You may be able to patch a hairline crack but a bigger break will need a replacement tile.
Tile in bathroom cracking.
Updated december 20 2017.
Cracked bathroom tiles can be caused by either an instability in the surface under the tile or in rare cases the low quality of the tile itself.
You can repair the crack with tile filler and then paint over the filler with a color that matches the rest of the tile.
If your tile is cracking contact a reliable tile expert to help you determine the cause of the cracking and inform you of your options.
Low quality tiles the type and quality of tiles used for your bathroom wall are significant.
Or if your ceramic tile was installed over newly laid concrete the tile may crack as the concrete settles.
Whatever the cause you can remedy the cracks yourself without having to hire a professional.
Good quality tiles when used will function well and last even longer than expected while low quality tiles will lead to many problems which include major cracking after some weeks or months.
However cracks wider than 1 8 inch will eventually transfer to the tile it notes.
In many cases the crack is not the result of an inferior tile.
Cracked tiles on floors and walls is a problem because it can be difficult to track down the source of the crack.
Although cracks sometimes indicate serious structural issues they re often a symptom of superficial damage.
While tile is an extremely durable material cracking can occasionally occur.
To fix the crack you have a couple of options.
To discover the cause of your tile s crack you ll need to carefully inspect the crack s size and pattern.
Generally hairline cracks in the concrete will not present an issue to the tile floor above.
This is known as reflective cracking and it can be easily prevented by adding a crack isolation membrane during installation.
In damp areas such as the bathroom repairing cracked tile should be done sooner rather than later to reduce the risk of water damage.
In far more instances the crack was caused by anomalies under or around the tile.
Ceramic tile can develop hairline cracks for a variety of reasons.
Whether it s a newly tiled bathroom or an existing one having to put holes in tiled walls is a common task.
Almost anything that mounts to the wall from installing hardware for toilet paper rolls and soap dishes to a new medicine cabinet is going to require drilling through tile.