How Can I Repair Broken 4 Inch Tole

A floor covered with ceramic tile is nearly equally durable and low-maintenance a surface every bit you can get—until a cast-atomic number 26 pot slips from your mitt, or you drop the wrench when tightening that elbow joint under the bathroom sink. Only even and then, you'll be glad to have tile underfoot, considering replacing a broken or chipped one is pretty elementary to do. "It'southward a job most any homeowner can handle," says Joe Ferrante, a tiling contractor who'due south worked with the This One-time House idiot box show for near xx years. On the post-obit pages are Ferrante'south steps for a perfect repair. Simply make sure to follow one disquisitional slice of advice. "Take information technology like shooting fish in a barrel with the hammer," he says, "or you'll end upward breaking more tiles."

Step 1

Remove the Grout

• Put on safety glasses to protect your eyes from chips and dust, then rake out the grout effectually the cleaved tile using a carbide-tipped scoring tool.

• Apply just enough pressure to remove the grout only not so much that a slip will gouge the neighboring tiles.

Step ii

Loosen the Tile

• Employ painter's tape around the edges of the adjacent tiles to protect them.

• Drill evenly spaced holes into the tile's broken sections with a 1/four-inch ceramic bit. This helps gratuitous the pieces from the substrate and makes them easier to chisel out.

Step 3

Chisel Out the Pieces

• Working from the heart out toward the edges, gently tap out the broken pieces with a hammer and a narrow (3/8- or i/4-inch) chisel. If you lot don't have a tile chisel, a cold chisel or fifty-fifty a flat-blade screwdriver will also do the chore. Beginning with the chisel at 90 degrees to the floor, then switch to a 45-degree angle after you penetrate the glaze.

• Once the broken tile is removed, employ a wider chisel to make clean all the old thinset off the substrate. The same technique applies for all substrates, including mortar, cement backerboard, or plywood.