About 4 months ago I had my bathroom remodeled and there is now
cracking along some of the grout joints. To be more specific, the
grout is not crumbling or anything, it's just separated from the tile
on one side.
I am getting some bids on the repair but since I don't want this to
happen twice, I'm looking
for some "independent" opinions. I'll try as best as possible to
describe the details. Please excuse my vernacular as I am not in
construction.

Description of the area in question. This is a custom made 4x4 tiled
shower. All walls and floor were installed with cement board, the
floor is 4x4 stone tile, there is poured concrete below the floor.
The shower walls are 12x12 ceramic tile with some slate trim tile
throughout. The front side of the shower is made up of about 18" of
wall (floor to ceiling) on the left, then a 36" opening which
accomodates a 30" wide 1/2" glass door and finally a 6" in-line panel,
also 1/2" glass (marked below with "6"). The door is attached with 2
hinges (see "S" below) to the 18" section of wall. I attempted to
create an illustration below. The tiles the hinges are mounted to and
the tiles on the threshold are all slate and were installed with wall
glue. The door and in-line panel were installed professionally by the
glass door company.


Problem: the grout has separated from the tile (cracked) from floor to
ceiling along the corner where the slate tile (S) meets the ceramic
tile (C) on the inside part of the short wall. It has also cracked
along the horizontal grout line of the threshold.


It seems to me this cracking is due to the weight of the door, but how
does that explain the threshold cracking? I did some reading on the
internet and found some information on epoxy grout, some of it
favorable and some not. Some say it would flex and prevent this
cracking and others say to stay away from it under all circumstances
(commercial only). I am also wondering if the slate tile on the
threshold and where the door is mounted should have been attached with
mortar instead of wall glue. Any help is appreciated.


________________________
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |____C | |
|_______|S 6 |__|

"swit3" wrote in message
...
About 4 months ago I had my bathroom remodeled and there is now
cracking along some of the grout joints. To be more specific, the
grout is not crumbling or anything, it's just separated from the tile
on one side.
I am getting some bids on the repair but since I don't want this to
happen twice, I'm looking
for some "independent" opinions. I'll try as best as possible to
describe the details. Please excuse my vernacular as I am not in
construction.

Description of the area in question. This is a custom made 4x4 tiled
shower. All walls and floor were installed with cement board, the
floor is 4x4 stone tile, there is poured concrete below the floor.
The shower walls are 12x12 ceramic tile with some slate trim tile
throughout. The front side of the shower is made up of about 18" of
wall (floor to ceiling) on the left, then a 36" opening which
accomodates a 30" wide 1/2" glass door and finally a 6" in-line panel,
also 1/2" glass (marked below with "6"). The door is attached with 2
hinges (see "S" below) to the 18" section of wall. I attempted to
create an illustration below. The tiles the hinges are mounted to and
the tiles on the threshold are all slate and were installed with wall
glue. The door and in-line panel were installed professionally by the
glass door company.


Problem: the grout has separated from the tile (cracked) from floor to
ceiling along the corner where the slate tile (S) meets the ceramic
tile (C) on the inside part of the short wall. It has also cracked
along the horizontal grout line of the threshold.


It seems to me this cracking is due to the weight of the door, but how
does that explain the threshold cracking? I did some reading on the
internet and found some information on epoxy grout, some of it
favorable and some not. Some say it would flex and prevent this
cracking and others say to stay away from it under all circumstances
(commercial only). I am also wondering if the slate tile on the
threshold and where the door is mounted should have been attached with
mortar instead of wall glue. Any help is appreciated.


________________________
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |____C | |
|_______|S 6 |__


It is a little hard to figure out your description and diagram, but if the
cracks are at corners or tub edges, the problem is likely the use of grout where
caulk should have been used. Where joints between surfaces occur, you need
something flexible.

swit3 wrote in news:e6dca391-0688-46ff-97c8-
:

About 4 months ago I had my bathroom remodeled and there is now
cracking along some of the grout joints. To be more specific, the
grout is not crumbling or anything, it's just separated from the tile
on one side.
I am getting some bids on the repair but since I don't want this to
happen twice, I'm looking
for some "independent" opinions. I'll try as best as possible to
describe the details. Please excuse my vernacular as I am not in
construction.

