About 4 months ago I had my bathroom remodeled and there is now cracking along some of the grout joints. To be more specific, the grout is not crumbling or anything, it's just separated from the tile on one side. I am getting some bids on the repair but since I don't want this to happen twice, I'm looking for some "independent" opinions. I'll try as best as possible to describe the details. Please excuse my vernacular as I am not in construction.
Description of the area in question. This is a custom made 4x4 tiled shower. All walls and floor were installed with cement board, the floor is 4x4 stone tile, there is poured concrete below the floor. The shower walls are 12x12 ceramic tile with some slate trim tile throughout. The front side of the shower is made up of about 18" of wall (floor to ceiling) on the left, then a 36" opening which accomodates a 30" wide 1/2" glass door and finally a 6" in-line panel, also 1/2" glass (marked below with "6"). The door is attached with 2 hinges (see "S" below) to the 18" section of wall. I attempted to create an illustration below. The tiles the hinges are mounted to and the tiles on the threshold are all slate and were installed with wall glue. The door and in-line panel were installed professionally by the glass door company.
Problem: the grout has separated from the tile (cracked) from floor to ceiling along the corner where the slate tile (S) meets the ceramic tile (C) on the inside part of the short wall. It has also cracked along the horizontal grout line of the threshold.
It seems to me this cracking is due to the weight of the door, but how does that explain the threshold cracking? I did some reading on the internet and found some information on epoxy grout, some of it favorable and some not. Some say it would flex and prevent this cracking and others say to stay away from it under all circumstances (commercial only). I am also wondering if the slate tile on the threshold and where the door is mounted should have been attached with mortar instead of wall glue. Any help is appreciated.
________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |____C | | |_______|S 6 |__|