Mexican Tile Grout Crack Repair

[Onomea]

This is a question about what grout or filler to use fill a crack in the floor.

In my Hawaii house, the living room opens out through sliding glass doors onto a lanai, or porch, which is perched on a slope. The living room floor and lanai are covered in Mexican — terra-cotta — tile. It is an older home, and since I have owned the place, since 2006, there has been a crack, running in a straight line down a grout path, parallel to the opening to the lanai, from one living room wall to the other. The crack is maybe three or four feet back from the sliding doors.

The crack is caused, I think, by the weight of the lanai, which is built up on stilts, or pilings, which hold it up level to the house floor as the hill slopes downwards beaneath it. I think the lanai was added to the house, or expanded, some time after the house was first built in the late forties.

(The real fix here is to rebuild the lanai and refloor the living room, but I do not want to do that at this point.)

I have had the lanai underpinnings reinforced or replaced a couple of times, and when I first bought the place 12 years ago I had the crack repaired, but it soon reappeared. Does not seem to be getting worse. But is not going away either.

The guy who helps me with maintenance around the place tells me that his pal, a tile guy, told him that if the crack is repaired it will simply reappear. (Which is also my experience to date.)

So, my question is, is there some sort of expanding grout, or flexible filling I could use in place of grout, that would flex with the movement of the crack? The crack is maybe, I dunno, a quarter inch wide, maybe.

What say you?

 

[carpriver]

When I had the basement bathroom remodeled, the shower was titled, the corners and the top and base lines were filled with a gray silicone grout. it is suppose to be feilxable.

 

[gunnails]

Plenty of products will fill the gap none of them will look better then the crack. Is this purely an aesthetic issue?

 

[Onomea]

Yep. Purely aesthetic. Got some new tenants who asked for it to be repaired.

 

[gunnails]

Then I would find some sanded grout that is the best color match and lay that into the crack to fill it, it will eventually crack again and then you can repeat the process. Cheap easy way to kick the can down the road.
Unless it's a safety issue, which apparently it isn't.

 

[chief38]

There is a Silicone based grout that I've used in my bathroom around the Jacuzzi. It is a two person unit and very deep. The weight of the unit, water and two people always cracks the conventional grout and so I used the Silicone stuff. So far so good!

If the Silicone based grout does not work, then you could try 100% Silicone however the color choices are limited to the basics. Also the Pure Silicone will not look as good so I'd only use that as a last resort. You could also try and add some fine sand to pure silicone to make it more of a grout type consistency.

They also make a very soft and flexible product (I think it's called Beutel) but I am not sure of that. It cures to a rubber consistency. I used it to fill a very large crevice (3/4") between my Granite Garage Floor and the Concrete. It has been there for 8 years and has weathered sweltering 100º+ heat in the Summer and 0º in the Winter and is no worse for the wear. Again, that is a great product but only available in basic colors like tan, white, black gray, and maybe a few others. So far no cracks or tears and it expands and contracts perfectly.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Since your crack runs in a straight line all the way across the room it is at either a seam in the subflooring or above a carrier beam. There is a flex in the house. It could be from high wind pushing or the ground heaving (seismic or volcanic, both are common in you state.

The only solutions I can see from Ohio are, 1) the unwanted floor replacement, 2) relocate, or 3) live with it. The floor replacement will require either an additional layer of subfloor, or the removal of the current subfloor and replacing it at a 45 degree bias to the current seam direction (and may still be a temporary fix) Your islands still move a little every year!

The most unwanted fix, is to carpet it.

Ivan

 

[billwill]

Granite garage floor...now that is the deal for parking the Bentley on!

Just kidding...I have a pesky crack in the sunroomd and I'm just to lazy to fix it. Good tips here

 

[arjay]

You could try the epoxy based grout,but I think it will crack too
If your guy isn't too expensive,maybe just redo the joint as needed?

 

[chief38]

Granite garage floor...now that is the deal for parking the Bentley on!

