Hairline cracks on floor tiles

Hello Everyone

I am a newbie to the forum, forgive me if this has been already answered.

I am a tenant planning to vaccate my apartment and was doing some cleaning.
While cleaning the balcony floor I have noticed there are two very thin hairline cracks in two tiles.

There is a drain in balcony and marks originate from the edges of the cutout made for the drain. The cutout is in the middle of two tiles.

I have not dropped anything or did anything to damaged it. There is a table placed in that area but it is really long never touches this drain cutout.

It happened on its own. It looks to be on surface level and tile is still intact, inplace and solid

Is this normal wear and tear or is the REA going to blame for this and deduct from bond ?.


Thanks!!!

 

Photo ?

 

Thanks wylie.. should I report this to REA or let them sort it out ?

 

Thanks again wylie.. I was under such agony over this. I will just go ahead lodge to get bond back !.

 

Thanks Y-man..just worried they would say I kept my table/chairs and caused these cracks by placing it there. Kitchen and balcony are one and the same. Most of the year it is too cold to cook or sit outside so hardly ever use it eventhough it is walled in by glass louvre windows.

I just have a bad feeling about the landlord/agency. When I moved in I was still getting mails of previous tenant and I did see a mail from VCAT. Didn't open the mail but that left a bad taste. And the property was left in good condition.

 

I tried everything from grout to caulk to even nail polish. The colour is really hard to match. Everything stands out so badly on that. But I do agree if it is less visible less likely to cause an issue. Will try to find a grout that is a bit more closely matching. A clean looking line is always better than one that has dirt in it.

 

Q : is the tile drummy when you lightly tap using your knuckles or a key / coin? Its possible that the tile broke from impact but if its drummy then its prone to easy damage as its not well bonded to the concrete and mastic bonding adhesive. Walking on it could have snapped it if its drummy. It looks like a snap break as they tend to be very thin. Dropped items etc tend to chip a tile that is bonded well.

Outdoor pot plant ?

 

Never dropped anything there .. other than just sit on the chairs couple of times may be 15 times in 18 months. It does feel a bit different from the other tiles since the drain is cut out from the joint of two tiles. Its so thin that there is no gap at all to even fill it up.

 

It would be very hard for a tenant to cause this as damage in my experience, something dropped would chip the tile. As others have said, this is likely to to either be related to minor structural movement or it was slightly drummy in the first place and any weight caused the crack, and then it wouldn't be your fault either. Along where the waste is cut in is the weakest point.