SLAB under. The tiles/mortar/grout are not only subject to rain, but the leaching of water up through and around the slab, constantly risking degrading whatever mortar and grout exist.

There are also exterior grade grout mixtures, (poly blends) you can try, OR when installing use enough mortar to squeeze into the clean grout lines, run a finger over, sponge, like you would the grout.

Your # 3 would give limited and unsatisfactory results.

#4 is another issue to attend, but keep in mind that even the best, will need maintenance and re applications.

Steven Wolf