cracks in new travertine floor: advice needed!

[DHTiling]

Info is stated here>>> http://www.mapei.it/public/COM/products/78_kerabond t_gb.pdf


click back in previous page.. Wrong adhesive also used.. not suitable.

 

[hillhead]

Not acceptable this 'dot and dabbing' method of fixing now a days.
Oceans of space beneath your tiles, even the grout would not fill that.
Tap your tiles to see how many hollow areas you find, take your pillow too probably.
The builder should not have done this, sorry to hear all this yet again.

 

[KateME13]

Hi--

As some of you can tell, I've only just worked out how to thank you all for your replies...) Any suggestions you may have about moving forward on this (bearing in mind the kitchen has been installed...) gratefully received...

 

[Gazzer]

Sorry only one way Its gotta come up and start again.

 

[One Day]

Hi--

But can you explain why the cracks follow such long lines if the d&d'ing is to blame for the problem?

Thanks again for the supportive and constructive posts on this.

K

I expect it to be because the dot and dab method combined with the wrong adhesive, all makes for a weak bond.
Any movement along the lines will easily transfer through to the travertine.
Travertine, depending on quality and thickness, doesn't really have a great "pull" (shear?) strength, unlike stone such as granite, so it will happily (or sadly) crack along the movement lines.
The fixing method was very wrong - contrary to BS.
The adhesive choice was wrong.
The grouting method was wrong. "flooded to take up voids" sounds like excuses to me! There should be ZERO voids beneath your stone in any case.
You would easily win your case with this.
Bad job, start to finish and 100% unsalvageable I'm sorry to say.

 

[White Room]

Do you have any pics of the full kitchen concerned

 

[DavieA]

I cant beleive what ive been reading with regards to this floor from start to finish, Ive only been tiling 4 years and not done alot of natural work and am always learning from this site but id also say its a must for UFH and a natural tile to use a decoupler membrane and also correct adhesive and fixing mehod is a good start to. I regularly use keraflex only becase of its thick bed properties as in it can go upto 15mm thick and long pot life meaning im under no pressure.

Dont know if anyone would agree but maybe plying the floor over chipboard for additional strength (provent bounce) may have helped and then applying the membrane ontop of that (for lateral movement)therefore doing away with the cementboard as it provides no strengh properties and is only ther to gce a good tiling surface but you already will have an excellent surface to fix to with the decoupler and by fixing using a full bed method and ensuring 100% coverage, possibly even backbuttering tiles.

 

[One Day]

id also say its a must for UFH and a natural tile to use a decoupler membrane

I believe it's recommended now by the British Stone Federation to be used in all instances, but the jury is still out on it being a necessity.
Certainly, if budget allows - it can't do any harm!

 

[jwatson]

sorry to read about your problem with the instalation. i have read every post in this very interesting read and every tiling profesional on here will give you the same advice; that it is a rip up and start again. before going back into battle, read back through this post and arm yourself with all the correct info.

To get the result that you want, a pro is needed for this job. stone is specialist work. someone on here will live close too you and would be happy to help. check credentials.

hope you get this sorted


"dot and dab" is a bread and butter NO NO to any TILER.
A de-coupling membrane will give so much piece of mind.
Use correct adhesive.

Next time get a tiler to do the tiling. there is a part of the forum that you can post jobs and pros of here are always happy for the work in these testing times

 

[Rich]

I will never understand why these builders are always so confused that their master pieces have fallen to pieces, did he say "Iv done this loads of times and never had a problem"?

Unfortunately the guys are right above, this is a rip out and start again job but this is ALL down to your builder, he should be paying for this not you. The installation was wrong from start to finish

• The cement boards MUST be bedded down into a solid bed of adhesive before being screwed down, this fills any voids under the boards, I would expect any floor that has been put down onto cement boards without glue to fail.
• The Wrong adhesive was used therefore it will not hold regardless of anything else. I would expect any floor that was laid with an unsuitable adhesive to fail.
• The tiles were laid on blobs of adhesive, this is wrong wrong wrong. This leaves yet more voids under the tiles and every adhesive has a max depth, I would expect any floor that has been laid dot &dab to fail.
• I have not come across a grout that would be suitable for this. All grout and adhesive has a max depth/joint width. Grout is not designed to take the weight of a tiled floor, you need a solid bed of adhesive not grout. I would expect any floor laid in this way to fail.

It is so upsetting when we get threads like this (and we get soooo many). It seems to me that this is all down to the builder and he should be taking the kitchen out, ripping up the tiles, floor and cement boards. Then he should be paying for a tiler to redo the work correctly. This is down to you but I wouldn't want him doing it all over again, he clearly has not idea what he is doing.