hot water pipe cracking tiles - Tile Advice

[kilty55]

evening all,i was asked to look at a family members tiled kit floor,its ceramic tiles whic off 2 have totally broken over a period of time,they told me its a concrete floor with a hot water pipe near the surface of this so i assumed the heat from the pipe is cracking the tiles? would this be right? and to combat this i was going to drop a slc on top of it to take the tiles further away from the pipes? any suggestions feel free cheers

 

[GazTech]

Flexible adhesive, it is no different than having UFH....Gaz

 

[DHTiling]

As long as the temp doesn't exceed the adhesives recommend maximum then no probs.....flexi will be better........just remove the effected tiles and re-fix....after prepping the floor....

 

[kilty55]

sorry im a bit lost? the tiles have cracked in half with the heat from this pipe which is somehow too close to them in a certain art of the floor,,they want the whole floor lifted and new tiles laid anyway but what i wondered was if i self levelled the floor would this prevent the tiles cracking again? or do i just ned to use a flexi adhesive as stated and this will be fine?

 

[DHTiling]

You never said you were going to re-tile the whole floor..........

After removing the tiles and prepping the floor then you could just use an isolation membrane to prevent expansion effecting the tiles....and cracking them again...

 

[charlie1]

How close to the surface is the pipe mate?

 

[Spirit]

From a plumbing point of view, that pipe shouldn't be in the floor. If the whole floor is going to be retiled, get the pipe sorted out 1st before the cement eats through it.

 

[kilty55]

unsure how close it is iv not lifted any tiles yet ill get back to you on that one once ive lifted the tile s up

 

[White Room]

Pipes laid in the floor normally have some insulation or a very sticky tape stuff wrapped around them to stop the cement attacking the copper.

 

[Spirit]

Although some DIYers bury copper pipes in the floor, any self respecting plumber knows that to comply with the water bylaws, pipes must either be laid in an accessible duct or must be laid using a pipe-in-pipe system. Covering them with insulation or tape is not a professional installation method.

 

[White Room]

The amount of floor screeds I've laid I have never seen a pipe in pipe maybe I can't remember over the years, Have only ever screeded around a ducting once and that was about 20 years ago on a big extension, Commercial are different, Many new builds I've worked on have also had the pipes running under the floor with a insulation around the pipes and the heating engineers applying this method

 

[Spirit]

If that is the case on new build, the foreman or site agent should kick them off the job. No self respecting heating engineer would fit like that as it is against everything he should have been taught at college.

The problem is that most plumber do a 3 month course and consider themselves qualified. They then do another 3 months on site and call themselves heating engineers.

 

[eclecticnut]

spirit i agree with what you have said but im currently on one of these plumbing courses and ive just done the module on this and the water regulations state burying pipework in plaster walls,or concrete is not permitted .what is permissible is if the plumber takes the necessary precautions to:

1. make sure its accessible for repair and maintenance

2. protect the pipework

then the pipe should be layed in a chase in the floor so the pipe can expand when heated and covered with a impermeable tape or insulation then a screed applyed.or duct wth a removable lid .in both cases the pipework would need insulation.
im never going to say im qualified or a heating engineer after i finish my course i need to get at least 3 years experience i would put myself as a learning plumber.

 

[Deleted member 1779]

We've done a couple of articles about fitting service pipes through tiles (including radiators) so might be worth a read.

But it would seem its the length of the pipe under the tile thats "lifting it" rather than than the pipe expanding into the hole or socket enough to split the tile.

Hope that makes sense

R
(Full article here on this forum and also on our website under section 4: RESULTS)