Replacing Cracked tile

[northernchappy]

I have two cracked border tiles?
They are between the wall and bathtub, 15cm long and 3cm wide, semi cylindrical. Both have a single crack near the middle.
When the tilers did the bathroom 10 years ago, they put plaster board up, then tiled directly onto the plasterboard, so not sure if the wall is more susceptible to water ingress.
Could i leave them, or is it best to replace them? The cracks are deep, not just in the glazing.
They are held in by silicone. Would they be easy to dig out?

Thanks for any advice

 

[terryplumb]

time consuming more than difficult and you need a special tool to rake out the grout all around the tiles you are removing. basically remove silicone with a sharp Stanley knife ,rake out all the surrounding grout right back to plasterboard.then remove the tiles ,if you use the " crack" as your starting point , with a cordless drill ,drill some away to open up the crack so you can get a chisel or similar in there to wiggle it out / bit of leverage.once you get a start it gets easier. do not lever against surrounding tiles as you will no doubt chip or other way damage them.

 

[northernchappy]

Oh right. Thanks for that

 

[vinn]

OP,
You would do well to post a pic of the tiles in question?

With respect, you dont need "a special tool to rake out the grout" - a utility knife will do.
Dont do any drilling - its not necessary, & you might make things far worse.
A thin spatula scraper will safely lever out any tile or remnant of tile.

The odds are that moisture has entered behind the tile and is degrading the plasterboard.
Carefully examine the whole installation for any movement or degraded grout.
Water test (shower spray) any enclosure framing.

 

[northernchappy]

OK, got these tiles up., The origional tilers put plain plasterboad underneath, with a plastic strip from the wall to the bathtub, but it didn't fit properly.
I got someone in to who cut the plastic strip off/back, and fitted these 15 x 3 cm border tiles. I have read somewhere that you can't get a good join with wet silicone to dry silicone, so, should I take all the tiles off and reset the lot, or could I just take the 2 out that are damaged?
normally I wouldn't be too bothered but the bare plasterboard, and the poorly fitted plastic strip gets me thinking. I have also thought about drilling out the cracks and filling with silicone.

 

[northernchappy]

forgot to add.. Any thoughts ? the cracks are fine so cant be letting much through? thanks in advance

 

[vinn]

OP,
I assume that the tiles you call "border tiles" have been fitted on the rim of the bath - pics from further back showing the full context would help better & show more than the fuzzy pics above.

Tiling on p/board and using plastic sealing strips indicates that the work was done by an amateur & water penetration can be almost guaranteed.

Why not remove a couple of border tiles and a couple of tiles from the bottom course and check the p/board behind for damp or decay?

Why you would want to start "drilling" I dont know?