Shower Wall Tile Cracking

Fill the hole or crack as best you can.

Shower wall tile cracking.

What could be causing the cracking. Why does grout crack in the corners of showers backsplashes and against abutting surfaces. According to the tile council of north america anywhere a tile surface changes plane like an interior corner or meets an abutting surface against a wall or hardwood floor for example should be considered a movement joint. If your tile s crack seems to run along the tile s outer edge closely inspect the crack to determine if it s really on the tile or just through the grout.

Not properly fixed an improper fixing method is one of the main reasons why shower wall tiles crack. Sometimes water has gotten behind your shower causing the shower walls to swell causing cracks in the tiles. Occasionally a crack along the joint between grout and tile appears to be a crack in the tile s surface. In many cases the crack is not the result of an inferior tile.

In other cases a mastic type of adhesive was used instead of thinset and this can cause the tiles to not adhere the the shower walls and crack. There is a ceramic soap dish in the corner and even it is cracked. In far more instances the crack was caused by anomalies under or around the tile. Once the material has hardened trim the excess with a sharp object such as a razor blade.

In this case the substrate might be moving if the studs are spaced farther apart than 16 inches on center allowing that backerboard to flex. Broken or cracked shower tiles can allow water and mold to get in your shower walls so they should be replaced or repaired immediately. It doesn t appear that there has been any movement in the floor or the walls. Cracked bathroom tiles can be caused by either an instability in the surface under the tile or in rare cases the low quality of the tile itself.

Simply put because of movement. You can repair the crack with tile filler and then paint over the filler with a color that matches the rest of the tile. Use a putty knife to apply it to the crack in the tile. Hairline cracks in tile may result from remote obscure reasons such as improperly cured concrete or flexing underlayments and joists.

A tile expert michael byrne responds. You can replace the entire tile. Once you removed it make use of a fine grit sandpaper to brush against it and make it smoother. Small hairline cracks in ceramic tile showers do not typically allow water to get through.

Tiles generally crack for only two reasons. There are many reasons why shower tiles can crack and break. Your shower wall tiles might have cracked due to one of the following reasons outlined below.