The thinset that was applied to glue down the tiles has been applied over a dirty surface and instead of adhering to the substrate it adhered to the dust and oils sitting on top of it.
Do you need to seal concrete floor before tiling.
Sealer needs to be applied in dry conditions because it won t adhere to damp concrete.
Concrete contracts and expands at a different rate from the thinset mortar used to install tiles.
The temperature also needs to stay above 50 f during application and drying time up to three days.
Before applying check the weather.
Use grout to fill in the cracks between the tiles.
Once traffic starts walking over it those stresses start moving the tiles and eventually they pop off the floor and get loose.
After laying all the tile over the surface of the concrete slab allow the tile to rest for 24 hours before finishing the tile.
A concrete sealer prevents moisture from staying underneath the ceramic tiles.
How to seal a concrete floor for tiling.
To seal concrete floors use an epoxy sealer if you want something durable that comes in a variety of colors.
Use reputable flexible adhesive for tiling on screeds and concrete and as per the manufacturers specifications do not use pva but a latex based primer if the concrete surface is shedding dusty fine particles after drying.
Typically you wouldn t seal a slab prior to tiling but in this case and using this product it would be recommended.
Step 2 seal the concrete.
Any tile installation can fail from a lack of using a tile adhesive primer.
If you want to seal over concrete floors that already have a seal try a polyurethane sealer.
The next step is to apply a concrete sealer on the floor surface.
This is an optional step but can really benefit your tile installation in the long run.
Apply the grout and wipe off the excess grout with a damp or wet sponge.
With just a little extra work you can seal your concrete floor and.
Thanks for the reply i saw that later in the thread you recommended to another guy that sealing in moisture wasn t a good idea which is what i also thought.
It will also provide a stronger adhesion between mortar and concrete.
For that reason it is best to use an elastomeric crack.
If your concrete is new you ll need to let it cure wait at least one month before applying sealer.