Wall tiles cracking in a line - TilersForums.com

[WetSaw]

After only 2 months he should come and fix it.

 

[Wayne Brown]

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 tiling 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

 

[Pauly tiler]

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.

 

[Ben]

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.

 

[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

 

[Tile Shop]

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.

View attachment 107326

If the bath was pulling it down and if the tiles are of such poor quality, ask yourself, why haven't any more lines of cracks appeared? It's isolated to a single vertical position. But if that was the case, more tiles would have been affected. I guess the bath is not one tile's width?

Also why is the Wedi in such bad condition? we can see the foam, the mesh and adhesive appearing to have gone through and in between both. Did you have an issue before where tiles got pulled off and replaced or is that the state of the board after one round of fixing and removing?

And following on from @JulianSidney 's comment above, How thick are the Wedi panels, how far apart are the studs, and where are the nearest studs in conjunction to where the crack appeared?

 

[Ben]

Not sure about the stud positions but the cracks all happened while someone was sitting in the bath, so unless there had been a lot of pressure applied previously that I don't know about I'd be surprised if it's just a weak wall.

That's the state of the Wedi after a single round of removal, should it be tougher than that? It seemed like the guy who's doing it is being careful chipping away at the tiles to take them out without damaging others...

 

[Tile Shop]

Sorry, just gone back to your first image. This is a masonry wall? so no studs? But weirdly the crack is dead centre of the board as well as being in line with the outer cut for the shower valve. Back to the drawing board.

As for the Wedi, I have seen tiles taken off it before but not seen it that bad before. I highly doubt the board will be faulty.

 

[Ben]

Oh yeah, clearly my brain isn't working here! Yes it's not a stud wall, pipes had to be chased in in the first place. And as you say, the cracks were bang in the middle of the board. I'm now chasing the tile company, perhaps they really are stupidly weak. Has anyone had any experience with Walls and Floors? The shop is in Putney but mostly seems to be online.

 

[Tile Shop]

Experience? about 21 years and 2 months. I'm at the head office in Kettering. (ignore the Irish flag, I'm connected through a cloud). Although not currently aware of this issue. Let me speak to a few people including Putney and I will get your order details, tile code and dig a bit deeper.

It is very unlikely to be the tiles, not just saying that because I work for them, but tiles don't break for no reason and it will take a lot of force for a tile to crack in the way it has, whether they are ceramic or porcelain. Especially not in a perfectly straight line like that.

Leave it with me.