existing tile buckling after laminate install

Hello everyone. New to this forum and this is a "I just need to know kinda thing". My name is shiraz and I live in S florida. I recently installed about 350sqf of interlocking laminate on top of a existing ceramic tile floor. It looked great for about two weeks. Now my existing ceramic tile is buckling underneath the wood, literally two weeks after the install! Throughout the install I did a sound check for hollowed out tiles. I found a few but here and there around the perimeter, nothing to worry about. The ceramic tile is original construction, maybe 20+ yrs old. I've seen wood buckle, I've seen tile buckle, but why two weeks after the laminate instal? Why god? Why me? Sorry guys..... I have 15+ yrs experience with all types of flooring...bla bla bla. Why did this happen? Anyone? Anyone?


** how do I upload picture and video's? I tried the tabs up top but it says "upload fail" also tried "manage attachments" no luck
Galaxy Note 4

 

Use photobucket.com if you can't upload pictures here.

 

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

I doubt the tile is buckleing, likely the laminate is.

 

#1 no way would I have installed laminate over tile.
#2, Did you follow the install directions to the letter and leave expansion gaps?

 

Is the laminate buckling or the tile underneath?
Is the tile below set on concrete or a wood floor?
And welcome to the forum.

Bud

 

Bud9051 the tile itself buckled. It is set on a concrete subfloor.
Joecaption .... laminate can be laid on anything as long as the floor is level. Instructions? Are you serious? Does anyone read instructions? This is a floating floor. Expansion gaps on the perimeter is most critical and the only thing to consider when installing wood.
Tolyn ironhand, the tile is buckling.
Pulpo, thanks bud!

 

90% chance the problem is related to moisture, but the details aren't adding up. Tile glued directly to a concrete floor doesn't usually (never that I've seen) buckle. Concrete floors do on occasion crack and buckle and the laminate floors can also.

My guess, if the tile has actually raised, it is from the concrete below, moisture and clay can do that. How has the rain been down there? Insurance may get involved.

Bud

 

I also find the tile buckling hard to believe after 20 yrs. Laminate needs a flat surface. If there was lippage between the tiles it could over stress the click lock mechanism on the laminate causing movement issues. The laminate can be peeled back to inspect the tile underneath. Use blue painters tape to mark all the laminae on the perimeter of the ones to be removed so that re-installation is easier.

 

Ill make this easy and work on posting the pictures. ill be back in a few.

 

shiraz, what was used under the laminate, that thin layer of foam, or the pink paper, or other?
If it was the thin foam, it is coated with plastic and might, repeat might, be acting as a vapor barrier which would slow the drying from below through the concrete, through the tile to the air. Add a vapor barrier of any sort and the moisture level below increases.

In states where clay expansion presents a problem, I know Texas is one, they have to deal with slab and foundation problems.

Bud

 

 

I taught the floor buckled. then I saw this.

 

I have already ripped up the floor. this was taken a few days ago. im chipping up the remaining tile mortar.

 

the subfloor is in mint condition. I did a smoke test and found a draft under the sliding door frame. its been sealed. reinstalling the wood tomorrow night.

 

I started to chip the tile up. Remember now this tile was secure to the ground weeks before. As im hammering the floor starts to buckle and im blown away. watch the video.
http://vid98.photobucket.com/albums/...082442_002.mp4

 

Everything expands and contracts with temperature and moisture and it looks like that plastic underlayment held in enough moisture in to cause that tile to expand. Never seen that.

But, there is still a strong concern for reinstalling the laminate. Obviously the soil below is drying to the inside.

Bud

 

Well, you are going to have to perform a moisture test on the slab. Sounds like it is still moving and releasing moisture into the house. Are you finding lots of cracks in the slab?

 

https://www.tcnatile.com/faqs/55-tented-tile.html

 

Great info guys. Thanks a bunch. I am now down to about a thousand ideas of why it buckled two weeks after the wood install. Can someone answer this, if I had not put the laminate down to begin with, would the tile still buckle?

 

The tile was fine for 20 years, then you installed laminate and then the floor buckled. Sounds darn near like cause and effect to me.