My bathroom tile job went from perfect to cracked in one weekend

I was laying subway tile in my guest bathroom last month, and everything looked great until Monday morning. I came back after letting the thin-set dry for two days and found three tiles with hairline cracks right down the middle. My guess is the wall wasn't perfectly flat, and the pressure from leveling clips caused it. Has anyone else had tiles crack from leveling systems, and what did you do to fix it?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael66924d ago

That exact thing happened on my kitchen backsplash with the QEP leveling clips. The pressure from the wedge can absolutely crack a tile if there's any flex in the wall or a void in the mortar. I had to pull the three cracked tiles, which was a real pain. I fixed it by making sure the wall was perfectly flat with a long level and using a thicker notch trowel to get full mortar coverage. I also switched to a different leveling system that uses a strap you pull instead of a pushing wedge.

the_tyler24d ago

Oh man, that brings back a memory. My buddy had the same issue with those wedge clips on his bathroom floor. He was using a large format porcelain tile and heard this awful popping sound overnight. Two tiles had hairline cracks right under the clip spots. His problem was a tiny dip in the subfloor. The clip put all the stress on one spot instead of the mortar bed taking the load. He ended up doing exactly what you did, grinding the high spots and filling the lows before a second try.

murray.jana24d ago

Yeah, the strap pull systems are way better for that exact reason. That wedge is just a ton of force in one tiny spot, and if your surface isn't perfect, something has to give. I learned the hard way too, you really have to check for flatness with a long straight edge before you even think about mortar. What system did you switch to?