Just kidding...I have a pesky crack in the sunroomd and I'm just to lazy to fix it. Good tips here

When we updated the house 8 years ago I knew I'd be retiring soon and I always likes working on my own cars and Motorcycle but never had the time as I had 4 Businesses to run. I wanted a floor that would not crack, not peel, would not absorb oil, grease, mud, salt, etc. and if I spilled a qt. of oil or Gasoline on it I could just wipe it right up. I do not care for the plastic pop together tiles, rubber squares, or ceramic and the epoxy type floors with the little specs in it always seem to peel in the summer heat. So when I donated to the Fire Dept. I noticed their Firehouse floor and inquired about it. They told me the Company that did it and I called them. After a weeks worth of begging them to do my 3 car garage (they told me they do not do residential work) I finally convinced them to do it.

The entire process took a full week and they had to remove 1/2" of concrete as the new floor is that thick and they had to make it the same level. Anyway, it is made of Granite chips the size of fish tank gravel, a special adhesive and a top coat of clear sealant. All in all I think there are about a dozen separate layers. It is way over coded as they intend this in commercial applications (Fire Trucks, Police vehicles, etc.) and will last a lifetime. The best part is that it comes up the walls about 7 -8 inches and is one seamless product so after a snow storm or a muddy rain, I simply take the hose and wash out the garage.

I love this floor and to the best of my knowledge I'm the only one who has this in their garage (except maybe the owners of the Company of course).

No Bently though........ I've had my share of German, Swedish, British & Japanese vehicles and now and for the last 20 years I've been buying American ones and have had fantastic great luck with them. Not only have they given me great service, but they are easy to work on. Have you ever tried working on a BMW or Mercedes? Not easy - that is for sure!

After 8 years NO cracking, peeling, chipping etc and I have dropped heavy Impact Guns and ladders on it. Passes my testing

 

[kwselke]

Coat the entire floor.

 

[Onomea]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I think I will likely go with Gunnails kick the can down the road approach, and just have the crack cleaned out with a grinder and re grouted with regular grout in as close a match as I can get.

Maybe I should just consider it an ongoing maintenance issue, as he suggests, rather than looking for a perfect fix.

 

[chief38]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I think I will likely go with Gunnails kick the can down the road approach, and just have the crack cleaned out with a grinder and re grouted with regular grout in as close a match as I can get.

Maybe I should just consider it an ongoing maintenance issue, as he suggests, rather than looking for a perfect fix.

Onomea,

As I have discovered, there are parts of a house that always need constant maintenance. Everyone's home is a little different. I have a wall in my home that is opposite the door going down to the Basement and my Wife is always leaving it opened! Because of this, our Golden Retriever Cody skims the wall when he walks bye and his thick coat rubs against the painted wall. I can't just touch up that one spot as it never will match, and so once every year or so I need to repaint that particular wall. Painting actually takes about 15 minutes, HOWEVER it takes me 3 hours to remove the two Sconce Fixtures, tape everything off, lay down tarps, mix the paint, clean up wash the brushes and rollers, blah blah blah and so I hate doing it!

So your nemesis is the floor while mine is the wall. What can ya do.......

 

[moosedog]

Have you looked into the flexible grout like the Ardex FL? I've not used it but they have over 30 colors and say it's for use up to a half inch seam.

 

[erics]

What are the tiles installed on? Sounds like a wooden substrait i.e. plywood on wooden joists/sleepers since a straight line at 3-4 feet. Mapei which makes many tiling products and grouts does have a silicone grout in caulking tubes. May have to hit a wholesaler or internet. Limited colour choices though.

 

[Farmer17]

Gets some caulk that is close to the same color as the grout and fill the crack. Then go to home depot and they have Grout paint in the tile section and you can repaint the whole grout joint wall to wall. If it is not a great match you might have to paint all the grout joints in the room but it goes faster than you think and just wipe off the excess that gets on the tile with a damp cloth. The caulk will stretch even if the crack stretches so it should be a pretty permanent fix.