Crack in tiled floor

[bradbury]

Hello.
Our house was built in 1966 and the kitchen was extended in 1973, the new floor was laid with Platt quarry tiles. Until last month we had no problems. Then I noticed a 10ft long hairline crack along the line of the join between the old and new solid floors. Two surveyors have said that it's not subsidence, but a result of the house being built on clay, poor consolidation of the extension infill, and the recent drought.

To me this is a really serious problem and I don't know where to look for a solution: I can find tile restoration companies online but they seem to deal with Victorian and church tiles. Companies providing expansion joints seem to deal with commercial jobs. I would appreciate any professional advice.

 

[WetSaw]

Can you post a picture of the room and the crack. Is it the cosmetic appearance you're concerned about? Are any tiles loose?

 

[bradbury]

.

Thanks pdc. 2 images attached. There are no loose tiles, so it is the appearance I need to deal with. I now have some more information from the surveyor - he recommends a mesh reinforcement across the original joint line or installing a contraction joint along this line. Is this something any (good) tiler could do? We do have some spare tiles, maybe enough to replace the complete line.

 

[Perfect Tiling]

Its hard to give a definitive answer without actually seeing the floor in person but if you have an old and new solid floor with a join then it was always going to crack along it as its two seperate floors. Back then decoupling mats were probably not around as this might have stopped the crack occuring. A mesh over the crack could just cause the tiles to crack at the edge of this mesh and a contraction style joint would look awful going across your floor. If it was my house I would leave the tiles down since you say they are solid and put a click style vinyl tile over the top. You get many designs nowadays and if a bit gets damaged its simple to declick and replace.