Make life easy, search the forum.

Discuss Wall tiles cracking in a line in the Tiling Advice | Tile Forum area at TilersForums. USA and UK Tiling Forum

Ben

TF
Reaction score
0
Please checkout the following advertisement.
Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but I'm hoping for some advice.

About 2 months ago we had our bathroom redone and all was fine until last night when a line of 4 tiles spontaneously cracked over a period of 20 minutes while my son was having a bath. The line runs from the shower controls down to the bath edge.

Our plumber did complain about the quality of tiles as he managed to crack a couple while installing the radiator but he wasn't very careful in other areas so I'm not sure how much to trust his opinion. Anyway it seems very odd for a line to crack like this with no impact or anything.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have caused this? A couple of pics below.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,
Ben
WhatsApp Image 2019-04-28 at 19.25.55.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2019-04-28 at 19.25.55 (3).jpeg
 

Boggs

TF
Arms
Esteemed
Reaction score
4,729
I think it would be best to take one of the cracked tiles off and see what’s behind.
 
OP
B

Ben

TF
Reaction score
0
Thanks for your replies.

This is the only photo I can find which shows what is behind. The line of cracked tiles run directly down from the taps visible in the middle.

I've just noticed that the shower tap unit was not actually siliconed in so I guess some water may have got behind it... could this have had an impact?

Thanks.


WhatsApp Image 2019-04-28 at 22.34.25.jpeg
 
B

Blunt Tool

Doesn’t look like the Wedi board joints have been taped and filled with their fibre tape. Always going to move no strength
 
OP
B

Ben

TF
Reaction score
0
Thanks guys, really appreciate your input! I'm trying to get the guy who installed them to come back and sort it rather than attempt a DIY job.
 

Wayne Brown

TF
Arms
Reaction score
213
Look at the plumbing under the bath its says it all they have placed a shower pump under the bath which is wrong I would say corners have been cut here resulting in a failure only remedy is remove that section of tile and investigate the cause also look at the shower pump manufacturers installation manual it will shower your instal is incorrect and will eventually end in pump failure. Kop
 
Last edited:
Reaction score
47
From your first picture it looks like the crack is very slightly to the left of the shower valve, also in your "in progress" picture, there does not appear to be a board joint there. I would think that the existing wall is plasterboard and that the pipes were installed where the crack now is and the fitter did nothing to mitigate the weakness that was made when chasing for the pipes. Based on what can now be seen.
 
OP
B

Ben

TF
Reaction score
0
Hi guys, just thought I'd post an update. We took off the tiles that were cracked and can't find any underlying problems (pic attached). The wedi board doesn't have a join there, there is no hole, all seems to be fine as far as I can see.
So obviously the tiler is still blaming the tiles, the tile company are "looking into it", the plumber thinks the weight of the bath when full of water might have pulled them down and snapped them because they are such poor quality. All a bit of a mess!
I guess all we can do is replace the tiles at our own cost and hope that it doesn't happen again.

IMG_0353.jpg
 
J

J Sid

see this when the studs are either to far apart or just to weak and someone leans/ falls against the wall to support themselves getting in and out bath
 

Reply to Wall tiles cracking in a line in the Tiling Advice | Tile 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.

New Tiling Questions

UK Tiling Forum Stats

Threads
66,600
Messages
866,701
Members
9,511
Latest member
mmcdon47
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