repairing a cracked screed

[garythetiler]

while working in germany 15 years ago the german tilers i worked with had a good method of repairng cracked screeds they would follow the crack with a 4inch angle grinder and cut out the fault line , then across this they would cut stitch cuts every 6-8 inchs ,they then took steel screws and placed them into the cuts across the original fault line ,this was then filled with epoxy resin and left to cure. the floors were then tiled, i have used this method many times and found it to be very useful cracks were not transfered into the tile installation. have any other of you tilers used this method to repair cracks in subfloors ?

[GazTech]

The epoxy resin I think is the key...good post......Gaz

[whitebeam]

Yes, Used in quite a few wharehouse floors which had cracked cut thru the crack and just filled with resin. On walls cut grooves at right angles to the cracks use stainless thread bars and resined in. Like the idea on the floors though

[brian c]

Good post Gary.

[Dave]

while working in germany 15 years ago the german tilers i worked with had a good method of repairng cracked screeds they would follow the crack with a 4inch angle grinder and cut out the fault line , then across this they would cut stitch cuts every 6-8 inchs ,they then took steel screws and placed them into the cuts across the original fault line ,this was then filled with epoxy resin and left to cure. the floors were then tiled, i have used this method many times and found it to be very useful cracks were not transfered into the tile installation. have any other of you tilers used this method to repair cracks in subfloors ?

I haven't personally used that method gary....sounds good though....

Probably another reason why the germans brought out crack isolation membranes......too much hard work..

[bearwithme]

nice tip for the future. thanks

[pjtiler]

clever buggers them krauts

[devonmark]

Have done similar on walls when the brickwork has cracked, the bars used are torsion rods...

[pjtiler]

whats german for bodge up

[Pawelzik]

To Gary: Thankx for the post. It is still a common method to fill cracks with epoxy and steel stripes - we call them "needles". Here is a picture of epoxy ametrial and crack bridging needles from a competitor, you can see that the needles are formed to waves what is important for epoxy contact and force transfering. By the way: If you would like to know if your german tiler is still there I will try to find out, just pm.

http://i9.ebayimg.com/05/i/07/33/a6/b0_1_b.JPG

To Gaz: Don´t know if BAL has this but very good to sell and common on the market is the complete set, epoxy + enough needles.

To Pjtiler: Thank you in the name of all Krauts.

To Devonmark: Yes, can be done too but is seldom. Mostly workers open the crack a bit, plaster it and include a mesh/net to the plaster as a) the epoxy is expensive b) often drops/flows out of the crack.

To Pjtiler: There is no german translation for "bodge up". If you explain "bodge up" to me I will describe in another way.

Thanks to all of you, 3 days left until holidays in Spain, Martin

[MICK the Tiler]

Nice one Gary Top Tip that one

[kenco]

Gary

Any advice if the screed contains underfloor heating pipes, with tops of pipes 60mm below screed surface.

This will be a good one to remember if my screed cracks when it gets laid in the next few weeks.

[bobbytiler]

while working in germany 15 years ago the german tilers i worked with had a good method of repairng cracked screeds they would follow the crack with a 4inch angle grinder and cut out the fault line , then across this they would cut stitch cuts every 6-8 inchs ,they then took steel screws and placed them into the cuts across the original fault line ,this was then filled with epoxy resin and left to cure. the floors were then tiled, i have used this method many times and found it to be very useful cracks were not transfered into the tile installation. have any other of you tilers used this method to repair cracks in subfloors ?

Just use ditra matting saves all that work,Master-Tiler.co.uk

[kilty55]

brilliantr post gary thanks,

[Ajax123]

Standard resin stitch. Done it hundreds of times . Not used screws though tend to use steel rowel bar.

Usually you only need the bars to stop any vertical movement so ften just resin doe the job. I woul still uncouple rigid coverings though.