QUESTION

Cracking Tile - I have a ceramic floor that is cracking
I think I did everything right but I am not sure I fixed the problem. PLEASE HELP ME THANK YOU

ANSWER

ANSWER - First you need to determine why the floor is cracking. It could be that the concrete subfloor has a crack in it that is continuing up through the ceramic tile. It could be that the subfloor you installed the tile on to has too much deflection beyond the limits of the ceramic tile. Normally you will see the cracking occurring first in the grout joints which is normally the weakest link of the floor. It could be that you have voids under the ceramic tile and as point loading forces are applied to those areas there is nothing supporting the tile and it cracks. It is common to see this problem at the corners of ceramic tile or stone.

Each one of these conditions have a variety of symptom and you would have to do a trouble shooting investigation to determine through a process of trial and error. In some cases you may need to do intrusive testing to determine the most likely cause of the cracking.

Once you determine the cause, then that will dictate the solution.

Good luck!
ANSWER - First you need to determine why the floor is cracking. It could be that the concrete subfloor has a crack in it that is continuing up through the ceramic tile. It could be that the subfloor you installed the tile on to has too much deflection beyond the limits of the ceramic tile. Normally you will see the cracking occurring first in the grout joints which is normally the weakest link of the floor. It could be that you have voids under the ceramic tile and as point loading forces are applied to those areas there is nothing supporting the tile and it cracks. It is common to see this problem at the corners of ceramic tile or stone.

Each one of these conditions have a variety of symptom and you would have to do a trouble shooting investigation to determine through a process of trial and error. In some cases you may need to do intrusive testing to determine the most likely cause of the cracking.

Once you determine the cause, then that will dictate the solution.

Good luck!