Concrete floor collapse

[Orton Rd]

Our house is post and beam/brick construction with all concrete flooring and tiled. Sounded like an earthquake downstairs today when all the tiles broke up, now it's like walking on cornflakes as they have mostly come detached from the concrete under them. Strangely none are broken yet but walking on parts of the floor seems like they will and they go up and down quite a bit. The house is just 7 years old and I assume there is no rebar and poor quality concrete to blame.

Any advise on getting it repaired properly? the mrs has a remarkable faith in Thai 'mechanics', despite the fact that none of the building work we have had done on the place was has resulted in anything but bodged up jobs, easiest and cheapest way not the proper way. We had a patio done out front, that's all seriously cracked and broken after 4 years, <deleted> hardcore and no rebar. I have noticed with Thais, even relatives, that nobody ever wants to recommand workmen they had, probably as poor also.

[JAS21]

Dig the floor up ...use KEMREX piling etc etc ...We used them for our Carport extension

[Kwasaki]

Get it re-floored with concrete no problem if done properly.                              

[Anythingleft?]

The concrete floor will not just have shifted by itself
What caused it?

Is the ground underneath the flooring shifting or is the main frame and pilings/footings moving?

No point just chucking a new floor in unless you find and fix the cause of it surely.....

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[eyecatcher]

Sounds to me like tenting.

All to do with expansion and contraction.

The other possibilty during the monsoon season is ground heave which occurs when your house is built on clay.

This is likely only if your ground floor concrete was part of an in situ floor slab. If its concrete topped on planks as most are then heaving unlikely. Check for cracks externally in the verticals, columnswindows.

 

Tenting more likely, google and see if that fits

[RichardColeman]

Probably sand involved somewhere !

[canopy]

Sounds like the floor was poured on top of loose fill dirt. Common building practice/mistake. As the dirt settled the floor then gave way to the hollow spaces beneath it. The dirt will continue to settle so just laying a new floor will be subject to the same problem all over again. You need to dig deep enough to get to undisturbed earth and lay piers that will not be prone to settling, then support the new floor using these. Simply rebar is not a solution. Clearly you are in need of an expert. To assure the design is sound, ask the amphur to make a design for the builder to follow. Otherwise could be just a new expensive mistake on top of an old one.

 

[eyecatcher]

Some really unfounded guesses on here. The floor is very likely 100% sound. A failed floor will crack slowly over time and that will show with a single line of tiles cracking.

 

The problem here as alluded to above is tile tenting and comes about because firstly the builders have used that awful sand and cement mix to lay the tiles and then you get either hot sun from above or ground saturation leading to the expansion and contraction.

No expansion gaps at the skirting area and likely no skirtings tohide the gaps.

The pressure built up on the tiles and grout causes them to explode and pop off.

Easily remedied

Use correct adhesive, a visible grout line and a grout filled ethafoam expansion joint at the wall.

[Orton Rd]

Having had a look today and talking to the next door house that had the exact same thing happen it does not seem quite as bad. I think it's just the sand and cement they laid the tiles on which for some reason disintegrated or they popped due to expansion with no escape as the above post. The concrete under that seems sound. Ours has skirting but the tiles go up to the wall and no grout lines at all really. Thanks for the replies.

[canopy]

Ok so the subject line "concrete floor collapse" is wrong because now you say the concrete is sound. So eyecatcher is probably on the right track. Note floor tiles should never be laid longer than 6 meters without expansion joints. There should also be expansion joints between the tiles and perimeter walls.