Tiles cracking, is it the adhesive or something else?

[Tile Shop]

Exhausted all options in looking at this.

So. Plastered walls, primed, Weber set rapid, Homelux wall matting, more Weber set rapid, 300x100 Metro Matt White tiles

Just in the shower area, the tiles have very badly cracked (no the weren't crackled finish to start with ).

I have aske the customer for a method statement from the tiler, which is how I got the above info. He gave us everything except the trowel size he used for both putting the matting on and the tiles. He refused to give us this as he believes that whatever he says, we'll say its wrong but that isn't the case.

I have spoken to the tile factory and they have said, that using a rapidset too thick depth, is the reason. Anyone else got any ideas?

 

[John Benton]

If there is a tanking membrane then surely the substrate cannot have water ingress, possibly movement but without knowing what the background is it's difficult to say

 

[White Room]

That's why I asked about substrate, if it was dry lined onto block/brick walls and any holes etc to be blocked to stop any air flow behind the wall that can cause condensation on the tile surface if cold air is allowed to travel behind the board.

 

[AliGage]

If there is a tanking membrane then surely the substrate cannot have water ingress, possibly movement but without knowing what the background is it's difficult to say

Making the presumption that the plumber fitted the membrane well and correct.

What's the betting the membrane doesn't wrap the corner?
These tiles have broken back to front, nit front to back. Cracks in the grout in the corner all suggest swelling in the substrate.
If the membrane hasnt been wrapped around the corner or over lapped and water gets behind it through the corner not only will the substrate swell but water will also collect.

 

[John Benton]

Well water will be getting through there that is a fact, no silicon seal visible. If there is no tape or not wrapped around then chances are it could be the substrate damaged

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

very simple to check the glaze get a dish fill with 3 to 4 mm of water put tile in face down glaze only in water no contact with biscuit see if lines start to apear in the back of the biscuit if the glaze is weak it will soak into the sponge like biscuit in no time

 

[jobdone]

I have seen cracking like this on a couple of occasions and it has been where the bed depth has been thick. These cracks have appeared after 3 -4 months of the installation. Having said this delamination of the substrate had occurred due to the tiles being laid on to painted walls.
Also had a couple of months ago when laying metros the glaze coming away from the biscuit.

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

a lot of metros are coming in from india make of that what you will

 

[John Benton]

a lot of metros are coming in from india make of that what you will

Goodness Gracious Me Ray what are you implying

 

[Dave]

a lot of metros are coming in from india make of that what you will

Just tiled a splash back in johnsons 200x100 beveled , English tiles I hear you say ?.

Nah!!! , says made in India on the back lol lol.

 

[Dan]

BCT aren't even British now lol

 

[Andy Allen]

Most people in Britain aren't British now......lol

 

[Tile Shop]

Red backed. Made by Regaliz in Spain. If that helps

 

[Dan]

At the end of the day the solution to the problem is the same. I guess only one needs to come off to see the real issue. And I assume if they're breaking up it wouldn't take much to at least get at the adhesive to see if some wall comes off with it or adhesive crumbles or whatever. So perhaps customer can have a go?

They're going to have to come off eventually anyway. Sharp ceramics in a shower with lots of fleshy parts isn't a good mix at all. The sooner it's sorted out the better.

 

[Tile seller]

I can really only see cracking tiles in the corners.
My bet is on substrate movement. Due to there being no silicon to separate the areas all the movement has been transferred straight into the wall joint. When showering people stand right next to the wall which I think has caused floor movement in that area.

 

[MW Smith Ceramics]

Looking at the extent of the cracking on the tiles I would say this is a fault in the tiles!.....what's the wall covering that's been used?.....and why rapid set adhesive using such a small tile on walls you would be mixing up a bit at a time all day, what a palava!

 

[bcd-87]

Hi @Paul C.

It looks to me like the wrong adhesive may have been used on a bad batch of ceramics...

It's happed to me both ways on sesperate jobs never at the same time though..

Speak to @Dan thete may be s trophy for that

Good luck

 

[Tile Shop]

The Tile factories team suggested it was possible that the adhesive was too thick. This in turn has caused shrinkage. Fault with the tile? Very slim chance. We had 1250 sq.mtrs from that batch delivered and this is the only issue we had with them.

Coupled with what you guys have said about not using any form of corner expansion, you'll also notice on 2 of the pictuers, the cracks follow in an almost straight line from one tile to the next, implying that there is something going on underneath and the tiles are following.

As for the wall in the shower.... still at a loss on that one, and can only assume that what has affected the corners has also affected the remainder of the wall.

Having spoken to the customer, the same adhesive has been used in the dry areas of the room too. Onto plaster but only a couple of cracks were noticed early on. This hasn't got any worse. But the large areas with the cracks is where the homelux wall matting was used and have continued to crack further since they were fitted and the shower has been used.

I have since spoken to the factory again as I'm not going to go running back to the customer and say "its been fitted wrong". It want the factory to actually run their own tests to draw a conclusion rather than just assume whats happened. Of course in their eyes its not a fault with the tile. That'd just be silly

 

[Tile Shop]

Out of interest, have any of you used the internal corner expansion joint that schluter and genesis do? do they look better than a bead of silicone or are they just and extra cost that isn't really required?

 

[Old Mod]

Out of interest, have any of you used the internal corner expansion joint that schluter and genesis do? do they look better than a bead of silicone or are they just and extra cost that isn't really required?

Look better? ......subjective
Work better?.......if Schluter make it, it's better! Haha