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BACKGROUND: 1942 brick home with crawlspace. Bathroom was added sometime between 1950-1970. The crack has been there for at least 20 years (likely more), and I'm guessing it was caused by insufficient support underneath. (I've seen other evidence of shoddy workmanship with this section of the home.)

I'll be selling the home in the next 2-3 years. I don't want to re-tile because there's a decent chance this bathroom will be demo'd to make room for another wing by the next owner. But I'd like to at least fill in the crack and/or try and make it look more presentable.

Should I just use a clear epoxy to fill it in, or are there other options? (And can I do the same for that grout gap on the right wall in the second pic?)

cracked tile floor approx 3 feet cracked tile floor approx 3 feet

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  • It should be filled with something, just to prevent water/dirt getting into it. Grout, epoxy or some caulk. Might be an idea to have someone(a builder) to check under that section, just to make sure the shoddy work is not also dangerous/too weak.
    – crip659
    Commented Mar 11, 2023 at 19:47
  • a crack like that has come from below, may or may not be easy to fix.
    – Jasen
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 3:59

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I'm sure you could still buy sets/tiles like that. Get enough matching or almost-matching sets to relay the entire cracked portion. A slightly wider joint will be far less noticeable than a big stripe of filler down the middle.

Trick. If your matching sets don't quite match, steal some from the least visible part of the floor to do the repair, put the new ones in where you just took the 'invisible' ones.
If you can't get a close match, make a feature of the contrasting ones. use them as the last line before a surface change etc.
Note for future. Never buy just enough sets/tiles.

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    I like that idea. It may be easier to find tiles that match the light blue rather than the darker mottled blue. So if you can find light blue tiles, you could steal some good mottled blue tiles and put in the 4-tile light blue tile pattern "dot", like add another "dot" in the pattern in the middle of the "4 dot" pattern.
    – Huesmann
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 14:17
  • The only problem with buying more tiles than you need is someone deciding to throw out "that useless junk" (or forgetting where they are stored.)
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 14:19
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    @Ecnerwal - I am about to clear a huge swathe of most cluttered area of my cellar over the next couple of months, because I have a couple of bathroom tiles to replace. I know they're in there… somewhere...
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 15:06
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That is not a cosmetic crack.

Unless you repair the reason for it, it will come again.

But if you want to experiment then just remove one cracked tiles.

Use a dremel tool with diamond blade and cut along the tile grouts about 1/4 inch deep.

Now chisel one broken tile out and inspect the subfloor to decide what to do next.

Assuming you have spare tile to replace the broken one.

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You can fill that crack with epoxy, but that won't make it much less evident.

With no intended insults, that floor and the pink base board tile are so outdated that any repair would be incidental anyway.

If you don't intend to replace the entire floor, just fill the crack. Any value depletion will be minimal if at all.

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    Outdated .vs. "classic, can't get new work like that anymore" are in the mind of the beholder.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Mar 11, 2023 at 20:34
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    My front path tiling is so out of date there are now specialist companies charging thousands to replicate it. –
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 11:34

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