How To Repair Hairline Crack In Floor Tile

Although tiles are known to be very durable and can withstand a lot of utilise, in cases of wrongful installation or an accident where a heavy object is dropped on the tile, it tin become cracked.

Depending on the deepness of the crack, it can be fixed, or you lot may have to replace the tile. In this article, we are going to look at how to repair cracked flooring tile easily without having to pay a contractor.

How to Repair Cracked Flooring Tile

Table of Contents

1 How to Repair Cracked Flooring Tile
- 1.1 Applying Paint
- one.2 Glaze
- 1.3 Using Epoxy
- 1.4 Replacing The Tile
2 Conclusion

Applying Pigment

If you only have a small hairline crack, yous tin can requite it a quick set up by painting over information technology. You need to make certain the color of the pigment matches the color of the tile then that it isn't noticeable. If you lot accept textured, patterned, or stone tiles, this fix isn't suitable for you.

To paint your tiles, yous should first make clean the cracked area with a clean cloth dipped in soapy water, then wipe the surface area to remove surface dirt and grime.

Afterward, rinse the area with clean h2o and dry with a clean towel. However, the exposed role of the tile exposed by the crack will absorb water, and that isn't easily wiped dry, then you lot may need to run a hairdryer over the area for about 15 minutes so that it tin can get completely dry.

Then using a small paintbrush, Apply oil-based primer to the crack, making sure that the primer application does not exceed the crack. Avoid getting pigment on the tile surface close to the cleft.

Then Allow the primer to dry for at least two hours before applying a glaze of loftier gloss oil-based paint that matches the colour of the tile.

And so allow the paint to dry overnight, covering it if necessary in order to protect it from foot traffic. If you take unnoticeable hairline cracks that are nigh unnoticeable, yous might not need to utilise the primer and paint.

Read: How to remove paint from tile flooring

Glaze

This isn't really a fix for cracked tiles, merely it helps to enhance the effectiveness of painting. But this project might be quite expensive considering if you cannot coat just i tile, so you volition demand to apply glaze all over the entire tile flooring so that they tin can friction match the repaired tile.

To apply glaze on your tile, merely mop or sweep the area to remove dust and debris; you need to clean the area thoroughly to prevent any clay from becoming permanently trapped underneath the glaze.

If y'all used water in cleaning your tile, allow it to dry earlier applying the glaze. Although clear coat is commonly preferred due to their flexibility, there are also colored glaze available.

Earlier applying the glaze to the floor, you will need to make sure there is proper ventilation in your work area because the glaze fumes tin be toxic.

Try to apply the coat very quickly before it dries. You may also need to apply more than i coat of coat for meliorate results.

Using Epoxy

You lot tin get an epoxy kit at your local hardware store, and Epoxy is merely a hardening mixture that tin can be used to agree the two pieces of your cracked tile together.

There are two types of epoxy kits; there'south the 1-office, and there's the 2-part, which is of higher quality and will concord your cracked tile together for longer.

Cascade out the epoxy mixture from each two-part bottles out onto a slice of cardboard. Then Mix the components thoroughly with a wooden stick.

Earlier applying it on the floor, first, apply some rubbing alcohol to some paper towels and wipe the surface of the cracked tile till information technology'southward clean. This helps to remove any dust and crud, ensuring that the epoxy sticks to the surface of the tile itself.

Using a narrow paintbrush or toothpick, apply some epoxy to the crack. You want to apply some amount of epoxy at a time and but bring the epoxy level to the top of the tile covering the entire length of the scissure. Avoid getting epoxy on the adjacent tiles.

So let the epoxy to fully dry; this should take not more than than xv minutes. You tin check to see if your epoxy is dry by tapping it with a fingertip. If the epoxy is dry, your finger should come dorsum with no epoxy goo attached to it; the epoxy volition too be firm to the touch.

Once the epoxy is dry, use the sharp border of a razor blade to remove any stray epoxy that got onto the tile. When working with razor blades, you need to be very conscientious to avoid injuring yourself.

If the crack is in a noticeable expanse of the room, you can apply some color tint to the epoxy so that it matches the colour of the tile. You can go colour tint at any craft store.

Use the color according to the manufacturer'south instructions, and it is best if you purchase a pulverization dye specifically made to dye epoxy.

Replacing The Tile

First, drill 3–4 small holes in the tile with a power drill. To showtime the drill, squeeze up the trigger and drill a few holes to weaken the tile. The holes should either go horizontally or vertically, but they should all be in a straight line across the tile surface.

Get a chisel and place its bract forth the lines of the drilled pigsty. Utilise a hammer to tap on the barrel terminate of the chisel until the blade gets through the tiles. Then tilt the chisel at a 45-degree bending and keep tapping it until it separates the croaky tile from the surface beneath information technology.

You lot need to be very conscientious with this procedure, do not use too much strength when breaking the tiles to avert damaging the floor underneath it or even damaging side by side tiles.

Using simply enough forcefulness, remove the cracked tile with the hammer and chisel and dispose of it properly.

Using the same chisel blade, remove any grout or mortar on the floor surface where y'all only removed the tile.

Identify the chisel blade on the floor at an acute 20-degree and glide the blade around the flooring, scraping off all the grout. Too, dispose of the grout properly so that pets or lilliputian kids do non have access to information technology.

If y'all have a spare tile from the tile floor installation, you can apply it for the replacement, only if you lot don't, you can take a slice of the cracked tile to your local abode improvement store or tile specialty shop.

Try to get a tile that matches the cleaved one as much as possible. You would besides need to purchase a small tub of mortar.

If you have your replacement tile, use a putty knife to spread the mortar evenly across underneath the tile, the layer of the mortar should be about¹⁄₈ inch.

Earlier working with mortar, you need to Put on a pair of latex gloves, and when applying it, try not to become mortar on any of the other tiles equally information technology can be very hard to remove.

Fix the tile in place, making sure that it is well centered over the floor space you removed the previous tile. Apply gentle pressure on the tile to seat the tile in place.

Subsequently setting the tile, spread a pocket-size corporeality of grout across the newly installed tile surface using the bottom of a grout float.

You need to apply the grout around the tile until the smallⁱ⁄₄ inch gaps on the sides of the tile are completely covered. Like with the color of the tile, yous accept to make sure that the color of the grout matches the colour of the existing grout.

Read: how to change grout color on tile flooring

Finally, use a clammy rag to clean the new tiles before the grout dries. And then allow the grout to dry for at least 24 hours before allowing human foot traffic over the area. Your flooring should be good every bit new.

Conclusion

If you know how to repair cracked flooring tile, it will salvage the financial expense of hiring a contractor or handyman to fix information technology for you. With minimal tools and technical know-how, you will exist able to supervene upon a croaky tile.