cracked tile over under floor heating - TilersForums.com

[thevinnyofoz]

Hi,

I´ve been asked to replace a porcelain tile on the bathroom floor of my boss´ house, problem is he has under floor heating.

Was only mentioned to me on my way out of the office this evening so I didn´t get much info from him.

My main question is what precautions should be taken in general for this kind of situation ?

Sorry for the lack of info, will know more tomorrow.

 

[Ajax123]

What is the substrate? Why has it cracked? what type of UFH
These are the first three questions that I would need to be answered

 

[silver]

If the tiles have gone down directly onto the cable element (if its electric) .....:incazzato:

If the element / floor was screeded over before tiling....you have a fighting chance....steady away.......

If its a water system - solid floor there should be quite a significant screed over the pipework (min 80mm >100mm I think - .....though I stand to be corrected)....so this wont be too bad.

But first off you need to find out what is lay on .....why its cracked....is it the only one ?.....is there loose / missing grout from adjacent tiles indicating quite a bit of floor movement ?
IMO its not that easy to crack a porc tile once down if all is well.


Degs

 

[Ajax123]

If the tiles have gone down directly onto the cable element (if its electric) .....:incazzato:

If the element / floor was screeded over before tiling....you have a fighting chance....steady away.......

If its a water system - solid floor there should be quite a significant screed over the pipework (min 80mm >100mm I think - .....though I stand to be corrected)....so this wont be too bad.

But first off you need to find out what is lay on .....why its cracked....is it the only one ?.....is there loose / missing grout from adjacent tiles indicating quite a bit of floor movement ?
IMO its not that easy to crack a porc tile once down if all is well.


Degs

Wet systems with sand cement - Nominal design 75mm screed but normally need minimum 50mm cover.

Wet systems with calcium sulphate screed - Nominal design normally 50m but need minimum 25mm cover to meet British Standard. Most manufacturers say 30mm cover to ensure a comfort zone.

 

[jamie B]

only time I've seen porcelain crack over UFH was at the joint where the UFH was fitted with a thermal break..hence going from hot to cool screed...does your boss recall if one was put in place and if so where it runs?:detective:

 

[thevinnyofoz]

I'm onto him now, will have more info later today, many thanks for all your advice so far.:hurray:

 

[thevinnyofoz]

He said some bloke was doing a job at his house and used the bathroom floor as a base for some DIY activity involving a hammer ! This is how the tile cracked.

He doen´t know the brand of ufh but says the wire was the taped down type and not the mesh type. The floor was ply board and was solid before tiling was started.

I´m thinking that the electric needs turning off and the grout will be scraped out very carefully from all four sides, then the tile will need to be popped up from one side and removed ? Just wondering how much hassel it will be removing the old adhesive from the floor without damaging the wire ?

 

[DHTiling]

You will be better off , just gently breaking the tile up into smaller bits and lift them out...trying to get it up in one peice will deffo damage the ufh...

Lift the tile and then test the ufh before going any further...if you have damaged it, you can get repair kits..

 

[bert&ernie]

I would also suggest getting a cable monitor from Uheat. Connect to the cable and it will let you know if the cable gets damaged.

Underfloor Heating | Installation | Uheat