Ceramic ceiling tiles sagging, about to fall. Need advice on adhesives and sealing or if professional help would be better.

Submitted by Rgeneb1 t3_z3ji1m in DIY

Pic of tiles

I've googled this and checked the sub but all the repair tips involve drilling through tiles which clearly aren't ceramic.

Its only two tiles that are sagging, peering through the crack it looks like plasterboard behind so I think they're stuck on. Could I take them off, clean and then reglue? What sort of adhesive? I've used Unibond No More Nails for some things in the past is that strong enough? As it's a bathroom would silicon sealing between the tiles be appropriate or regrout?

I'm a bit lost here but don't really want to call a tradesman for two tiles and I really want to get this done before they fall off completely and break.

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Canam82 t1_ixlxt4a wrote

Professional tile setter here. A picture would be very helpful. As far as adhesives go, you'll want a modified tile mortar with a latex additive.

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Rgeneb1 OP t1_ixm0dvf wrote

Sorry for double posting. For the adhesive, something like this?

Probably a stupid question but most products say floor and wall, does ceiling need something different or is it the same?

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Canam82 t1_ixm1i8n wrote

Ceilings are just like walls except they require extra gripping power.

You want:

https://www.lowes.ca/product/mortar/mapei-keralastic-757-l-premium-grade-flexible-mortar-latex-additive-67992?store_code=3708&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=11543255263&cq_con=111377415086&cq_term=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&&cm_mmc=paid_search--google--shopping_aw_lia_generic_storage-_-71700000075235897&gclid=CjwKCAiAyfybBhBKEiwAgtB7fuiXnkOrY9BcBhPDyd0Q502tTlg_lyvVR0avSCniGlwcmCWCTwRgwRoCsDQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

something like that added to this

https://thefloorbox.ca/products/mapei-keraflex-sg-mortar-gray-44-lbs-94612-44/fe728392-7ddf-11eb-a3fb-f6968cef729a?region_id=100059&gclid=CjwKCAiAyfybBhBKEiwAgtB7fu9yQieknYV0o_jfTnVeddmVY4s_2OyHA7OXzYfwA7L3DTyav28OzhoCOIEQAvD_BwE

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Rgeneb1 OP t1_ixm225p wrote

Perfect. Thank you.

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Canam82 t1_ixm366t wrote

You may be able to force a bunch of mortar into the crevice and wedge a 2x4 to the ceiling tile. after 24 hrs it should hold.

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bms42 t1_ixr161s wrote

Did you notice that it's the backer board itself that's sagging, not the tiles? OP is going to have to figure out how to secure that to the joist(s) and IMO any kind of adhesive would be dodgy. I'd want mechanical fasteners involved in that fix personally.

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Rgeneb1 OP t1_ixr4k04 wrote

Not at home to check just now but I don't think so. Looking through the crack it looked to me like the tiles were glued straight onto a board, that looks fine. You can sort of see the glue stretching but still holding to the board and tile. Does that make sense? The plastic coving at the front is helping keep the tiles in place which is maybe why it looks like the board is sagging in the pics. I'll know more when I take the tiles off to clean it and refix on Monday but I really hope you're wrong.

At the moment it's just propped into place with a bunch of empty amazon boxes and I'm not moving those until I have the time to work on it at start of next week.

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Canam82 t1_ixur7yw wrote

Yeah, you're seeing the tile trim. I've seen this before where whoever installed the tile used pl Instead of mortar. I'm guessing heat and moisture slowly stretched the pl out to what you see.

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bms42 t1_ixv5pwo wrote

Ah yeah, you're right. Mastic in a bathroom is bad enough, but on a ceiling? That's crazy.

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