Tiles above cooker are bulging outwards

[pooksahib]

Hi. My sister has a problem which I've taken a pic of. The tiles are from 1993 and the cooker from 2005. She reckons the heat from the back of the cooker is making the wall bulge. Is that possible?? Perhaps someone here has seen something like this before and knows the cause. And (if it's a big problem) the cure. Many thanks.

 

[bobasd]

could be the heat from, is it a hob or a cooker? very close to ceramicplates.
the tiles have been fixed tight with no grout spacin - maybe the tiles have nibs? but still v. tight.
panels of tile need expansion room an maybe yours butt up at either end and uptop?

you could remove two/three tiles wide from the centre loose ones goin up to whatever and replace wth cut down contrast tiles eg instead of 100mm x 100mm use 95mm x 95mm or strips of mosaic. use powdered adhesive not mastic.

 

[pooksahib]

Hi bobasd and thanks for that. It's a cooker with a ceramic top. As far as I know, they're just plain tiles - I'm not sure what a nibbed tile would look like, I googled it but only got links to roof tiles(!)

I've also googled 'tile expansion' and was surprised to learn that it's a thing although it seems floors are most affected. Thanks for the suggested cure although I bet my sister would want the same tiles. If so, is there a way to re-use the existong ones, say by grinding them smaller?

 

[bobasd]

use a wet saw to shave off a few mm's. or scribe a lineand nibble off up to the scribe line with a pair of pincers or pliers. then fun the cut edge smooth with a stone or even the bacc doorstep

 

[foxhole]

Heat may have caused tiles to blow due to poor adhesion, or steam has got behind destroying the adhesive. You will have to remove all affected to be sure.

 

[opps]

I thought ceramic hobs should be 5cm away from the wall.

see page 4