Floor tiles "erupting", and I guess we need to redo the floor - suggestions?

Thanks all - so is this “超耐磨木地板工程” the same as quickstep flooring, or is it something different?

On hot-water heating: ha. I think I am absolutely not going to mention that to my wife. I’ve never found the apartment cold, and almost never wear socks indoors - but my wife’s internal thermostat would probably appreciate the in-floor heating! I remember having similar heating in Korea, and enjoying it, but their winters are much colder. We’re lucky in that we’ve got open sunlight on both the east and west sides of the apartment (er, not at the same time, that’d be disconcerting), so for me at least the place never gets that cold; I’m often surprised in winter when I visit other people and realize, “Oh, some places do get cold!”

Two of the rooms already have raised (about 1") wooden floors, but most of the apartment has ceramic tiles. Those wooden floors have become increasingly uneven over the years, and I suspect were built improperly on top of tiles that were already uneven. One of the big things we’re trying to figure out is how much it makes sense to do everything now, or do different rooms in stages over the next few years. Despite the high financial cost, just ripping off the bandage and doing it all at once is making more sense.

The apartment is 23 ping. I guess that’s kind of big in Taipei, for two people anyway. We’re in Danshui, and we wound up out here in the first place because we could afford a bigger apartment in this part of the city.

The tiles in this building do have a history of slipping and cracking up over one another, so I’m not sure how good an idea it is to put new flooring on top of the current tiles. The part that’s “erupted” now won’t be the last to do so.

Quickstep is a brand name from Belgium. It’s basically a click or lock system to install your laminate without glue. Easy install. But if you have a laminate like ‘Quickstep’ that includes real wood as second layer it’s not really suited for Taiwan, unless you run your aircon or dehumidifier round the clock, year round. There are a few Taiwanese companies that make something similar without the wood layer, basically it’s PVC or similar. But some have it formaldehyde free.

That’s because it’s wood, it reacts to wet, dry, heat, cold, it ‘lives’. And of course installation and condition of the wood before installation is important.

Once the ‘pressure’ is off the tiles they will not ‘erupt’ again. Tiles are expanding and crimping. What you need to do is tap every tile and listen to the sound. Does it sound hollow? Not good.

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Yeah, that’s most of them. Has been for a long while.

On those wooden floors: I dunno, they both have a couple of long “ridges”, and pieces sticking up a bit - but on the other hand, they don’t make the same crackling sound as the newly erupted ceramic tiles in the living room. And for the wooden floors, there are worrying things like adjacent standing shelves that are flush at the top, yet significantly separated at the bottom. (Never mind the friggin problem of not knowing where the pipes are in the building, so we’re too scared to stick nails in the walls to secure the shelving!)

Question: has anyone told you what lies underneath those tiles? What is happening there?

I have a “hot” spot under our floor. I used to think it was heat radiated from…somehwere…until a helpful neighbor suggested “it must be a power line”. :eek: I assure you, hot water it ain´t.

This happened to me about a year ago in a long-term rental apartment. Landlord had a vendor inspect it and replace only the damaged tiles, about 15 or so. Not a perfect match with the old tiles, but close enough that I no longer notice. Completed the job in one working day. Didn’t ask what the cost was, but knowing my landlord, probably got the lowest quotation possible. No issues since, but it’s only been about a year.

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Did they tell you why it happened?

No - we’ve only had one guy in so far, and he was the one who only does wooden/laminate/whatever it is flooring. I’m operating on the assumption it’s wear and tear plus shoddy workmanship when the building was first put together, because other friends in the building have had the same issue. But I should get that double-checked.