Renovation problems?

[Cracker Red]

Hello everyone...long time lurker but never felt the need to post. Now I do!

So we began renovating with a well known and reviewed company. It all started out great, and probably still is...but I've got some questions for you.

Pool is 25 years old, origional plaster and waterline tile. Tile has been removed, plaster was checked for hollow spots, acid washed, then finally bond coated. There were a handful of hollow spots that were chipped out, but not re-filled with anything.

First question - Are the hollow spots supposed to be filled BEFORE the bond coat? Or will the new diamondbrite surface fill those voids? (I'm assuming so, but want to make sure)

Second...and maybe I'm just being picky...but I have attached pictures of the tile job they did. New coping will be going over the edge/deck so it's not the thinset I'm concerned about...but the centering of the tile. Is this the way a professional would put down tile, or would you center it on each "run".

Third...the spill way was simply tiled with travertine floor tile. No edge was ground, and the sharp square edge was just left hanging out in the pool. I find this completely unacceptable. When I bought this to the attention of the owner of the company he acted as if I was being "picky" and didn't see too concerned about it. Told me I could have a piece of granite cut/polished instead but that it would be out of my pocket ?!? I've since looked around the net and found I can use excess travertine pavers to tile the spill way and avoid the additional cost of a slippery piece of granite (my kids will inevitably walk on the spillway).'


Am I just being a picky pete on the centering of the tile, or what?

What about the spillway? That corner is a NO-GO in my book, but maybe I'm crazy? I'm spending nearly 12K to redo this 17x33 pool (including the travertine coping but not the deck) so I feel like I ought to be happy with it.

 

[kimkats]

The sharp corner will be easy to fix........a grinder would take that the edge off without too much effort. It would need a steady, skilled hand to do it.

Blue tile with the white=SO pretty! BUT it does show they are not even. It would be more work but they could have taken a bit off of each tile to make 8 of equal size to fit without standing out so much. (This is talking about the top picture).

It is up to you what it means to you. Each person has their "battles" they pick to take up. Both of those are ones I would pick.

 

[bmoreswim]

I think they could have thought out the spacing a little better. You still need partials but it's not the best (but certainly not the worst) I've seen.

I might think about reorienting that one marker tile on the step to be in the same orientation as the other three. I know it's oriented to the edge of the step, but with just one like that (i.e. the row doesn't continue further or it isn't a gradual turn) it just catches my attention as a little odd.

I'd fool around with a grinder as Kim suggested to see if you can be happy with that piece, just rounded/eased off on the edges/corner. I did some of that sharp edge removal on my coping and table tops. It's not that hard and you have nothing lose. If you screw it up, look at the alternatives you are already considering.

 

[dw9000]

I would of started the tile from each side, meeting in the middle, so only one tile would be smaller that the rest - within each run.
I love the color and it looks like its nice and even, but each run has a small piece at the end and that doesn't look good to me.

But take that with a grain of salt because I don't have any tile in my pool, but I've installed a whole lot of floor and shower tile.