Repair/replace cracked floor tiles in shower

[Ozziespur]

Hi Guys,

Looked through the posts & couldn't see a solution to my problem. We have a crack running though a couple of tiles on our shower floor. I'm hoping to repair rather than replace the tiles as I don't want to mess with the integrity of the waterproof membrane. The crack is basically through the middle of (& restricted to) 2 tiles and my first thought was to caulk with a bathroom aqua seal type product.

I don't have any photos unfortunately but I am open to any suggestions. If you need further info let me know !

Cheers, Scott

[Master Splinter]

If it's a hairline crack, there's not really much you can do aside from take them up and replace. You might be able to come up with a reasonable solution using tile paint or epoxy....but the cost and amount of effort for a repair that is likely to only ever hit appearance levels of 'meh' is considerable.

[Ozziespur]

We've got a few more cracked tiles throughout the bathroom. The problem is we had a family handyman friend do the tiling for us for a slightly discounted hourly rate. I have approached him & said that this many tiles cracking is not a coincidence & suggested they were not laid properly (likely not on a completely flat base). He said he can replace the broken tiles but at his hourly rate as it's not his fault (not for free as I suggested). So my options are get him back & pay him, try & find a qualified tiler to do this small job or have a crack (no pun intended) at it myself.
Any thoughts ?

[Master Splinter]

Tiling is not terribly difficult, however if you have a number of them cracking you may have an issue with the floor. Is it concrete slab or yellow tounge or floorboards??

[Ozziespur]

Concrete slab. The cracks outside of the shower are on the edges of each tile. For example a couple of tiles are the edge tiles entering our bedroom & the other is at the edge of the drain in the centre of the bathroom. The crack in the shower is over 2 tiles and began in the centre of one tile & continued over to a second tile.

[Master Splinter]

They may not be well supported underneath then....but chipping them up is the only way to really find out if there is too little adhesive or if it's something to do with the tile.

[Ozziespur]

I'd have to do some research before taking any action but I believe that I remove the grout, score the tile then break it in the centre ? How do I remove any adhesive/mortar underneath the tile if required, by that I mean what tool would be used ? Thanks for your help !

[Master Splinter]

Yep, remove the grout (prevents the tile from exerting pressure sideways and cracking an adjacent tile...confirmed by personal experience!) and give it a whack with a chisel to start breaking it up. The cement may come up easily with a chisel, if not something like the Ozito multi-tool can be used with the tungsten carbide bit.

[Handyjack]

Depending on the adhesive you may be able to remove it with a scraper, or if it is more cement like with a hammer and cold chisel.

[chalkyt]

See my reply to Lauriest today. I found out about heating tiles to remove them, by accident when I was trying to recover a few from Villaboard walls that we had removed in a recent bathroom reno. It really does work (but you will need to make sure that you don't overheat the membrane to the point of destruction. It seems to work with all sorts of tile adhesives... white stuff, grey stuff, etc.

[Ozziespur]

Having a bit of an ongoing dispute with our friend the "handyman" in that he refuses to believe that he has any fault in our dodgy tiling. He supposedly guarantees his work but he reckons the tiles are at fault and not him. We have 4 cracked tiles and one that has more or less caved in. We bought legitimate bathroom tiles from a reputable store and see no reason why they should be faulty.

Any ideas ? Can we call someone at the store to come around for a look (they're 5 minutes away) or email them some pics and ask their advice ? I'd imagine they'd just blame the workmanship.

Bit of a pickle we're in.

[Ozziespur]

Nevermind, he's agreed to fix the broken tiles free of charge ...:2tsup: