Grout cracked after 6 months

[thejra]

Had new bathroom by a builder who has subsequently gone bust and after 6 months the floor has had it!

The floor is floorboard on which he put plywood down on (and underfloor heating) with floor tiles on top. There's a LOT of flex in areas of the floor and so the grout has started popping out (probably 10-15% of the total grout has popped out, already). Clearly he didn't lay thick enough ply.

I've had a quote to re-lay the whole floor and it's a huge sum of money that I just don't have, so hoping to first attempt to re-grout with a maximum-flex-tolerant grout. Hoping for some advice on which product to use, please? Have found Mapei KERACOLOR FLEX or ULTRACOLOR PLUS as options, but also had KERAPOXY CQ suggested.

What does everyone think?

Thanks!

 

[Dan]

That won't work and is a waste of money as it will need to come up. Your one saving grace is it has been done on plywood so once you've got the tiles up, thrown the ufh away (don't even risk installing it again once it has been used in one position it won't like being in a different one), and get to the ply, it will probably only have a few screws in so should rip up without making too much damage to the floorboards.

Then lay something else like think plywood and linoleum or something cheap.

There's bob hope of getting the guy to do it. And bob hope that floor can be saved I'm afraid.

The plywood sounds like it has come apart and then got more moisture in and expanded.

The problem is still there even if you grout monthly. By Christmas that will start to trip you up in places as the tiles have debonded.

The price to fully replace including ripping out should be at least double the original price if not more than even that. As you need proper preparation like tile backer boards, probably tanking. The UFH means an extra cost for that but then an extra layer or two at least.

Sorry to be the bearer of the bad news mate.

Perhaps put the job on the forum and get a price but tilers get busy near Christmas as people want their properties done by new year etc.

So perhaps the cheapest time a tiler might be around Feb to factor in a bit of a slack spot when people are skint.

But never ever employ a "builder" to do anything. Builder isn't even a trade. So you know they're not really any trade at all when they describe themselves as one. A bricklayer electrician carpenter bathroom fitter roofer etc they're all trades a house building company uses. They're property developers themselves they don't even use the term.

You're probably talking 150 per square meter of products and labour there as its on wood and is a bathroom. Both individually cost more. Then ufh costs more and is even more skilled to install.

It's not a kitchen splashback.

Thanks for posting. Hope we can help you out when you come to terms with it.

 

[Dave]

Tiling to plywood has been outlawed and quite right as well. I’ve seen builders tell customers they have gone under but infact they haven’t. So check companies house if they were Vat registered. Otherwise it’s biting the bullet and re-doing.

 

[Dan]

Never thought of that yeah, check companies house for his limited company if he had one.

Google companies house.

Also Google his name. Leave some reviews under it on Google and things and people like that keep appearing again and again.

 

[Kastar UK]

Had new bathroom by a builder who has subsequently gone bust and after 6 months the floor has had it!

The floor is floorboard on which he put plywood down on (and underfloor heating) with floor tiles on top. There's a LOT of flex in areas of the floor and so the grout has started popping out (probably 10-15% of the total grout has popped out, already). Clearly he didn't lay thick enough ply.

I've had a quote to re-lay the whole floor and it's a huge sum of money that I just don't have, so hoping to first attempt to re-grout with a maximum-flex-tolerant grout. Hoping for some advice on which product to use, please? Have found Mapei KERACOLOR FLEX or ULTRACOLOR PLUS as options, but also had KERAPOXY CQ suggested.

What does everyone think?

Thanks!

The best is epoxy in tubes , it glues the edges together , but i could never recommend relying on just grout to hold things in place
Think the loose ones need to come up tbh