In front of my fireplace I have a flush "hearth" made up of 2 rows, 5 each, of 12x12 tiles. I'm not sure whether they are ceramic or porcelain. Anyway, today I noticed that one of the tiles has cracked. It is in the back row, closest to the firebox and is partially covered by the vertical column of the mantle. As it's position makes it difficult, if not impossible for anyone to walk on, I'm assuming that the crack was caused by settlement.

Is it reasonable to ask the tile guy to replace it? We have been in the house since the end of June, although the tile was probably laid in April. If I do ask him to replace it, are there any special precautions I should expect him to take to avoid the same thing happening again? He's supposed to be coming Saturday to caulk around the tubs where the grout he origianlly used has crumbled and I'd like him to work on this at the same time, if it's a fair request.

Thanks for your help,
Totally Confused

Yes. It might be prudent, though, to find out HOW it cracked. I get the feeling this is over concrete?

It's not over concrete. The fireplace is in a first floor family room, so the subfloor is plywood. Unfortunately, I don't know whether or not he used any additional underlayment. Should he have? There were so many things going on at the time the tile was laid that I didn't notice the details of what he was doing. I trusted him to know what he was doing. Silly me.

Sorry I don't have more details, but thanks for trying to help.

Totally Confused