Home Improvements : Repairing, Replacing Damaged Tile

Resilient tile is the generic term for a whole group of floor-covering tiles, including those made of vinyl, vinyl/asbestos, rubber and cork. All types are durable, but as we all know, nothing lasts forever. Sooner or later a scratch, gouge, rip or burn will occur. And when that happens, you should be ready to handle the situation.

Your first line of defense is to have some spare tiles on hand. Whenever you put down a new floor, be sure to keep several extra tiles in a safe place for emergencies. If the floor went down with adhesive, keep some of that, too, and write on the can with a permanent marker where the adhesive was used. Flooring adhesives come in a wide variety of types, and the one you used in the kitchen may not be right for the tiles in the bath.

Probably the easiest problem to deal with is a scratch. If it’s a shallow scratch in asphalt or vinyl/asbestos, you can sand it carefully with 320-grit waterproof sandpaper, then wax. Wet the paper with a little water and work carefully, feathering the scratch out. Then wipe dry and apply your normal floor wax.

With vinyl and rubber tile, you can often burnish a scratch away. Just rub the scratch lengthwise with the handle of a teaspoon or something similar. This will often close up the scratch enough to make it nearly invisible.

Another technique is to lay aluminum foil over the scratch, dull side down, and then go over the area of the scratch with the tip of a very hot clothes iron. This can weld the scratch, but it’ s a bit tricky, so you might want to practice it a few times on a spare tile before you attack your floor.

Fill deep scratches and small holes with a paste made by mixing scrapings from a spare tile with a vinyl adhesive or clear nail polish. To do this, take a spare tile and scrape it with a utility knife, catching the resulting flakes in a cup or bowl. Scrape off enough to more than fill the damage.

Then mix in a few drops of a clear vinyl cement (sold at hardware stores) or nail polish to form a putty-like paste.

Put down masking tape to protect the area around your damage, and then press the putty firmly into the damage with a flexible putty knife. Let this dry until hard (about an hour for nail polish, but maybe overnight with vinyl cement). Then polish the repair with fine steel wool and wax if necessary.

If you’re faced with a really bad scratch or hole, or maybe a full-blown gouge, it makes more sense to replace the damaged tile than it does to try to fix it.

First step is to remove the old tile. Different types respond to different techniques. Asphalt and vinyl/asbestos respond to heat, while you may have to chip other types away. If you don’t know what kind of tile you are dealing with try the heat first.

Lay a towel over the tile you wish to remove and run a medium iron over the tile until it and the adhesive beneath it begin to soften. You can then work a thin putty knife under one edge near a corner. Lift the edge of the tile until you can grab it (wear a glove if it’s too hot to handle). Then just pull up while slicing away at the adhesive with the putty knife until you can peel the tile away. Let the adhesive remaining on the floor cool and harden, then scrape it away.

Your other alternative is to simply chip the tile away with hammer and chisel. Start at the center and work out to the edges. Then chip away any adhesive remaining on the floor.

Sometimes you get lucky and find you are dealing with self-adhesive tiles. These come up fairly easily and leave little residue behind.

Replacing the tile is fairly simple. If it’s self-adhesive, just peel away the backing on your new tile, set it in place and press down firmly.

If you need to use adhesive, make sure it’s the right type, and that you apply it with a notched trowel of the right type. If you aren’t sure, take the tile to your tile dealer. He should be able to identify it and prescribe the right mastic and trowel.

Spread your adhesive according to the label directions. Then, place one edge of your tile in position as shown in the sketch, and lower it into place. Press down firmly and check to see if it is level with the surrounding tiles. If it’s too high, place a board over it and stand on it. If adhesive oozes out, wipe it up quickly.

If the tile is too low, lift it back out and apply some more adhesive beneath it to shim it up. Replace and press down again. Then lay a board atop the tile (large enough to lap onto surrounding tiles), and place at least 20 pounds on this board. Leave it in position overnight to give things a chance to set up.