This is Daltile and is small tile (for a floor). We haven’t done anything to chip it. Can they ever be faulty? It’s seriously so weird.

so you have the daltile product # handy?

anythings possible being those are chips id GUESS something mechanical mustve hit em perhaps when you werent looking :):) cleaning crew? someone was working in bathroom with tools? etc

Thanks. No cleaning crew. And just my husband and I shower in there and there is nothing heavy (except a plastic shampoo/conditioner bottle). Could they have been like that when installed and just showing up now? new build and moved in August of 2018. Just stumped to be honest. Like I said, we squeegee it out and then finish drying with a towel. We are so careful.

I can get the number

yes many tiles can be chipped when installing and missed, however id be inclined to think otherwise as usually a chipped ceramic body will grab grout when grouting i see no grout in your chips. w/exception to the circled one looks like it was grouted in hard to tell in photos

What‘s the name of the tile? Is it Severino by any chance? If so, it’s rated for dry floor use, not wet (shower) floor use.

so I know the plastic squeegee has fallen from the seat. Could that make a chip?

Here is the squeegee

Honestly, besides shampoo, conditioner and soap bottles and the squeegee nothing else is in there. Even my shaving cream is a plastic bottle. Could one of those honestly chip the tile?

I can’t imagine any of those things chipping the tile... unless the bottles were filled with concrete! Are you sure they’re chipped? Here’s a test that may help you determine whether or not they really are: get into a dry shower and, using a medicine dropper, place a drop of water on the chipped areas and see if the water soaks in or sits on the surface.

I suppose that the edges of the tiles could have been dinged during transportation/handling/installation, creating a weakness, and they're finally popping off now. Or it could be a manufacturing defect. Something with that batch, that firing. It's really a no-man's land of taking stabs in the dark.

Typical shower use, wetting and drying, and even the dropping of shower bottles, really should not cause ceramic glaze to chip.

You could send pics to DAL tile, I really don't know what they could say. They might offer help in one form or another, or they might offer you a cold shoulder. If they stonewall, and you really can't see it being anything other than a defect in the tile itself, you could push for a $30 check to cover the cost of bottle of grout colorant.

And speaking of grout colorant...as a cosmetic repair, perhaps get a bottle of grout colorant, along the lines of Aquamix Grout Colorant. Chose a shade of color in the middle range of the tile's coloring. Prep the chipped area, then "paint" the grout colorant on the tile to seal, color, and smooth the chipped area. Aquamix is an epoxy based grout colorant.

Good luck, and sorry for your troubles.

Anything hard that is dropped from a foot or more has the potential to chip/damage anything it falls on (except carpet...but that's not what we are looking at;-))

In physics, all it takes is a bit of a drop + the right angle + the right surface = a chip.

Ceramic tiles are not as tough as porcelain. They are not 'through body' products like many porcelain tiles can be....and ceramic is porous. Or 'more porous' than porcelain.

Your floor product is the glazed ceramic mosaic tile in a 2x4 presentation. That means you have the ceramic on the floor not a porcelain.

Water (streaming water or standing water) can cause ceramic tiles to puff - just a little. The glaze on the surface is bonded to the body of the tile. It is *possible a little bit of 'puff' has weakened the bond between the body and the glaze. That slight compromise could be just enough to allow a chip to form once something has been dropped on it.

The other thing I'm seeing is a rough or pitted surface of the tile (which is needed in a shower). This enhances grip. I'm wondering if the pitted surface means some of the glaze is THINNER in some of these areas. And the slight compromise + thin glaze + impact (metal especially) = a chip.

One of your "deep pits" (where the glaze was not fully applied to the tile) was grouted (the last picture), all the rest appear to have happened AFTER install. The round edges tells me this is more to do with texture/pitting then a dropped item. But I can't be certain. The first photo is highly suspicious for a deep pit (in the glaze) rather than a chip.

So, it says Glazed Porcelain online???

Here is a better picture of the spot in the first picture above (and yes, we have been marking them with painters tape as the gentleman who installed them in coming to look at it after the New Year)

Here is a better pic of the 2nd picture above:

Porcelain is ceramic.

Yes...but not all ceramic is porcelain. Porcelain has it's own definition and it's own absorption rating. Ceramic is not the same quality as porcelain.

The Exquisite line has porcelain AND glazed mosaic (the 2x4 tile is a the mosaic).

https://digitalassets.daltile.com/content/dam/Daltile/website/resources/products/sales-sheets/exquisite/DAL_Exquisite_SS.pdf

The other sizes are ranked as porcelain - Scroll down to Size & Physical Details:

https://www.daltile.com/product/Exquisite?finish=Matte&shape=Brick%20Joint&size=2%20X%204&color=Silverstone

If Daltile differentiates between porcelain and "glazed mosaic" then it is possible it is a different level of manufacturing which may not meet the standards for porcelain.

So what would you do if you were in our shoes?

Porcelain is a type of ceramic. Porcelain can be glazed or unglazed. I would venture to say that nowadays there is just as much, if not more, glazed porcelain than unglazed. For example, all of the marble look-alike porcelain is glazed. Just the top of the tile looks like marble. There are different grades of quality of porcelain tile just as there are different grades of quality of other ceramic tiles. To say that all porcelain tiles are of higher quality than all non-porcelain tiles is just not a true statement. However, porcelain tiles have different qualities (traits) than non-porcelain tiles.

From the daltile link above:

" Mosaics suitable for residential and commercial floors including residential and light
commercial shower floors."

I would do what MongoCT advised. Do you have any leftover tile that you can inspect to see if there are flaws in those?