|
Posted by Oren on April 17, 2008, 12:19 am
wrote:
>
>> About 4 months ago I had my bathroom remodeled and there is now
>> cracking along some of the grout joints. To be more specific, the
>> grout is not crumbling or anything, it's just separated from the tile
>> on one side.
>> I am getting some bids on the repair but since I don't want this to
>> happen twice, I'm looking
>> for some "independent" opinions. I'll try as best as possible to
>> describe the details. Please excuse my vernacular as I am not in
>> construction.
>>
>> Description of the area in question. This is a custom made 4x4 tiled
>> shower. All walls and floor were installed with cement board, the
>> floor is 4x4 stone tile, there is poured concrete below the floor.
>> The shower walls are 12x12 ceramic tile with some slate trim tile
>> throughout. The front side of the shower is made up of about 18" of
>> wall (floor to ceiling) on the left, then a 36" opening which
>> accomodates a 30" wide 1/2" glass door and finally a 6" in-line panel,
>> also 1/2" glass (marked below with "6"). The door is attached with 2
>> hinges (see "S" below) to the 18" section of wall. I attempted to
>> create an illustration below. The tiles the hinges are mounted to and
>> the tiles on the threshold are all slate and were installed with wall
>> glue. The door and in-line panel were installed professionally by the
>> glass door company.
>>
>>
>> Problem: the grout has separated from the tile (cracked) from floor to
>> ceiling along the corner where the slate tile (S) meets the ceramic
>> tile (C) on the inside part of the short wall. It has also cracked
>> along the horizontal grout line of the threshold.
>>
>>
>> It seems to me this cracking is due to the weight of the door, but how
>> does that explain the threshold cracking? I did some reading on the
>> internet and found some information on epoxy grout, some of it
>> favorable and some not. Some say it would flex and prevent this
>> cracking and others say to stay away from it under all circumstances
>> (commercial only). I am also wondering if the slate tile on the
>> threshold and where the door is mounted should have been attached with
>> mortar instead of wall glue. Any help is appreciated.
>>
>>
>> ________________________
>> | | | |
>> | | | |
>> | | | |
>> | | | |
>> | | | |
>> | | | |
>> | | | |
>> | |____C | |
>> |_______|S 6 |__
>>
>
>It is a little hard to figure out your description and diagram, but if the
>cracks are at corners or tub edges, the problem is likely the use of grout
where
>caulk should have been used. Where joints between surfaces occur, you need
>something flexible.
>
It's a top view of the shower. The slate (S) was glued and the door
hung on S side. The cracks are vertical, except one at the threshold.
That suggest to me the slate has settled/moved. The grout cracked.
I'm not a tile person, but I think the slate needs to be mortared onto
the backer board.
Is that clear as mud ? :-))
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap