Wall tiles cracking in a line

[Ben]

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but I'm hoping for some advice.

About 2 months ago we had our bathroom redone and all was fine until last night when a line of 4 tiles spontaneously cracked over a period of 20 minutes while my son was having a bath. The line runs from the shower controls down to the bath edge.

Our plumber did complain about the quality of tiles as he managed to crack a couple while installing the radiator but he wasn't very careful in other areas so I'm not sure how much to trust his opinion. Anyway it seems very odd for a line to crack like this with no impact or anything.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have caused this? A couple of pics below.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,
Ben

 

[WetSaw]

What's beneath the tiles? Any pictures of the preparation? Looks like it's cracked along a board joint.

 

[Qwerty]

My guess too

 

[Boggs]

I think it would be best to take one of the cracked tiles off and see what’s behind.

 

[Ben]

Thanks for your replies.

This is the only photo I can find which shows what is behind. The line of cracked tiles run directly down from the taps visible in the middle.

I've just noticed that the shower tap unit was not actually siliconed in so I guess some water may have got behind it... could this have had an impact?

Thanks.

 

[Qwerty]

Looks like it could be from movement across the channel where the water supply pipes run up to the mixer

 

[Blunt Tool]

Doesn’t look like the Wedi board joints have been taped and filled with their fibre tape. Always going to move no strength

 

[One Day]

Looks like it could be from movement across the channel where the water supply pipes run up to the mixer

Yup. I'll bet there's a lovely void with pipes in behind that crack...

 

[Stu Lilley]

As above and if your going to use a wall board use all the components required don’t leave out the tape

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys, really appreciate your input! I'm trying to get the guy who installed them to come back and sort it rather than attempt a DIY job.

 

[WetSaw]

After only 2 months he should come and fix it.

 

[Wayne Brown]

Look at the plumbing under the bath its says it all they have placed a shower pump under the bath which is wrong I would say corners have been cut here resulting in a failure only remedy is remove that section of tiling and investigate the cause also look at the shower pump manufacturers installation manual it will shower your instal is incorrect and will eventually end in pump failure. Kop

 

[Pauly tiler]

From your first picture it looks like the crack is very slightly to the left of the shower valve, also in your "in progress" picture, there does not appear to be a board joint there. I would think that the existing wall is plasterboard and that the pipes were installed where the crack now is and the fitter did nothing to mitigate the weakness that was made when chasing for the pipes. Based on what can now be seen.

 

[Ben]

Hi guys, just thought I'd post an update. We took off the tiles that were cracked and can't find any underlying problems (pic attached). The wedi board doesn't have a join there, there is no hole, all seems to be fine as far as I can see.
So obviously the tiler is still blaming the tiles, the tile company are "looking into it", the plumber thinks the weight of the bath when full of water might have pulled them down and snapped them because they are such poor quality. All a bit of a mess!
I guess all we can do is replace the tiles at our own cost and hope that it doesn't happen again.

 

[J Sid]

see this when the studs are either to far apart or just to weak and someone leans/ falls against the wall to support themselves getting in and out bath