Covering Installation Guide / Defects and malfunctions in wall and floor tilings / Debonding and arching in floor tilings
Debonding and Arching in Floor Tilings
The manifestation of this large family of defects and malfunctions in ceramic floorings follows the same pattern as the detachments in wall tilings: unsuitability of traditional techniques for the installation of large tiles on unstable substrates and the deficiencies introduced with thin-bed fixing, as an alternative to traditional tile installation, extended to the preparation of the surfaces.
Isolated debonding in a flooring may be classified in the same way as in the wall tilings, though an additional factor here is its condition as horizontal surface, which may also be subjected to different types of traffic.
Widespread debonding and arching in ceramic floorings have their origin, in an isolated or superposed form, in a mistaken choice of tile installation technique and materials, in the degradation or poor state of the provided fixing surface and, in particular, in the strains or deformations that occur in the fixing substrates and surfaces.
Adhesion often fails when the shear stresses generated in the system cannot be withstood when the ceramic flooring is subjected to strong compression. When the adhesive bond does not collapse, in the tile/bonding material interface or in the bonding material/fixing surface interface, the serious malfunction of random cracking with a polygonal trend develops, which has been described in the section on cracking.
The various widespread malfunctions, together with the detachments in facades, have adversely affected the promotion of ceramic tilings, unjustly labelled as problematic by designers and professionals from the construction sector.
The functional requirements of the contemporary habitat introduce new variables into a flooring system. The simple consideration of acoustic insulation against impact noise modifies the structure and behaviour of a modular rigid flooring with respect to the conventional system (screed + bonding material + ceramic tile). The system becomes even more complex with other requirements, such as waterproofing, thermal insulation, or underfloor heating.
We shall not go into the specialisation of ceramic floorings here, but just highlight the need to adapt the tile installation technology to a new framework, delimited by the characteristics and behaviour of the surfaces provided for the installation of a flooring.
Of all the defects and malfunctions described in this section, particularly to be noted are those related to the dimensional instability of the fixing surface and, more concretely, the changes that are generated in the screeds or the changes induced from the backgrounds, especially from the decks. The effects of both construction elements often concur (for example, active deflections in the decks and high shrinkage of the levelling layer) in widespread debonding and buckling of a ceramic flooring.
Isolated debonding in a flooring may be classified in the same way as in the wall tilings, though an additional factor here is its condition as horizontal surface, which may also be subjected to different types of traffic.
Widespread debonding and arching in ceramic floorings have their origin, in an isolated or superposed form, in a mistaken choice of tile installation technique and materials, in the degradation or poor state of the provided fixing surface and, in particular, in the strains or deformations that occur in the fixing substrates and surfaces.
Adhesion often fails when the shear stresses generated in the system cannot be withstood when the ceramic flooring is subjected to strong compression. When the adhesive bond does not collapse, in the tile/bonding material interface or in the bonding material/fixing surface interface, the serious malfunction of random cracking with a polygonal trend develops, which has been described in the section on cracking.
The various widespread malfunctions, together with the detachments in facades, have adversely affected the promotion of ceramic tilings, unjustly labelled as problematic by designers and professionals from the construction sector.
The functional requirements of the contemporary habitat introduce new variables into a flooring system. The simple consideration of acoustic insulation against impact noise modifies the structure and behaviour of a modular rigid flooring with respect to the conventional system (screed + bonding material + ceramic tile). The system becomes even more complex with other requirements, such as waterproofing, thermal insulation, or underfloor heating.
We shall not go into the specialisation of ceramic floorings here, but just highlight the need to adapt the tile installation technology to a new framework, delimited by the characteristics and behaviour of the surfaces provided for the installation of a flooring.
Of all the defects and malfunctions described in this section, particularly to be noted are those related to the dimensional instability of the fixing surface and, more concretely, the changes that are generated in the screeds or the changes induced from the backgrounds, especially from the decks. The effects of both construction elements often concur (for example, active deflections in the decks and high shrinkage of the levelling layer) in widespread debonding and buckling of a ceramic flooring.
[1] Temperatures below 5ºC or above 35ºC, ambient dryness (R.H.<50%) or wind (v>40 km/h)
[2] Especially if frost/thaw cycles occur and water and humidity are continuously present
[2] Especially if frost/thaw cycles occur and water and humidity are continuously present
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