Common Causes of Tile Cracking
Tiles crack from heavy impacts like dropped items, point loads concentrating weight on small areas, substrate movement beneath tiles, hollow tiles flexing under load until they break, thermal shock from extreme temperature changes, incorrect tile type for application, or structural settlement. Once cracked, tiles cannot be repaired - they must be replaced. Cracks also spread over time as stress continues, and water penetrates cracks causing further damage beneath tiles.
Why Replace Cracked Tiles Promptly
Cracked tiles should be replaced quickly because sharp edges create injury hazards especially for children and elderly, water penetrates cracks damaging substrate and causing adjacent tiles to fail, cracks spread under continued use making damage worse, the appearance significantly devalues your property, and in wet areas, cracks allow serious water damage and mould growth. Cracked tiles also indicate potential problems with installation or substrate that may affect other tiles.
Our Tile Replacement Process
We carefully remove only the damaged tile without harming surrounding tiles using specialist tools, clean out all old adhesive and grout, inspect substrate for damage and repair if necessary, match replacement tiles from your spare tiles or source closest match possible, install new tile using proper adhesive and technique, ensure perfect level alignment with surrounding tiles, grout to match existing grout color, seal if required, and clean thoroughly. Most single tile replacements take 2-3 hours. For multiple tiles or if matching is difficult, we provide options including feature patterns or replacing entire sections.
Preventing Tile Cracks
Prevent cracks by using appropriate tile types for location and expected loads, ensuring proper substrate and installation, using furniture pads to distribute weight, avoiding dropping heavy items, addressing hollow tiles before they crack, and choosing porcelain over ceramic in high-traffic areas for better strength. Our Gordon's Bay tiling team guarantee our tile replacements and can advise on tile selection for durability.