Tiles around bath, pulled apart, cracked grout

[uzziel49]

Morning all,

First post....

My bathroom is fully tiled. I've noticed that the grout is cracked between the row of tiles that the bath silicon sealer is attached to and the row above. Obviously this only happens when someone is in the bath/shower, at rest it's all fine.

Now, I've scraped the grout out of that row, then half-filled the bath with water, then grouted the gap again and left it to dry for around 12 hours. I've then emptied the bath. Days later, the grout is still gaping when someone is in the bath or shower.

Is there some specific grout I should be using, something more flexible? I guess the implication also is that the tiles are not firmly fixed to the wall if the bath is pulling them down, but I really don't want to take the bath out just to refix a dozen or so tiles. But I'm concerned that water will enter the gap when the shower is in use, which will then cause damage to the floor and ceiling below.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Burnerman]

Good morning!
As you correctly realise, your tiling problem is caused by movement of the bath. Presumably it is an acrylic or fibreglass one.
You need to see if you can minimise movement first, by taking the bath panel off and seeing if the bath supporting feet are secure and not floating.....on the wall side of the bath there is usually a bracket or two fixed to the wall before the tiles are fixed.
I guess the first row of tiles are loose - if its the second row of grout thats also cracking. This also needs to be attended to.
Don't use grout to seal between the bath and the tiles - it simply isn't flexible and will fail in the most ideal situations. Use a silicone sealer specially recommended for this job.
I hope this gives you some idea!
John

 

[uzziel49]

Thanks John, can you recommend any such product? I guess that, if it's a silicone based product, it'll be applied using a bleb gun?

 

[1john]

it sounds like your tiles are only held there by the silicone on the bath edge, in which case I think you need to cut away the old silicone from the tiles, re fix the tiles, re grout them and then re seal the bath. what products to use are very much dependant on your tile sizes, wall condition and construction method, material of tile and that, so ask here first before getting anything, or you may end up in a pickle like i did.

 

[uzziel49]

Thanks John, actually I resealed the bath earlier this year and none of the tiles came loose after I'd stripped the old sealant away, so I'm really not sure how they're held on! If they had come away I would have taken them out and reset them but decided to leave alone at the time (probably the wrong decision, I know). The tiles have been moving for some time, at least a couple of years according to my wife but then she has a lot more baths so sits down at that level, I have showers so don't see it. Also, the bath is installed such that three side are enclosed by walls, I've only got the one bath panel to remove and that's the one directly opposite where the moving tiles are, so I really don't know how I can get a sight of what's on that wall underneath the line of the tiles (to see if there's any bracket's etc fixing the bath).

Tiles are bog standard ceramics, nothing special. They were put in 12 years ago when we moved in to the house, previous owner was a builder and he was just finishing off the en-suite room so we got him to do the tiling for us before we moved in.

 

[uzziel49]

Regarding the wall, I think it's breeze block, plastered over, in good condition as far as I can tell.

And yes, the bath is fibre glass.

 

[Richard C]

If the tiles are moving rather than the bath moving away from the tiles, they will have to come off & the problem rectified ASAP or it’s going to get pretty smelly behind there. Never use grout around the bath/tile junction, it’s not flexible (to that extent) & you need a bead of good quality sanitary silicone in there but if the bath is moving excessively, a silicone bead wont seal it either & you have to investigate & rectify why the bath is moving around. Bath brackets will help but won’t cure it if there is insufficient support/rigidity in the floor. The only other alternative would be to try one of those dreadful plastic bead things around the bath but IMO they look hideous.

 

[uzziel49]

Ok, I'll try to get a close look at it over the weekend. Thanks for your help everyone.