Replacing Broken Porcelain Floor TIle

Even Porcelain Floor Tile, some of the hardest and at times the most difficult material to work with gets broken and needs replacing. In this example, the floor tile was installed and then the painter came in and covered the same tile floors with canvas. Somewhere during the painting process, a very heavy object was dropped on the tile breaking it.

(click on photo to enlarge)



The bad part was the tile ran into a closet which was also fortunate. Unfortunately, the same tile ran under some cabinets that were already installed and would have to be removed to replace the whole tile. So, the decision was selected that had me cutting the broken tile out and turning what was a brick stack grout line in the closet into a simple straight line as you will see further on.

This is a textured tile with a deep brown color and is cleverly accented in an Oyster Gray Grout. This contrast makes for a very attractive floor. Somehow it feeds well into the deep reddish brown cabinetry and stainless steel you see reflected on the floor.    

What I've done here to the right is cut a line from the two adjacent tiles to add a grout line where there was none since it was in the cabinet anyway. I then cut a full tile to insert into the space after removing the thinset and grout. All tile in this building is installed on 1/2 inch cork matting to cut down on noise. Care was taken to be sure no other tiles were damaged in the process which happens very easily.



What you don't see is the Blue Tape I used to draw the line between the two tiles before dry cutting the tile. This does two things, it makes the line easier to see, follow, and keeps the cut tile cleaner. This job is a bit easier with two people, the other person to hold the vac tube in place to receive all the dust and and debris

 Here you can see the completed repair. The grout is still not dry but you can see that the broken tile originally continued under the cabinet and is behind the closet door. So this repair worked out well. Even when you open the closet door you don't realize I manufactured a grout line where one did not exist but was an acceptable compromise to keep from removing the recently installed cabinetry.



This is an illustration of something that can be done in the event you are faced with an unfortunate broken tile.



The process above when removing the tile required an angle grinder. I've had this little Ryobe 4 & 1/2 inch Angle Grinder for about 4 years now and it whines but still cuts tile. The blade is a Bosch Diamond (non-segmented) blade that runs about $30 or almost as much as the Angle Grinder cost. I also use a Rigid Shop Vac in the process as well.



A line was drawn from grout line to grout line, then I used the angle grinder to very carefully cut the tile. The shop vac was used to at the same time with the angle grinder to suck in the dust and debris from the dry diamond saw cut. I used a hammer to carefully break up the tile and used the chisel and hammer to remove the existing tile, thinset, and grout to level the pad for the new piece. A small amount of thinset was used to install the new tile piece.  A small amount of grout was mixed to grout the lines.



This repair looked as if nothing had ever happened, just like this repair below-----Nope, you can't see it can you? And that is the way a repair should be. (click to enlarge photos)