Tile Floor Problems

I live in an older small home (built in the early 50's) in our laundry room area, we installed a ceramic tile floor (12 x 12). Our Refridgerator rests on this floor as well, and the circuit breaker box is behing the refridg. When a breaker blows the fridge has to get pulled out! When we pull the fridge out, the tile under the fridge cracks. We have replaced this floor 3 times in the past 3 years, and always the same thing. The tile cracks instantally. We have tried magic sliders on the fridge, etc... nothing works. The subfloor is not level and we know that, but we do not have the money or the experience to fix it. Do you have any suggestions? Also would a wood laminate floor hold up better to this type of abuse?

Thanks in advance

--Matt

 

IS THIS ON A SINGLE LAYER OF WOOD?OR DBL.? WHAT ARE YOU REBONDING THE TILE WITH?WHAT IS YOUR JOIST SPACING AND LENGTH?

 

It sounds to me like the weight of the fridge is causing the floor under the tile to flex. Subfloor movement is death to all tile floors. What is under the tile? There should be a cement backer board, which is recomended by all of the pros on these forums. You can keep spending money to replace tiles, or save your money until you can afford a new subfloor. You get what you pay for.

 

It sounds to me like the weight of the fridge is causing the floor under the tile to flex. Subfloor movement is death to all tile floors. What is under the tile? There should be a cement backer board, which is recomended by all of the pros on these forums. You can keep spending money to replace tiles, or save your money until you can afford a new subfloor. You get what you pay for.

 

Rubber floor tiles!
Or rubber sheet flooring.

Like a sports floor.
Johnsonite "Replay" is an excellent product.
They have square tiles and interlocking tiles that resemble puzzle pieces.

 

Most tile has a minimum breaking strength of at least 250 PSI per industry standards. If rolling wheel load is breaking the tile it could be deflection but is often not enough setting material under the tile. 100% coverage would be prefered for wheel load but 80 to 95 % should be enough. If you can see setting material ridges, thats the problem.