Ceramic metro tiles cracking on wall

[Hannah]

Hi there,

I am at a loss about how to go about figuring out the reason over 50 tiles on the wall of my newly installed shower have cracked.

The tiler has been round and was non-committal about the reasons. Hopefully you guys can help.

The bathroom was finished 3 months ago and within weeks of it being finished. I noticed that an arc of tiles had cracked. Since then, further tiles have cracked. I will try and upload some photos.

The wall initially had a door in it that was boxed in, to include shelves, with moisture resistant board which was then plastered and tiled. Where the initial tiles cracked, the tiler had built up a dip in the wall with bal rapid set flexible adhesive, so initially, we thought this was the problem, but more cracks appeared. Could it be that the wall wasn't fully dried prior to tiling? Or the timbers used to build the frames weren't fully dry and have warped?

There is a staircase running on the wall behind the tiled wall, so maybe the vibrations are causing the problem?

Any information would be gratefully received!!

Thanks in advance,

Hannah

 

[White Room]

British Gypsum recommend to pva the moisture resistant boards before plastering, not the best recipe for a bathroom...what size timbers were used for the stud work....

 

[Doggit]

It sounds as though there's a pattern to the cracks, what's behind the pattern that's causing movement. I get the impression that the studwork isn't completely stable and secure, and it definitely shouldn't have been built requiring filling in. The studwork would normally be dry enough, so shouldn't have warped. Is ALL the cracking around the area where the wall was built up using the adhesive - definitely not a good idea, and could well be the cause of the problem. Who did the studwork.

 

[Dave]

Gloss glaze or Matt finish ?

 

[Hannah]

Thank you for the replies. I am trying to upload some pictures to hopefully help get to the bottom of the problem.

Whitebeam - the boards were pva'd and I think the timbers used were 2x4.

Doggit - I am about to try to upload some photos to show the work done and the pattern of cracking.

Dave - They are gloss.

Fingers crossed I can get some of these photos to upload!

 

[Hannah]

Hopefully, here is a link to the photos (as I can't seem to upload photos directly!)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hbxsp0iz65ljfkb/wall 1.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vqvxyvboimux38f/wall 2.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m16ma8nubnc6d0z/wall 3.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zy61bb76qm3tbpc/wall 4.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/orcak55dmjdirts/wall 5.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hlxjm7hxqim9s01/wall 6.jpg?dl=0