Thanks for all the comments. To update on the matter, now we have to remove all the loose tiles and change some of them, broken on the process.

the problem with doing that is

how many tiles were chipped in the process,

the same thing will happen again,

and the tiles you are using to replace are a different colour.

it does not have to freeze to cause tiles to lift, as crossy posted its down to contraction, the concrete base contarcts at a different rate to the tiles, and with no grout joint, the tiles will lift, in the UK the british standard for floor tiles is 3mm, ( there should also be an expansion joint every 8 metres) i have customers that ask for a smaller gap, (to make the nice expensive large format tiles look better, some tiles are now 1.5 metres and 800 x 800 is fairly common). i always refuse as 3mm is the 'BS' and if the s***t hits the fan i want to know that i did it the best i could, i'm a professional its my reputaion thats on the line.

the same thing can happen when tiles are laid on water underfloor heating pipes, if the temp is turned up too high, too soon.

Exactly the same thing happened too my Bangkok condo about 5 years ago after an unusually cold night. And that was with 30 cm tiles and grout lines of about 3-4 mm.

Sophon

Just to say, I think this is BS. Hope the OP got his chuckles.

It's not BS. I wish it was.

I agree, it just happened to me, yesterday evening !

There's a thread running in the Chiang Mai forum.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/890440-bliss-hotel-floor-tile-nightmare/

Edited January 29, 201610 yr by Ricardo

Thanks for all the comments. To update on the matter, now we have to remove all the loose tiles and change some of them, broken on the process.

the problem with doing that is

how many tiles were chipped in the process,

the same thing will happen again,

and the tiles you are using to replace are a different colour.

Yep, color different, this is landlord's problem, I'm just renting out, so don't really care. Most of the area is covered by a carpet anyway. On Thai news there's been a lot of reports about this, those who can read Thai can check or ask a Thai friend to translate. For example this happened in Pathum Thani:

http://www.dailynews.co.th/regional/375622

expansion gap all round the room perimiter is needed

The main reason the tiles popped was that the Tilers did not put in EXPANSION JOINTS, common practice in most places.

Since temperatures in Thailand are somewhat stable you can sort of understand why they don't but they should.

I see that Central in Chiang Rai also experienced tenting tiles. At least Powerbuy and JD computers did. I am surprised by this, how cold could it possibly get inside a major mall at night.

Its not about how cold / hot its the differential between them and the speed at which that hapens