Serious tile issues

[cailin]

A national chain installed my 12x12" ceramic tile floor. For 2 years my grout has been falling away in the same spot. After repeated fixes nothing works. THey sent over a "foreman" and he went under the kitchen measured and told me that my joists, 2x4's supporting the floor were 21" apart. The needed to be 16-18" apart for a sound floor.
Shouldn't they have looked at the construction of the floor before they started the work? The opportunity was available to look under the floor before the work started, but they didn't . Now they say that the \y are not responsible.
Considering the spacing of the joists, what floor would be suitable?

Thanks,

Megan

[HayZee518]

well, a tile floor with 6X6 tiles might go. 12X12 is really too large considering the joist spacing. next would be resilient floor finish - acryllic flooring [sheet goods]

[g5inc]

You are correct, they should have looked into that but a tiler is a tiler really not a structural guy, but all is done and it will probably be difficult to have them replace it, but worth a try,..got a good cheap lawyer?
If not you could always s create a support at that point off of thye side joists directly where you are having a problem. have a contractor put cross joists supporting a piece of plywood laminated to the underside of the problem area. Should not be too expensive to do , maybe have them pay? question is in my mind is why are the joists this far apart in the first place? Fixing this area will you have problems in other areas?
Or as the other person suggested laminate wood flooring..but if the floor is moving that should be addressed and suported

[mrcaptainbob]

I'd double check what's actually down there. A 2x4 is not floor joist material, not to mention that 21" span. Something's not right here and needs to be verified. Block that span all you want, if the joists are 2x4's (doubtful) then they'll always bounce. Unless...the 2x4's on 21" spans as described are support pillars intead?

[cailin]

I have no idea if what is down there is 2x4's. All I know is I went under the floor , it's exposed, and cheked the floor for obvious movement and even had my husband jump up and down in the area whith the issues. No movement. It seems very solid. I knocked on the tiles and I hear a hollow sound in the areas in question and the tile is moving slightly.

I live in northern VA and I am told that my joists should have been 16-18" apart and not 21" apart. How did my house pass inspection? Were things different in 1994???

[HayZee518]

Normal joist and wall stud spacings are pretty much 16 on center. The next increment would be 24 on center - only because insulation rolls and batts are 16 or 24 inches wide. Next, the wall sheathing is usually a 4' X 8' and well, 16X3=48, 18X3=54. ok. joists are never 2X4 even attic joists are a minimum of 2X8. Load bearing floors minimum 2X10 while 2X12 maybe overkill would be best.
The hollow sound you hear - the quickset mortar has lost its grip on the tiles. but that still doesn't address your problem. if you can remove a large portion of your tiling go for it and if you are still "for tile" go with 6X6 tiles. really a toss up what you want for a floor finish.