Project 22: Fixing the Bubble in our Tile Floor

Remember back in July when we had our foundation fixed? Well, when that happened, it caused a bubble in our kitchen tile. See, our kitchen tile was relatively new in the house. When it was laid down, the foundation was already uneven. Then, when they lifted the front of the house an inch to level it out, it put so much pressure on the tiles in our kitchen that in one area a couple of them literally popped up. This caused a bubble of air underneath the tiles, right in front of our pantry. I've looked and unfortunately I didn't do a good job of getting a picture of the bubble. But, this is what it caused:

We've had to live with a pantry that doesn't close all the way because it got stuck on the raised tiles. Very annoying.

So, this past weekend we finally got around to doing something about it.

You know how they say there is a tool for every job? Well, that's very true, and you should always strive to use the right tool. However, sometimes you don't have the right tool for the job so you just have to make do with other tools. It's not very professional, and can sometimes cause problems, but there are times as a DIYer that you just need to get a little creative. This project has been one of those times.

The first thing we needed to do was remove all the tiles affected by the bubble. The easiest way to do this would just be to get a sledge hammer and break them up. But, then we'd have to go looking for tile that matches whats already there, and since we have no idea where the previous owners got this tile, that sounds like a lot of work. So, we decided to try and get the tiles out whole. To do this, I grabbed a flat head screw driver, to use as a chisel, and a hammer. Then I just started tapping away at the grout:

I as honestly surprised at how easily it crumbled apart. Before long I had chiseled away enough grout to pull the first tile up.

Now, this wouldn't have come up so cleanly if the tile hadn't already been detached from the floor by the air bubble. What I mean is that the mortar normally used to stick the tile to the floor was no longer holding on to the floor. See:

The mortar is all on the tile, and the floor is bare. 

So then I chiseled away the grout and any bits of mortar in the little square of floor I just uncovered, and moved on to the next tile in the bubble.

In the end, I had to remove 5 1/2 tiles. The half tile is because one was already cracked in half. 

Look! My pantry door closes finally!!! Hooray!

My goal is to reuse these same tiles. That way I don't have to worry about finding ones that match. The first hurdle was getting them off the floor without harming them...success. The second hurdle is clearing away all the old mortar, because we can't lay them back down without a clean surface to work with. To do so, I went outside, flipped them over and kept on chiseling:

I got a lot of the mortar off 2 1/2 of the tiles. But it was a lot of work. Like seriously sitting-there-on-the-ground-accidentally-hitting-my-own-hand-with-the-hammer-whenever-I-missed-the-screwdriver type work. So, I didn't get them all cleaned. This is how far I've gotten:

I hope to keep working on this project, cleaning these tiles off one chunk of mortar at a time. Who knows, maybe I'll break down and actually buy/borrow a chisel! Crazier things have happened. Until then, we've got a 'bald' spot in our kitchen, but the pantry finally closes, so I call that a win.

This project is continued in part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.