[pinchme54]

Has anyone had any issues with cracked tiles in their flooring. We recently moved into the Villages and after closing, after home inspection, we discovered 5 cracked tiles along the sliding glass doors leading out to our Lanai. We called our home inspector and asked why they did not catch this during the inspection. His response was it was overlooked and quite possible could be a result of the underlayment separating from the slab. He did come over and inspected the tiles along with the other tiles in the floor and discovered a hollow sound on most of the tiles in the home. He thought a small amount of thinset was used, which is the reason for the hollow sound. I called the warranty department (our home is beyond the one year warranty period) to see if the slab could have settled to cause the tiles to crack. I was told, unless the slab has settled beyond a certain amount, no, slab would not be covered. I then asked which flooring company had completed the tile installation and called them for their opinion. I was told it was not due to their install, but could be as a result of the unerlayment separating. I finally found a tile installer/repairer to come out and inspect the tiles and determine a solution for replacement/repair. He removed the five tiles and we discovered the underlayment did not go all the way to the sliding glass doors threshold, but stopped about 3 inches short. The tile guy says this is the reason for the tile cracking. Over time, settling, movement and stress on the ceramic tiles resulted in the cracks. Also, the tile guy said the hollow sound is a result of the underlayment separating from the slab, either due to moisture or adhesive issue. He installed the necessary underlayment and replaced the 5 tiles at a cost of $225.00. I am sure our home is not the only home in the Villages with this type of problem and offer up this post as a solution for anyone with the same issues. I have photographs of the issue if anyone cares to receive them. I tried uploading them for this post, but the upload failed.