Large settlement(?) cracks in shower floor, new house.
First Time
2 years ago
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Joseph Corlett, LLC
2 years agoFirst Time
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Limestone shower floor wet and cracked grout
Comments (8)Hi, Thanks for the reply. Had I known limestone was such a nightmare I never would have chosen it but the bathroom designer said it was fine as long as sealed properly. With regards to the installation/construction the only thing I can tell you us that it involved a wooden frame on a concrete (old concrete) floor, they used some sort of waterproof boards and a paint on blue rubberised/waterproofing membrane. The tiles are sealed with Lithofin. The pitch of the floor is good, ie all the water drains to the centre well. Husband thinks we should just let it dry out and then seal all the grout lines and the broken tile with silicone. The installers are confident that the waterproofing underneath is tight but surely can't be good to gave water sitting under the tiles all the time? Installers on holiday until 16th - have already emailed them with photos. I guess my questions are: 1) Is it actually doing any harm - ie could we carry on as is? 2) Would the drying out and siliconing work? Currently only the changes of plane and the axis radiating out from the drain are siliconed - the rest is normal grout (which has cracked). 3) Would it gave been better NOT to seal the tiles at all (so water could dry out through them)? 4) If the installers were to rip up the floor and replace how horrific would this be? Would all he wall tiles be wrecked too? Could the glass shower frame be removed without too much damage? I am pretty sure they said ripping up the floor would break the waterproofing. 5) Should we re-tile the floor with something other than limestone, eg marble or ceramic mosaic? I can't tell you how much I wish I had chosen another material. :-(...See MoreShower wall grout cracking, normal with house settling?
Comments (20)"One shower wall is an exterior wall, another has no cabinetry on the other side, and another has very minimal cabinetry." Well then, there you go. It's not due to work that was done on the other side of the wall. ie, no one tiled a wall then had other workers beat the heck out of the other side of the wall, causing the tile to crack. Could it be settling? Sure, But if it is, it's unusual. When a house settles, cracking usually first occurs in the changes of plane (corners) because those are the weakest points in a structure. If the grout between the field tiles within a wall is cracking due to the house settling, that's significant in terms of it being a significant structural issue. Also, you have marble tiles which are not very strong. If you had significant structural issues, your tiles could crack too. But again, looking at the grout itself: pinholes in the grout, raked out grout lines, inconsistent surface texture of the grout within the grout lines. And the cracks that look more like shrinkage cracks instead of structural cracks? Those are all signs of a poor installation by the person that installed the grout. "How can you tell the grout wasn't mixed well? " Because everything you described, and everything I see in the photo, is a symptom of that. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm telling you that's my opinion based upon the evidence you have provided. And that's assuming (rut row) that he properly installed and prepared the tile backer board. If he didn't properly detail the backer board then the seams in the backer board could telegraph through as cracks in the grout. But you provide no information on that. Just the photo. But based upon the information you have provided, in my opinion it's simply a grout installation issue, and it's the fault of the installer. But again, that's simply my opinion. Good luck with your remediation....See Morecrack in shower floor
Comments (3)"The floor has a soft spot (you can feel it give slightly when you step there) and I'm sure that's what has generated the crack." Correct. The shower pan needs a bed of mortar to support it properly. There are ways to fix the fiberglass, but none will hold without the mortar bed. When you install the new shower pan, make sure you put enough mortar down to fill the void. To determine how much is necessary, flip the pan upside-down and place a straight edge across the bottom. Now you can measure the void. Select the type of mortar appropriate for the application thickness. Thinset can be applied as thin as 1/16", Medium bed mortar (the type of thinset used for large tiles) is best for 1/8" up to an inch thickness. Mason mortar (for bricks) is best for thicker applications. Mix the mortar to be workable depending on how thick it needs to be. If you use thinset it should be mixed to a thick consistency. Runny thinset mortar will do no good. Once you set the pan in the mortar, shim it level, force it down in the mud, and leave it alone for at least a day until the mortar dries. You might want to get the speed set mortar so that overnight is plenty of cure time....See MoreSettlement Crack or other issue?
Comments (7)I've been keeping an eye on these things. The door which has a diagonal-ish crack forming from the top left corner is now sticking. It is sticking at the top left corner. It wasn't sticking several weeks ago. One thing I can thank of is that it has been really humid in my area (NJ) for the past few days. It sticks less in the mornings and sticks more during the afternoon. So I assume that there is some contraction/expansion due to humidity. Though last summer when we had a humid spell, this door did not stick nor did it have that crack forming. Would there be a explanation for this?...See MoreFirst Time
2 years agomillworkman
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoFori
2 years agoFirst Time
2 years agojmm1837
2 years agomainenell
2 years agocpartist
2 years agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
2 years agoJeff Meeks
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoNancy Tse
2 years agoMint tile Minneapolis
2 years agoTTT
2 years agoTASCH - GROUP
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
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