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hanjohn_tse

Tilts tent/pop up 3 month after installed vinyl planks over tile

Han John Tse
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago

Basic summary (TL;DR)

3 Months after installing vinyl plank flooring over tile, the vinyl floor suddenly buckled up 1/2." The floor installer cut open the vinyl and found that the tiles underneath has shifted and tented.

Any idea what caused this to happen? The same issue popped up 2 feet away. How should I fix this next issue so I won't have another popped up tile?

Expanded scenario with details

I am the original owner of a Los Angeles area house built in 1989 (mild year-round temp, low humidity). We installed tile (ceramic or porcelain? Not sure). Each tile is about 12" by 12" with 1/4" grout. We have never had a tile come loose or "tenting" up. December of 2020 we installed vinyl plank flooring over the tile. See the photos of the detail of the vinyl boards we used. They are the click lock type with 1/16" foam backing. The installers just put the board directly on top of the tile, no glue or additional foam pads.

3 months later in March the vinyl floor suddenly buckled up 1/2." The floor installer cut open the vinyl and found that the tiles underneath has shifted and tented.

He has since glued down the tile and replaced the vinyl floor. It is now 2 weeks later and now I'm noticing the adjacent area 2 feet away starting to buckle up.

This area is in a hallway next to the washing machine. Before the vinyl flooring, we have had a few instance where the machine has leaked in the past, but we always wipe up within the hour. There has been no leaks since we installed the vinyl (new washing machine).

I'm very certain the same situation is happening. I've never really understood the root cause of the first tile buckling. My concern is that still will happen again at any part of the 800 sqft of tile we have. The concrete underneath is ok, no cracks of raised edges.


Here are my questions

  1. Any idea what caused this to happen? Recall we have had this tile for 30 year and never had a loose tile
  2. How should I fix this next issue so I wont have another popped up tile? This new tent area is 2 feet from the original tent area so I'm wondering if the issue just propagated down









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