One of the travertine tiles on my floor is wobbling, how can I rectify this?

Question

one of the travertine tiles on our kitchen floor is wobbling. How can I stop this? Do I have to lift the tile and if so exactly how do I go about this? ...lifting it and re -laying it?

Answer 1

Evidently not enough thin set was used when they laid it. You definitely risk cracking it during removal,I would remove the grout with a removing tool and use a one or two stiff blade putty knifes GENTLY prying (Not In The Corners) use a rag under the knife so you dont chip the opposing tile. It may not work,at this point I would call a professional, but If you succeed scrape off the old thin set and reinstall with thin set. If your not comfortable with any of this process have a tile man do it, it wont be expensive for one tile and if the tile cracks he will have to replace it.

Answer 2

Whoever laid put down the tiles did not properly spread the thinset. How thick is your grout line. The tile is loose already so if you can take out the gout you can lift the tile. If the gout line is very thin and it usually is with travertine you will need a tool to get the grout out. Hand tool like that is cheep. I use a MultiMaster, it has a 1/16" grout remover tool but the Multimaster is expensive. So get a hand tool and remove the grout around the tile. Use some thin wire to grab and lift the tile. Clean out (use spatula) all the thinset from under the tile. Get some new thinset (tile glue) mix it into thick pancake consistancy spread in the space and using a trowel with 1/8 teath scrape out the extra thinset. Make sure it is even and high enough for the tile to be even with what is already down. then drop in the tile very carefully and by moving it around make it drop even with the rest. Let dry and regrout. Good Luck, you can do it.

Answer 3

if the floor was sealed when finished you will need to apply a seal remover to area of floor surrounding wobbly tile. Then if you have to use the same tile that is loose i would use a grinder to remove grout around effected tile. I would then use a tile suction cup like what window fitters use to grip the surface of the tile then lift vertically , or try a spatula on two corners being very gentle as travertine is quite soft.
Once tile is removed apply a solid bed to floor- not the back of tile as moister will be sucked from adhesive quicker from the tile than the floor - resulting in adhesive drying out and not forming a strong bond resulting in tile becoming loose, when tile is fixed solid and dry grout in then apply sealer once grout has fully dried out

Answer 4

Carefully cut out the grouting. Then you can get a large screwdriver or other wide blade in the gap to lift the tile
Clean off the old cement and restick

Answer 5

u need to chisel around the grout line pull up tile and relay it making sure the underneath is clear and level..