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Discuss Crystalstone tiles from tilesporcelain, curl, a cautionary tale. in the UK Tiling Forum area at TilersForums.com.

S

Stevoe

Two years ago we had an extension built and part of that was the garage conversion. We raised the floor of the garage with 75mm of kingspan followed by visqueen then UFH pipes and finally 50-90mm of anhydrous screed. The resultant floor was tiled with 600x600mm Crystalstone quartz tiles from Tilesporcelain, I used their cement and grout, can't remember the name of it, laying a 10-12mm solid bed, sometimes putting adhesive on the floor and sometimes buttering the tile (buttering the tile is my prefered method).
All was well for about a year then we noticed that a portion of the floor near the door was uneven, it had started to raise and investigation with a straight edge showed that the tiles were curling at the corners, it eventually got so bad that the door couldn't be closed and the grout popped out. We removed 4 tiles and then refitted 3 and replaced one (broke) we used Bal slow set flexible waterproof adhesive, no further problems with those tiles. elsewhere in the room though the same thing started to happen, the tiles have now bowed up to such an extent that they peek about 15+mm where 4 come together, one tile has actually snapped. I am going to replace four tiles this time, there are 8 tiles that sound hollow during a tap test. Tilesporcelain have explained that the tiles are a composite material and are not recommended for UFH, their terms and conditions state that they would be fitted at the buyers risk, they also stated that I would have been advised of this at the time. I can catagorically state that I was not told of their unsuitability but they remain steadfast, nothing to do with them or their products. I have asked if they would consider a goodwill gesture of the refund of the five replacement tiles bought recently, where again I was not told that they were not suitable for any area with UFH, no answer yet.
My question other than the cautionary tale is, has anyone else had this problem? What did you do to rectify the situation? Does anybody know of any Black sparkly tiles that are stable (fit for purpose) and what would the forum suggest. I guess that at some point in the future it may happen again, in that case I will rip up the tiles and start again. I am reluctant to do this though as the kitchen units are stood on the tiles and a good tonne of granite is sat on the kitchen units. So Help, what to do ??
 
D

DHTiling

Hi Stevoe..

Those tiles are not suitable for use with in-screed heating or UFH.. the resins in the tiles cannot cope with the heat and hence they curl.. I have heard on here and other forums that Tiles porcelain deny it is a tile fault but if they are curling then it is a tile that is not suitable for heated floors... simple as that..

If you get no joy then contact the Tile Association to come and inspect and get a report done.. that will help you if a wrong product was supplied.. but you also must have said at the time of purchase that you were going to install them on a heated screed.
 
J

Jill Douglas

Hi - we have just laid Tilesporcelain crystalstone sparkly tiles in our bathroom. Already regretting it as they look somehow dull and dusty. They aren't dusty, just have a sort of bloom on them which doesn't come off with wiping or polish. When they were being laid I assumed it was just the dust in the atmosphere and it was only after the tiler had finished, the dust had settled and I came to give them their first clean with a dry cloth that I realised how bad they are. We hadn't ordered quite enough and we went and bought a few extras locally, which look perfectly black to me - no dullness to them. We have laid them on underfloor heating and I have just seen this thread..... haven't turned it on yet, and am contemplating ripping up the whole floor and laying ones which (a) are not dull - ie are not from tilesporcelain and (b) getting ones which are suitable for UFH. Two things. Anyone else had this problem of strangely unblack tiles? And does anyone know of this type of tile which IS suitable for UFH? Also, in response to the person who started this thread, I was not told that the tiles were not suitable for UFH - I didn't mention it when I ordered them as I assumed that all tiles were suitable for it. Very sick about the whole situation. The rest of our bathroom is tiled with TileHQ white polished porcelain tiles - got fantastic service from them, the tiles are beautiful and I'm really hoping that when we rip up the floor we don't damage the walls.... groan. Biggest lesson learned? Don't buy on the cheap! I got a sample and it looked fine but I should have looked closely at the actual tiles when they arrived - though it would have been too late by then anyway - not like you can return them really. They charged us a fortune for postage (£60) as opposed to TileHQ who charged us £20 for a massive number of tiles.
 

John Benton

TF
Arms
2,203
1,138
Leeds
There are different quality levels of these tiles, and as Dave says the resin in the tiles cannot cope with the heat and therefore bend/curl. I have just fitted some that were about £80 a metre and have had no problems with haze or dull patches, or laid on UFH.

Unfortunately you gets what you pays for!
 
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