Hi We had 30sqm of Amtico Spacia laid in a parquet arrangement, tiles were fairly small so probably 20cm ish by 7cm wide. The quote from the flooring company said Ardex NA to go over Marley Tiles Primer Adhesive Amtico Tiles Screed was done last Wednesday and tiles were laid on the Thursday. Everything looked great but come Sunday I noticed one of the tiles has a bulge in it, like something hard is under it and it’s lifted the tile. Just that one tile, other tiles around it seem flat so chalked it up to something under the tile during fitting maybe, figured I would get them out to sort it another day. Today however I noticed another tile has started to bulge up, although not as bad and I’m sure this wasn’t bulging before. Waiting for the flooring company to send someone out to look but getting rather concerned that our £3.5k flooring seems to be bulging in parts. We were not here when the screed was done, we just came home in the evening to find a grey concrete looking floor, they they laid the tiles the following day. It’s a local flooring company we used who have been around for a long time, we had them do all the carpets so no reason to think they wouldn’t do a proper job. Am I worrying over nothing or could it be serious?
They shouldn’t have screeded over them tiles. Also your sub floor most probably needs a liquid Dpm. how old is your house ?
Is it on the ground floor? if so it won’t have a Dpm under the concrete. Did they do a moisture test? Amazes me today that some shops will screed over Marley tiles.
Also fitting the flooring the following day is a risk as the screed might not be fully dry in winter, we give every job 2 days t; fully dry. have you paid the bill?
Yes ground floor unsure about a moisture test, my wife was here when they quoted. They didn’t lift the carpet as the tiles were in the under stairs cupboard so they took a look at them in there, said they were stuck down well and they could screed over them. The bulges are fairly small but the tiles are small too so it’s fairly noticeable and we only had it laid four days ago
Here are the facts After 1965 builders should have but a visqueen sheet under any concrete to stop damp in the floor. Most didn’t till mid 70s, even then it was a really thin sheet. So nearly every job we do before 1980 we liquid Dpm the floor. The Marley tiles and the ata adhesive let the floor breathe so a carpet above is ok as that will breathe. Once a sealed floor goes above moisture can’t breathe so it builds up and in most cases the Marley tiles come loose under the screed.
Ouch! Sounds like a stress you don't need over Xmas as I'll be surprised they'll fix that PROPERLY before the Yr is over. Potentially a lot of work there as its going to be a 'start from scratch'
Oh excellent so the whole floor may need to come up then! Can the tiles themselves be saved and reused if they were glued down already? There was no signs of damp when the carpet came up but they never mentioned anything about a DPM being required. Surely that seems like such an easy thing to add considering the work involved already and the potential for issues if it’s not installed? I’m waiting for them to send someone out
It really is mad people don’t use a don but a lot of firms don’t believe it’s needed as they often get away with doing it wrong. I have a lot of battles with my customers to accept a dpm as you can’t see the damp and they don’t believe it’s needed. You may get away with changing the bubbled tiles. Try that first
Considering the overall cost and the fact we had to be out of the house for a day or two anyway, a few hundred quid more for a DPM seems worth it, I would have had no issues paying this if it were required but they didn’t mention it. Considering the tiles have been down for 60 odd years and there were no signs of damp on the floor before the screed was laid, it seems odd the tiles would have come away from the adhesive in 3 or 4 days and caused the screed to pop up. Hopefully they can sort it, I don’t want the whole floor ripped up but I also don’t want them having to keep coming back.
As daz says chances are you won’t have seen any damp before as the old tiles and adhesive will have allowed it to breathe….. it’s now been covered and therefor can’t breathe as before……. The bulging could be caused by all sorts…. Hopefully it’s a bit of something under the tile and your screed is sound underneath….. if there’s nothing under it then it could be adhesive failure from the moisture…….. where you around when they fitted it just as do you know what glue was used…… did the lay the flooring in sections into wet glue or appear to glue large sections of floor and then lay into the glue….. reason I ask is as if they have used a pressure sensitive glue as opposed to wet bond acrylic then it may be lack of transfer causing the lifting…….. even though it’s been screeded over the N/A screed is likely not the culprit here…… it could be the Marley tiles coming loose under it….. if that’s the case it’s gotta all come up and start again so hopefully it’s a lump of dirt or lack of adhesive but either way if they haven’t done a damp test then it ain’t done correctly
We were around when they laid the tiles, he said it was pressure sensitive glue. They spread the glue over large sections, waited about half hour or so then started to lay. The bulges are not hollow, they are solid like something is below them. If you knock on the areas, it doesn’t sound hollow at all, it sounds solid all around. Will report back once they send someone to look, I don’t really want to pull the tile up myself and get blamed for something.
Sounds like the marley tiles are popping as the screed hardens and pulls on them as it dries Complete amateurs