Description of the area in question. This is a custom made 4x4 tiled
shower. All walls and floor were installed with cement board, the
floor is 4x4 stone tile, there is poured concrete below the floor.
The shower walls are 12x12 ceramic tile with some slate trim tile
throughout. The front side of the shower is made up of about 18" of
wall (floor to ceiling) on the left, then a 36" opening which
accomodates a 30" wide 1/2" glass door and finally a 6" in-line panel,
also 1/2" glass (marked below with "6"). The door is attached with 2
hinges (see "S" below) to the 18" section of wall. I attempted to
create an illustration below. The tiles the hinges are mounted to and
the tiles on the threshold are all slate and were installed with wall
glue. The door and in-line panel were installed professionally by the
glass door company.


Problem: the grout has separated from the tile (cracked) from floor to
ceiling along the corner where the slate tile (S) meets the ceramic
tile (C) on the inside part of the short wall. It has also cracked
along the horizontal grout line of the threshold.


It seems to me this cracking is due to the weight of the door, but how
does that explain the threshold cracking? I did some reading on the
internet and found some information on epoxy grout, some of it
favorable and some not. Some say it would flex and prevent this
cracking and others say to stay away from it under all circumstances
(commercial only). I am also wondering if the slate tile on the
threshold and where the door is mounted should have been attached with
mortar instead of wall glue. Any help is appreciated.


________________________
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |____C | |
|_______|S 6 |__|






"I had my bathroom remodeled" which leads me to believe a job fully hired
out. What did they say when you gave them a callback on it?

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:55:45 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:


"swit3" wrote in message
...
About 4 months ago I had my bathroom remodeled and there is now
cracking along some of the grout joints. To be more specific, the
grout is not crumbling or anything, it's just separated from the tile
on one side.
I am getting some bids on the repair but since I don't want this to
happen twice, I'm looking
for some "independent" opinions. I'll try as best as possible to
describe the details. Please excuse my vernacular as I am not in
construction.

Description of the area in question. This is a custom made 4x4 tiled
shower. All walls and floor were installed with cement board, the
floor is 4x4 stone tile, there is poured concrete below the floor.
The shower walls are 12x12 ceramic tile with some slate trim tile
throughout. The front side of the shower is made up of about 18" of
wall (floor to ceiling) on the left, then a 36" opening which
accomodates a 30" wide 1/2" glass door and finally a 6" in-line panel,
also 1/2" glass (marked below with "6"). The door is attached with 2
hinges (see "S" below) to the 18" section of wall. I attempted to
create an illustration below. The tiles the hinges are mounted to and
the tiles on the threshold are all slate and were installed with wall
glue. The door and in-line panel were installed professionally by the
glass door company.


Problem: the grout has separated from the tile (cracked) from floor to
ceiling along the corner where the slate tile (S) meets the ceramic
tile (C) on the inside part of the short wall. It has also cracked
along the horizontal grout line of the threshold.


It seems to me this cracking is due to the weight of the door, but how
does that explain the threshold cracking? I did some reading on the
internet and found some information on epoxy grout, some of it
favorable and some not. Some say it would flex and prevent this
cracking and others say to stay away from it under all circumstances
(commercial only). I am also wondering if the slate tile on the
threshold and where the door is mounted should have been attached with
mortar instead of wall glue. Any help is appreciated.


________________________
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |____C | |
|_______|S 6 |__


It is a little hard to figure out your description and diagram, but if the
cracks are at corners or tub edges, the problem is likely the use of grout where
caulk should have been used. Where joints between surfaces occur, you need
something flexible.


It's a top view of the shower. The slate (S) was glued and the door
hung on S side. The cracks are vertical, except one at the threshold.
That suggest to me the slate has settled/moved. The grout cracked.

I'm not a tile person, but I think the slate needs to be mortared onto
the backer board.

Is that clear as mud ? :-))

Thank you to all who replied. To answer the one question, I hired a
local handyman (there's a connection to the family), so for various
reasons I'm moving on. Probably would have been better to hire a
professional contractor, I know.

I thought it would easier if I posted a detailed photo, worth a
thousand words. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of the
cracked grout since I already started removing the tile (long story).

http://www.cmsflm.com/

Thank you to all who replied. To answer the one question, I hired a
local handyman (there's a connection to the family), so for various
reasons I'm moving on. Probably would have been better to hire a
professional contractor, I know.