Why is there a big crack in my shower tile?
So, your shower tile is cracked.
What could be the culprit?
Here's an educated guess as to why your shower tile is cracked, based on my experience:
Behind your shower tile is some sort of backer board. It could be a foam product, it could be mud, it could be cement board. You put the tile on it with thin set, the material that makes tile stick.
Where two sheets of backer board come together, it's advisable to have a building product called SEAM TAPE in order to make a monolithic substrate for setting tile. You’re making two sheets of backer board into one.
Seam tape embedded in thin set makes the joint MUCH MUCH STRONGER.
In fact, backer board manufacturers want you to use seam tape when joining two backer boards. (page 5)
I see MANY tile installers skip this small detail, weakening a shower installation, sometimes causing tile to CRACK.
Believe it or not, this one small detail skipped, causes cracked tile.
Unfortunately, it's not something that can be remedied after the fact, so it is CRUCIAL that you install SEAM TAPE at all joints.
Tile installer error = premature shower failure.
I hope this helps!
MANY THANKS to all, Ben (And Jason) 💪 #wayabovestandard #movingforward #tiler
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PS: Thanks to Elmer Bernstein for the use of the inspiring, aspirational music used in the video!
PPS: I saw the typo at the beginning of the video, I missed it and now it lives. As a warning. Revise, edit, revise! 😌😌
