Repairing broken ceramic tiles

Broken, damaged or chipped ceramic tiles can be one of the most tedious issues to fix within the home. Unlike a damaged or stained wall, they cannot be simply painted over with another coat. Depending on the damaged caused, there are a number of ways to approach fixing broken tiles.

Fortunately, mending tiles doesn't have to be a never-ending saga that only ends in failure. If you're handy around the house, you'll be pleased to discover that repairing tiles is a fairly simple DIY task.

Repairing cracked or chipped ceramic tiles

A crack or chip in a ceramic tile does not necessarily mean the end. Take a sample of your tile's colour, head down to your local paint store and ask for someone to mix you up a colour as close to it as possible.

Once you have your matching paint, mix it with tile filler. Fill the chip or crack with this mixture, wait for it to dry and then wipe over it with a cloth. The damage should be barely noticeable. If you feel that the finished product could be better, try giving it another coat of paint. For small cracks it may be easier to use a cotton bud.

How to replace damaged tiles

Unfortunately, some tile damage is too extent to apply the paint method. Or it may be unsuitable if your tiles are multi-toned or coloured. If either of these scenarios is the case, you're looking at a tile replacement job. If you were present for the original laying of the tiles, chances are that you have some spares stored away somewhere. However, if you don't have an identical replacement, you'll have to find something close to it before replacing.

To remove the damaged tile, shatter it carefully with a hammer and then chip out all remaining debris, dried adhesive and grout. Some people may achieve better results by removing the grout first. Once the old tile is out of the way, apply adhesive to the back of the new tile and put it in place, covering it with tape if it is situated on a wall. Once dry, fill the gaps with grout.