Updated december 20 2017.
Tile in bathroom cracking.
This guide outlines how to fix cracked tile or if necessary remove and replace broken tile on your floor.
Perhaps you dropped something heavy on the tile such as a cast iron skillet.
While tile is an extremely durable material cracking can occasionally occur.
Whether it s a newly tiled bathroom or an existing one having to put holes in tiled walls is a common task.
Cracked floor tiles aren t cause for immediate panic.
In many cases the crack is not the result of an inferior tile.
Whatever the cause you can remedy the cracks yourself without having to hire a professional.
Cracked tiles on floors and walls is a problem because it can be difficult to track down the source of the crack.
In far more instances the crack was caused by anomalies under or around the tile.
Good quality tiles when used will function well and last even longer than expected while low quality tiles will lead to many problems which include major cracking after some weeks or months.
To fix the crack you have a couple of options.
Although cracks sometimes indicate serious structural issues they re often a symptom of superficial damage.
Generally hairline cracks in the concrete will not present an issue to the tile floor above.
Or if your ceramic tile was installed over newly laid concrete the tile may crack as the concrete settles.
Almost anything that mounts to the wall from installing hardware for toilet paper rolls and soap dishes to a new medicine cabinet is going to require drilling through tile.
Cracked bathroom tiles can be caused by either an instability in the surface under the tile or in rare cases the low quality of the tile itself.
Low quality tiles the type and quality of tiles used for your bathroom wall are significant.
Ceramic tile can develop hairline cracks for a variety of reasons.
If your tile is cracking contact a reliable tile expert to help you determine the cause of the cracking and inform you of your options.
This is known as reflective cracking and it can be easily prevented by adding a crack isolation membrane during installation.
However cracks wider than 1 8 inch will eventually transfer to the tile it notes.
In damp areas such as the bathroom repairing cracked tile should be done sooner rather than later to reduce the risk of water damage.