This is the same tile that existed when we moved in 10 years ago. Over the years, our kids have splashed water out while playing in bathtub and some toilet accidents… it has caused some areas to start showing hairline cracks revealing the big tile is really just a bunch of small ones placed together. Is there any easy fix to cover this somehow, or will my only real option to redo the entire floor? Thanks!
Thanks for the comments, and the answers are lining up with my thoughts. You are all correct, there have been countless lazy attempts in the house where they cut corners, so it would not be surprising if they did that here as well. Guess redoing this at some point is the #1 option.
I’m no contractor, but I’ve done some floors before and I’ve never seen this lol
Is there a chance that this tile was just laid over hexagonal tile, instead of through the normal process of pulling up the old tile first?
Perhaps you can pull up a transition piece where this tile ends (a threshold or wooden transition maybe). That might show you/confirm the other layer that’s maybe below it.
For what it’s worth, it looks more like someone tiled on top of tile for some reason? Like under the big square is the hexagonal, and the big tiles are cracking along the low spots of the tiles below.
That seems like the most plausible reason.
Tiling over old tiles isn’t that uncommon, and here I suspect they used very little glue (or poor quality glue) so as to not increase the thickness of the floor too much (to avoid issues with thresholds etc.). Thin and/or low quality tiles could be another explanation, as to why they crack lack this…
Either way, I can’t think of a way to fix this without ripping up the old tiles and laying new ones.
Someone laid new tiles on top of the old ones. It’s actually quite impressive how neatly it has cracked along the shape of the underlaying tiles. There’s no quick fix for this though. You need to do what the previous person should’ve done which is to tear it all out and start from scratch.
Oof, catastrophic failure. I’m guessing you’re going to find very thin material without adequate backing and a honeycomb support pattern underneath, not some kind of mosaic or whatever you’re imagining. Every one of these tiles is failing and those cracks are exposing their structural shape. The mortar bed below is probably too chintzy and the tiles were not properly bedded to infill the cavity voids. I’m no tile guy. Just a designer who grew up in the trades as a cabinetmaker. I can definitely see that my theory could be wrong but I’m reading this as telegraphing through the tiles. Also, tiles are not constructed in the way you’re describing. One other option could be they did an incompetent grouting job on actual hexagonal tiles laid up on a common substrate. Those are pre laid up squares with grout gaps between the hexagons. If they filled the grout flush with the top, this could be the grout exposing that failed install. Might be possible to re-grout but I seriously doubt a tile sub would go for it. They’d probably rip this out and do it correctly. No sub wants the liability of shoddy work coming back on them. It might have been remuddling on behalf of unqualified previous owners, which is more likely than a pro doing this. Anyhow, cracks telegraphing through are indicative of unstable substrate/backer. Should never happen.
That’s rough. Those tiles are broken because they were installed improperly. The proper fix is to redo.
However, that’s expensive and or time consuming. A rug or bath mats would cover it in a pinch. I recommend not doing a tile surface refinish (sold as kits like Rust-Oleum) because the cracks will just show through again shortly, and you’ll lose any non-slip properties those floor tiles have.
Potentially cleaning with diluted white vinegar will make it less visible, but it won’t fix the underlying issues.
These tiles are not broken. They are good for probably another 10 or 20 years.
I guess you can’t make these small cracks really invisible anymore. Maybe some bleaching with peroxide would do a little good - but I really don’t know if it’s a good idea or not. For the regular gaps between the tiles, you could add some new white mortar.
