Advice Please : What Has Caused Fine Cracks In Bathroom Tiles?

[A274]

I'm a customer not a tiler but seeking advice please:

I had two bathrooms fitted in Jan/Feb and in late March noticed some tiles had cracks in - fine cracks in the glaze in webbed patterns (NOT directional cracks that you might see where movement has occurred in wall behind tiles). See attached image. In some places the cracks are even worse and seems as though the whole tile has cracked not only the glaze.

I called the builder back and he is blaming the tiles. However I don't think this is the case as the problem only occurs on some of the walls and not others (all walls were tiled from the same batch of tiles).
The difference between the surfaces that have cracked and the ones that haven't is the thickness of the adhesive used. Where it has been thinly applied - (<6mm which is the max depth you should use according to the instructions on the adhesive packet - 'Topps Rapid Set flexible') the tiles are fine, but where it has been used at greater depths (in some places as much as 24mm has been applied) there are cracked tiles. About 13 m2 of tiles are affected.

I would greatly appreciate any advice on what the cause is and how to fix the problem.

Additional details:
Tiles are Topps diamond white matrix tiles which I know are 'cheap' but I used them in a previous bathroom and inside the shower with no problems at all (installed by a different builder/tiler).
Tiles have been applied to a variety of surfaces: wedi board, waterproof ply, waterproof plasterboard, existing plastered walls, but the walls were not made level / square at this point in the process, instead the builder relied on thick application of tile adhesive to correct.
The cracks have only occurred where the tiles were applied over wedi board or plywood, not to any of the existing plastered walls or 'boxed in' structures built from waterproof plasterboard.

 

[One Day]

Customers rarely appreciate being told they've bought crap tiles. I blame Topps!

 

[Ian3]

Why do customers buy cheap tiles yet expect great job when paying a tiler

 

[hmtiling]

Hey! Don't class all Chinese tiles as cheap and nasty either. The worst tiles I've fixed in the past few years have all been 'British' ceramics. Some of the very best have been Chinese.

(and the Turkish aren't all bad either)

Agreed, worst i've used this year are British Ceramic

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Why do customers buy cheap tiles yet expect great job when paying a tiler

Because if it was easy they'd do it themselves! As a professional if you don't think the quality of the materials are to British Standards then you shouldn't do it. They'll get someone else but that's life's choice.

 

[Ronski]

Why do customers buy cheap tiles yet expect great job when paying a tiler

Because most people want to save money, and like anything whether it's tiles or anything else for that matter they don't realise the implications, and of course what's to say an expensive tile is any good anyway - the supplier or some part of the supply chain could be ripping people off with a sub standard product. Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's good, and likewise if it's cheap it doesn't mean it's crap either.

To the OP, when I came on here for help when I decided to do my own tiling, I got a rather frosty response from some, and help from others. This is totally understandable, the more DIY'ers that do their own work the less there is for professionals, also why should a professional give away their experience for free, but if that's the way they feel they shouldn't reply. That said when I was willing to pay a professional to do my tiling in the kitchen because the wife wanted them done diagonally I could not find anyone willing to do it - I ended up paying someone who was not a tiler, but he still done a great job. I'm also a professional in my trade, and I don't mind helping people when they ask.

In regards to your problem as soon as I read the first post I guessed that the adhesive had shrunk slightly, this has caused the tile to bend slightly and cracked the glaze. If the tiler knew this may happen then they should have at least warned you, if they didn't know then I guess they where not that experienced. We all learn (and forget) as time goes by.

When I done my en-suite, we had one area of a brick wall that was very uneven, to get around it we purchased some cheap granite tiles, stuck these to the wall, then roughed them up with a grinder and tiled over them, it worked a treat.

 

[WetSaw]

When I done my en-suite, we had one area of a brick wall that was very uneven, to get around it we purchased some cheap granite tiles, stuck these to the wall, then roughed them up with a grinder and tiled over them, it worked a treat.

Would have been cheaper and easier to use plasterboard or backer board, just saying...

 

[Andy Allen]

Because most people want to save money, and like anything whether it's tiles or anything else for that matter they don't realise the implications, and of course what's to say an expensive tile is any good anyway - the supplier or some part of the supply chain could be ripping people off with a sub standard product. Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's good, and likewise if it's cheap it doesn't mean it's crap either.

To the OP, when I came on here for help when I decided to do my own tiling, I got a rather frosty response from some, and help from others. This is totally understandable, the more DIY'ers that do their own work the less there is for professionals, also why should a professional give away their experience for free, but if that's the way they feel they shouldn't reply. That said when I was willing to pay a professional to do my tiling in the kitchen because the wife wanted them done diagonally I could not find anyone willing to do it - I ended up paying someone who was not a tiler, but he still done a great job. I'm also a professional in my trade, and I don't mind helping people when they ask.

In regards to your problem as soon as I read the first post I guessed that the adhesive had shrunk slightly, this has caused the tile to bend slightly and cracked the glaze. If the tiler knew this may happen then they should have at least warned you, if they didn't know then I guess they where not that experienced. We all learn (and forget) as time goes by.

When I done my en-suite, we had one area of a brick wall that was very uneven, to get around it we purchased some cheap granite tiles, stuck these to the wall, then roughed them up with a grinder and tiled over them, it worked a treat.

I think you should stick to your own trade rather than giving out ridiculous advice like that !!!

 

[Ronski]

I think you should stick to your own trade rather than giving out ridiculous advice like that !!!

And there we have that frosty pointless reply! Andy needs to realise this is a public forum.

I didn't give any advice, I posted my thoughts, which are my opinions and what I did on a small area of wall, I may have even have used some left over tiles I already had.

Also it would be helpful to others if you said what part of my post you found so ridiculous!

 

[hmtiling]

I'm

And there we have that frosty pointless reply! Andy needs to realise this is a public forum.

I didn't give any advice, I posted my thoughts, which are my opinions and what I did on a small area of wall, I may have even have used some left over tiles I already had.

Also it would be helpful to others if you said what part of my post you found so ridiculous!

I'm guessing its using the granite to pack sort a wall out bit

 

[Andy Allen]

And there we have that frosty pointless reply! Andy needs to realise this is a public forum.

I didn't give any advice, I posted my thoughts, which are my opinions and what I did on a small area of wall, I may have even have used some left over tiles I already had.

Also it would be helpful to others if you said what part of my post you found so ridiculous!

It's not a frosty or pointless reply as you have pointed out this is a public forum and I just want the public to know your idea to flatten out a wall by tiling it with granite tiles then roughing them up a bit with a grinder and Tiling over that is ....ridiculous!!
Why not just reboard or replaster the wall ?
BTW what is your trade ?

 

[Ronski]

I'm a workshop manager for a commercial workshop, my job involves the day to running, repair of vehicles, welding, design, fabrication, electrics etc. I've renovated three houses, built a large extension (builder done the shell and that was a nightmate) which I designed, built my own cinema room amongst many things. Next job at home is to knock out the rear wall and install bifolds which I will being doing with my brother, and no he's not a builder.

The area was small, about 900mm wide, and about 450 in height, the result was stronger than plasterboard, replastering would have taken longer, could of used Aqua Panel, but the granite tiles were thicker. Jobs done and had no problems at all.

 

[Andy Allen]

I recently repaired a dent in my van using poly filler and painted it with some emulsion I had lying around....worked a treat. !! ..

 

[hmtiling]

I repaired a puncture on my wife's bike!

 

[Ronski]

@Andy Allen at least you're living up to your forum title