Who to hire for cracked or loose floor tiles

Short answer

A tiler — but a tile that cracked in a straight line across several tiles, or a floor full of hollow-sounding tiles, is reporting movement or a bond failure in the substrate, and re-laying tiles onto the same problem produces the same result. Ask what is underneath before agreeing to a repair.

Plan itThere is time to get more than one quote, which is where the money is.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Tiler.

  • a builder

    the crack runs in a line across multiple tiles or matches a crack in a wall. That is the slab or the floor structure.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Tap the floor with a knuckle or a coin over a wide area and map which tiles sound hollow. A tiler will do this; doing it first tells you how big the job is.
  2. Look for a pattern. A straight line of cracked tiles follows a joint or a crack below; scattered single cracks are usually impact.
  3. Find out whether spare tiles exist anywhere on the property. Matching a discontinued tile is usually impossible and it decides whether this is a repair or a re-tile.

What to ask when you book

  • Are the tiles debonded from the substrate, and over how much of the floor?
  • Is there a movement joint in this floor, and should there be?
  • If you replace these tiles, what stops the same thing happening?
  • Can you match the tile, and if not, what are the options?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • Whether tiles can be matched.
  • How much of the floor is debonded.
  • Whether the substrate needs preparation or a movement joint installed.
  • Removing old tiles, which is often the most labour-intensive part, especially off a slab.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Tiling is generally not separately licensed, though it falls inside building work licensing thresholds in some states. Waterproofing under tiles in a wet area is regulated work.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for cracked or loose floor tiles
A tiler — but a tile that cracked in a straight line across several tiles, or a floor full of hollow-sounding tiles, is reporting movement or a bond failure in the substrate, and re-laying tiles onto the same problem produces the same result. Ask what is underneath before agreeing to a repair.
Why do tiles sound hollow?
Because the adhesive has not bonded, or has released, between the tile and the substrate. It does not always mean failure is imminent — some hollow tiles last for years — but it is the mechanism behind tiles that suddenly lift or crack underfoot, and a floor where most tiles sound hollow is a floor that will need doing.
Do tiled floors need expansion joints?
Yes, over larger areas and at changes in substrate and at perimeters, because the tile, the adhesive and the slab all move at different rates with temperature and moisture. Their absence is a recognised cause of tenting and cracking in large tiled areas, and it is one of the things worth asking a tiler about before a re-lay.

Find a Tiler near you

621 tilers in this directory, ranked on published evidence rather than on advertising.

Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.