Help!: Grout cracking on floor edges not in between tiles

[nk_khil]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum so sorry if asking very basic question.

I recently renovated my bathroom and tiled the wall and floor with 12mm thick porcelain tiles. The floor tiles were laid on a wooden floor which was covered with marine ply and used flexible adhesive to fix the tiles.

The problem I now have is that after a few weeks of use the grout seems to be cracking around the edge of the room (where the wall and floor meet) but not in-between tiles. What would cause this and how should I sort it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many Thanks

[diamondtiling]

Hi nk and to the forum.

Is it just grout around the edges? If so you should have left grout out of the perimeter joint, a gap of 3mm is about right. You then silicone this gap to create an expansion joint, grout will always crack in situations like yours, try and remove the grout and apply the silicone.

[Bolter]

Hi nk and to the forum.

Is it just grout around the edges? If so you should have left grout out of the perimeter joint, a gap of 3mm is about right. You then silicone this gap to create an expansion joint, grout will always crack in situations like yours, try and remove the grout and apply the silicone.

Use the same colour silicone as the grout if you can

[curlycan]

I agree with the others no grout around edges of a room always silicon. Some customers think this is to cover up bad cuts but when you show them what happens then they quickly change their minds. So remove grout and silicon.

[Stan001]

is it necessary to remove the grout as its there already curly? i agree in the ideal world that gap would only be filled with silicon and be an expansion gap, but as the grout is already there would it hurt to just put a fillet of silicon over the top to hide the cracks that will appear in the grout? (i honestly dont know)

[jay]

best to remove grout to allow for expansion and contraction use silicone as mentioned above

[Colour Republic]

is it necessary to remove the grout as its there already curly? i agree in the ideal world that gap would only be filled with silicon and be an expansion gap, but as the grout is already there would it hurt to just put a fillet of silicon over the top to hide the cracks that will appear in the grout? (i honestly dont know)

Always better to remove rather than cover, even more so on a floor where it is going to get some abuse from cleaning which may cause the silicone to come away

[Stan001]

i know you guys are right

[Colour Republic]

Covering over isn't the worse bodge in world and i'm not saying that I haven't done it before but you just know it won't last nearly half as long

[nk_khil]

Thanks loads guys for all the replies.... I had a feeling that it could have something to do with leaving room for expansion.

It was really starting to worry me because i had followed all the rules of using marine ply and was certain that there wasn't any excessive movement of the floor. This was my first attempt at tiling and thought I had done a really good job so glad it wasn't something more serious.

I've got some ivory silicone that should do the job.

Quick question guys... I have a walk in shower with mosaic tiles on the floor, these haven't cracked yet, would you recommend that I silicone these too?

Many thanks once again

[diamondtiling]

Thanks loads guys for all the replies.... I had a feeling that it could have something to do with leaving room for expansion.

It was really starting to worry me because i had followed all the rules of using marine ply and was certain that there wasn't any excessive movement of the floor. This was my first attempt at tiling and thought I had done a really good job so glad it wasn't something more serious.

I've got some ivory silicone that should do the job.

Quick question guys... I have a walk in shower with mosaic tiles on the floor, these haven't cracked yet, would you recommend that I silicone these too?

Many thanks once again

ASAP! all wet areas have to be sealed