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Expert Answers
Why are my tiles cracking?
QUESTION
Why are my tiles cracking? - Hello. I live in a 6 year old, one level home on concrete slab. My porcelin tiles are cracked inside the front entranceway and also inside the master bathroom for a total of about 10 feet. Two tiles were replaced in the master bathroom abput 2 or 3 years ago and now 4 of them are cracked across! Help!ANSWER
ANSWER - Porcelain tile, which is a type of ceramic tile, can crack for a variety of reasons, although if installed correctly it should never crack.Considering your tiles are installed on a concrete slab on grade then I will assume there can't be too much deflection in the floor as there could be if it were installed over a wood subfloor.
Concrete slabs can crack. If it is a shrinkage crack or non-structural control joint (only moves horizontally) they should be covered with a tile crack isolation membrane that either covers the whole floor or covers the crack at least the width of threes the width of the tile. For example a 12x12 inch tile would have a 36 inch wide crack isolation membrane centered over the crack. If the crack is a structural crack (has vertical displacement and moves vertically) then it has to be evaluated by a structural engineer and repaired with dowels and epoxy per the engineer's requirements. A crack isolation membrane will not work over structural cracks.
If the tile doesn't have full thin-set adhesive contact under all of the corners and edges of the tile and overall at least 80% contact for interior residential dry applications, and 95% in all other cases, then the voids under the tile can lead to cracking in the tile. If there are voids under the tile and that portion of the tile is subjected to a live load force then that portion of the tile is susceptible to cracking.
If a tile has lost its bond to its substrate it too can be susceptible to cracking from walking over it.
Tile installations that don't have movement joints can lead to cracking in the tile. All tile installations are suppose to have movement joints, also known as expansion joints, installed at its perimeters and transitions, and throughout the field of tile every 20 to 24 feet interior and every 8 to 12 feet exterior or in interior areas subject to direct light or moisture. Lack of movement joints are normally a compounding factor among other deficiencies that cause failures.
You can remove the cracked tiles and properly prepare the substrate and apply a crack isolation membrane over it if there is a shrinkage crack or control joint. Make sure you use a polymer modified thin-set mortar to fully bond the tile to the membrane or slab. Make sure the perimeters of the tile installation have movement joints filled with an ASTM C920 sealant. Good luck.
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Hi,
Just had a half bathroom remodeled adding a small 50″ x 32″ ceramic tile shower. The House is in Southern California it’s almost 60 years old and had plastered walls removed to the studs. The contractor made sure studs were no more then 16″ on center and then installed 1/2″ Hardibacker screwing it every 6″ even in the centers. He used Customs LFT with 2″ mesh tape to cover joints and fill voids. A week later he used Laticretes Hydroband with 6″ white antifracture fabric from Laticrete, he taped joints, inside corners, outside corners, the 4 walls, the shower dam, bathroom floor, and the floated floor he did a week ago. He put two coats on.
The next week he installed the ceramic tile from Lowe’s( Boutique handcrafted tile 5″ x 14″ silver). He used a 3/8″ notched trowel again using the white Customs LFT. He used 1/16″ shims and he was using cut up banding from the tile box’s as schims too. The tile edges are not straight they have curves in them which gave joints from 1/6″ to as big as 3/16″. He installed all the wall tile on all four walls that weekend except for the shower floor, the shower dam, bathroom floor, the shower niche, the window, and the first course all the way around the walls.
He did not come back for another two weeks because of the Covid 19 warnings. I start looking at the nice job he had done and noticed small fractures on the tile wall. The fractures were small and randomly all over.
When he got back I asked him about it and he said it was defective tile. He finished installing all the tile and I told him not to grout it that there looks like a serious problem. He said fine and he would give me three weeks to resolve the defective tile situation. At this point he was only paid for materials and for half the labor. Two more weeks have gone with many more fracturing.
Some fractures are totally horizontal and then some are horizontal and then go vertically, it’s like the tile is being stretched. The fractures are not all in the same areas they are random, very strange. I contacted all manufacturers that were involved and they said it was installed correctly to there specification. I tried calling the tile company but the number they put on the box was for adds having nothing to do with tile what so ever. I find it hard to believe that Lowe’s would allow that to happen to there customers.
I am in deep appreciation if you could give me some of your knowledge of what the problem could be and what I can do about it.
I’d like to send you pictures too.
When there is a problem there are normally multiple compounding deficiencies. To investigate the situation you need more information. There are different types of ceramic tiles. There porcelain ceramic tiles among others and they can be a glazed ceramic tile (glass-like coating on a clay body) or an unglazed/throughbody ceramic tile (same material top to bottom).,
Some glaze tiles can have a crazing affect on the tile surface that gives kind of a spiderweb appearances of fine fractures. This should be noticeable when you select the tile or install it.
Typically sellers of tile will have a clause on their invoice that says “installation constitutes acceptance.” In other words you should not install the tile if it has any obvious flaws so they can easily with less cost resolve any issues with the tile.
If the condition occurred after the installation, which doesn’t sound like that could be the case in this situation, then you have to determine if it is an installer problem or a application problem or a product problem. Of course everyone starts pointing fingers at each other. Of if the tile defect just wasn’t noticeable prior to the installation then you might have a claim.
Best bet is to file a claim with Lowes. Let them deal with the tile manufacture to help determine the cause and solution to the problem.
Thanks for giving valuable feedback on tiles cracking. Above things will also helps to save your tiles.