Water Damage to Tile Floors
Tile floors are cemented into place when they are installed. Water intrusion at a home can often result in floor tiles becoming loose. The technical term for this is "debonding" of the floor tiles. Debonding occurs when water breaks the seal between the tile and the concrete which bonds the tile to the floor.
Debonded tiles can happen whenever there is water intrusion in or around tile floors. Frequent causes are broken toilet supply lines, broken ice maker lines, leaking windows or walls, and broken washing machine lines. Debonded tiles also occur when water is used to put out a fire.
Debonded tiles are covered under most homeowners insurance polices in the State of Florida. Also, importantly, often the tiles cannot be resealed, but have to be removed. When tiles are removed, they frequently crack. If you cannot match the new replacement tiles with your old tiles then your homeowners insurance company must replace all contiguous floor tiles. Your homeowners insurance company will often not tell you about this matching requirement.
It is easy to determine if you have debonded tiles. You can determine if tiles are debonded by simply tapping on the tiles with a broom handle of screw driver handle. Properly affixed tiles will sound and feel solid. Loose tiles will have a hollow sound when tapped, and will feel loose.
