Check up the hollow tiles in your new house

When you carry out your new house inspection together with the vendor during the handover process, don't forget to check for hollow wall tiles and floor tiles.

This is a common defect to many houses and apartments. You should get the developer to fix this problem before you move in, because it involves hacking the original tiles and replacing with new one.

To check for hollowness underneath the tiles is simple, but tedious. You just need to knock at the tiles with 50 cent coin, and listen if they give out sounds that indicate hollowness. Hollow formed when there is not enough plaster underneath the tiles. This problem might cause the tiles on the wall to fall off one day, and the floor tiles easy to crack or break, especially when hit by dropped objects.

You should knock at the 4 corners as well as the center of the tiles. Hollowness is usually found at the corners.

Sometimes, hollowness found in certain wall tiles could be acceptable, if you know there is concealed piping underneath the tiles which cause the hollow sound.