Tile floor breaking apart

[Bienes Raices]

I went to look at an REO and when I walked in I noticed that several of the ceramic tiles were cracked down the middle. When I started walking around there was a "crunching" noise even when I walked on the unbroken tiles, like they could easily break too. Obviously the whole floor needs to be redone. But is this usually just a sign of tile that was laid incorrectly, or low quality tile, or can it mean something is wrong with the foundation?

[Marc Freislinger]

It means it was installed incorrectly. That could also mean a problem with the structure.

If you're on a slab, most likely they didn't use enough thinset or they watered it down too much.

If there is a wood subfloor, it may need to be braced and strengthened before new tile can be put down. Any flex in the floor will crack tile. Local codes here require at least 1 1/8in of underlayment under tile, in an effort to shore up the floor.

Either way, it definitely sounds like it needs to be redone.