Make life easy, search the forum.

Discuss Re-grouting due to cracks in the The Welcome Forum area at TilersForums. USA and UK Tiling Forum

Reaction score
3
Please checkout the following advertisement.
Thanks for the welcome.

I have a problem with cracked grout in our en-suite shower, which is within the dormer of a chalet style bungalow, so a timber wall construction. Shower area has hardiebacker board fixed through 50mm overdrawn Celotex using turbo gold screws. 10mm porcelain tiles fixed with Bal White Star https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ from tub and cement based grout from powder.

I fitted a Lakes Coastline Cannes glass side panel. According to instructions I applied silicone externally only. I filled wall profile fixing holes with silicone immediately before fitting, but I realise my rookie mistake was not using stainless screws. A few weeks into use we notice the gold of the turbo screws I used washing out the bottom of wall profile.

Some months later we notice cracking in the lower half of the 1st vertical grout line outside the shower, which is apx 150mm from the side panel. At this point, assuming corrosion of fixing screws is allowing water a path into the wall, I siliconed the inside of the wall profile, from head height down to within 100mm of the tray.

In the subsequent months the cracks have slowly become more significant, and I recently notice hairline cracks in the horizontal grout lines extending into the shower. There is no sign of grout cracking anywhere else in the fully tiled room.

Have learnt a few lessons and trying not to think too much about worse case scenario. Have started raking out cracked grout outside the shower. Intend to remove screen and wall profile and replace all cracked grout next weekend, re-fitting using stainless screws and silicone inside and out. Then optimistically hoping all remains stable.

Hoping you guys can recommend the most suitable grout to use, looking for max flexibility I guess. Will pay what I have to.
 
OP
A
Reaction score
3
Think I ran out of characters there, too much waffle!

Should say I got my tiles from local N&C and I’ve been back to ask about grout. They offer 3 types. Their GroutPro cement based powder claims to be flexible. Starlike Evo tub (epoxy I think) sold as ‘waterproof’. Super Grout Pro is another tub sold as suitable for ‘non-rigid substrates’.
 
OP
A
Reaction score
3
Ok, thanks Dave. I assume there is not much I can do to resolve now, but would be interested to know what https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ I should have used.

Only cracks in the room are close to the side panel wall profile so I think water ingress, as explained above, may be a contributing factor.

I’m planning to re-grout the cracked area, currently intending to use Nicobond grout pro flexible, unless you can recommend anything more suitable.

Thanks, Andy
 

Dave

TF
Staff member
Esteemed
Arms
Reaction score
389,871
Ok, thanks Dave. I assume there is not much I can do to resolve now, but would be interested to know what https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ I should have used.

Only cracks in the room are close to the side panel wall profile so I think water ingress, as explained above, may be a contributing factor.

I’m planning to re-grout the cracked area, currently intending to use Nicobond grout pro flexible, unless you can recommend anything more suitable.

Thanks, Andy
https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ should have been a bagged cement based https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/, bucket https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ is a dispersion https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ and requires air contact and a porous tile / background to lose moisture and create a bond. Where as a cement based https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ dries through chemical hydration. So when using a dispersion https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ on large tiles it tends to not dry fully.
 
OP
A
Reaction score
3
Appreciate you sharing the knowledge Dave.

I’m likely taking on my bathroom in a few weeks, will be using the same tiles, so very helpful thanks
 
Reaction score
126
If the grout cracks, there s more to it than just using the improper tile https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ and the wrong screws. You gotta figure it out what s really causing the grout to crack. Always a reason behind a cracked grout joint. Good luck!
 

Lou

Admin
Staff member
Esteemed
Reaction score
860
Thanks for the welcome.

I have a problem with cracked grout in our en-suite shower, which is within the dormer of a chalet style bungalow, so a timber wall construction. Shower area has hardiebacker board fixed through 50mm overdrawn Celotex using turbo gold screws. 10mm porcelain tiles fixed with Bal White Star https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ from tub and cement based grout from powder.

I fitted a Lakes Coastline Cannes glass side panel. According to instructions I applied silicone externally only. I filled wall profile fixing holes with silicone immediately before fitting, but I realise my rookie mistake was not using stainless screws. A few weeks into use we notice the gold of the turbo screws I used washing out the bottom of wall profile.

Some months later we notice cracking in the lower half of the 1st vertical grout line outside the shower, which is apx 150mm from the side panel. At this point, assuming corrosion of fixing screws is allowing water a path into the wall, I siliconed the inside of the wall profile, from head height down to within 100mm of the tray.

In the subsequent months the cracks have slowly become more significant, and I recently notice hairline cracks in the horizontal grout lines extending into the shower. There is no sign of grout cracking anywhere else in the fully tiled room.

Have learnt a few lessons and trying not to think too much about worse case scenario. Have started raking out cracked grout outside the shower. Intend to remove screen and wall profile and replace all cracked grout next weekend, re-fitting using stainless screws and silicone inside and out. Then optimistically hoping all remains stable.

Hoping you guys can recommend the most suitable grout to use, looking for max flexibility I guess. Will pay what I have to.

Hi
Thanks for clicking on our forum.
How are you getting on with the cracked grout?
 
B

baldeash

hi
we have took out old tiles in our kitchen and hallway which is large open area, and replaced with porcelain tiles, size of tiles is 2' x 4', after a few weeks we noticed the grout is coming out in a lot of areas, we have tried refilling but the problem persists and it does not look uniform, we also noticed about 5 tiles have hairline cracks, not all the way through, some just right in center of tile, the guy came and replaced the tile, and when he tried to hammer and break tile it was very very difficult to break he showed us, he said he will remove all grout and regrout the whole place, my biggest fear is when he is removing grout, he will end up cracking edges of tiles, and i also need to know the exact type of grout he should be using, he first used a powdered grout mixed with water and then a cement type, can you advise which is best type, our tiles before never cracked at all over 30 years
 

Ajax123

TF
Arms
Reaction score
933
hi
we have took out old tiles in our kitchen and hallway which is large open area, and replaced with porcelain tiles, size of tiles is 2' x 4', after a few weeks we noticed the grout is coming out in a lot of areas, we have tried refilling but the problem persists and it does not look uniform, we also noticed about 5 tiles have hairline cracks, not all the way through, some just right in center of tile, the guy came and replaced the tile, and when he tried to hammer and break tile it was very very difficult to break he showed us, he said he will remove all grout and regrout the whole place, my biggest fear is when he is removing grout, he will end up cracking edges of tiles, and i also need to know the exact type of grout he should be using, he first used a powdered grout mixed with water and then a cement type, can you advise which is best type, our tiles before never cracked at all over 30 years
Why do you need to know what grout. Its tiler that needs to know, not you.
 

Reply to Re-grouting due to cracks in the The Welcome Forum area at TilersForums.com

Or checkout our tile training advice or the Tile Standards

This website is hosted and managed by www.untoldmedia.co.uk. Creating content since 2001.

UK Tiling Forum Stats

Threads
66,599
Messages
866,698
Members
9,508
Latest member
sj1709
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock