Advice on how to bed tiles correctly

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8ightiesfan

8ightiesfan

Well-known member
May 26, 2020
69
Canberra, Australia
I'm undertaking a task of replacing some cracked and loose terracotta tiles around our pool. The issue has been caused by the surrounding paving sinking over many years. The pool is around 30 years old so I am not overly concerned this is a serious issue, just age related, and I just want to repair this area to make it safe, no sharp edges, and to protect from water ingress under the pavers.

Yes I know this is a band-aid fix, yes it won't look great, but we don't have the budget to replace the paving to the whole area so this will hopefully get a few years or more until we can afford it and I have some spare matching tiles.

My question is around bedding in the new tiles, now that I have lifted the old tiles and prepared the area you can see a gap in the concrete between the coping and the surrounding tiles. I believe this would be two different pours, and there may need to be some movement here? There is silicone installed between the coping tiles and the rest. Should I bed the tiles over the crack all the way to the coping tiles or should I only bed them up to the crack, and not glue them further? This could create its own problem having a hollow area under part of the tile. Am I overthinking this?
 

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8ightiesfan said:
I'm undertaking a task of replacing some cracked and loose terracotta tiles around our pool. The issue has been caused by the surrounding paving sinking over many years. The pool is around 30 years old so I am not overly concerned this is a serious issue, just age related, and I just want to repair this area to make it safe, no sharp edges, and to protect from water ingress under the pavers.

Yes I know this is a band-aid fix, yes it won't look great, but we don't have the budget to replace the paving to the whole area so this will hopefully get a few years or more until we can afford it and I have some spare matching tiles.

My question is around bedding in the new tiles, now that I have lifted the old tiles and prepared the area you can see a gap in the concrete between the coping and the surrounding tiles. I believe this would be two different pours, and there may need to be some movement here? There is silicone installed between the coping tiles and the rest. Should I bed the tiles over the crack all the way to the coping tiles or should I only bed them up to the crack, and not glue them further? This could create its own problem having a hollow area under part of the tile. Am I overthinking this?
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The tiles likely cracked because there’s no expansion joint between the coping and the rest of the deck. The coping and the deck need to move independently. Or I should say they -will- move independently and you need to allow them to do that. Ideally there’s a flexible mastic in the joint with ~1/2” gap all the way around the coping.
 
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Bperry said:
The tiles likely cracked because there’s no expansion joint between the coping and the rest of the deck. The coping and the deck need to move independently. Or I should say they -will- move independently and you need to allow them to do that. Ideally there’s a flexible mastic in the joint with ~1/2” gap all the way around the coping.
Click to expand...
Thanks, so this confirms I should only bed the tiles to the deck, not to the coping? There will be a gap beneath the tile where the coping is if I do this. Is there a suitable product I can use to fill this gap and allow movement?
 
8ightiesfan said:
Thanks, so this confirms I should only bed the tiles to the deck, not to the coping? There will be a gap beneath the tile where the coping is if I do this. Is there a suitable product I can use to fill this gap and allow movement?
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The “coping tiles” are bonded to the pool shell. Everything else needs to be 1/2” away from it. You can fill the joint with something from sikaflex. But make sure you cut the tiles to leave a gap. The rest of the deck doesn’t look like it has enough of a gap? That’s likely why those tiles popped off.
 
Bperry said:
The “coping tiles” are bonded to the pool shell. Everything else needs to be 1/2” away from it. You can fill the joint with something from sikaflex. But make sure you cut the tiles to leave a gap. The rest of the deck doesn’t look like it has enough of a gap? That’s likely why those tiles popped off.
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The pool is concrete if that makes a difference? The deck has sunk slightly in that area which is what has caused the tiles to crack as they sit over the coping slightly. The rest of the tiling is ok. I will need to build up the area where the tile sits over the coping so there is not a hollow area underneath but without Bonding the tile to the coping. I hope that makes sense?
 
8ightiesfan said:
The pool is concrete if that makes a difference? The deck has sunk slightly in that area which is what has caused the tiles to crack as they sit over the coping slightly. The rest of the tiling is ok. I will need to build up the area where the tile sits over the coping so there is not a hollow area underneath but without Bonding the tile to the coping. I hope that makes sense?
Click to expand...
I’m not explaining what I mean very well. The pool “shell” I referred to is the concrete portion of the pool that the coping tiles are bonded to. The coping tiles should completely cover the concrete shell and the deck tiles should not overhang the gap between the shell and the decking underlayment. The small crack that you can see in the photo should ideally be ~1/2” wide to allow the pool shell and the deck underlayment to expand/contract independently. Your pool builder did not add an expansion gap there and that is the likely a contributing cause of the decking tile damage. It can also cause damage to the pool shell if it gives way before the deck does.
 
Bperry said:
I’m not explaining what I mean very well. The pool “shell” I referred to is the concrete portion of the pool that the coping tiles are bonded to. The coping tiles should completely cover the concrete shell and the deck tiles should not overhang the gap between the shell and the decking underlayment. The small crack that you can see in the photo should ideally be ~1/2” wide to allow the pool shell and the deck underlayment to expand/contract independently. Your pool builder did not add an expansion gap there and that is the likely a contributing cause of the decking tile damage. It can also cause damage to the pool shell if it gives way before the deck does.
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I understand what your saying. Unfortunately I cannot rectify the expansion gap. All I can do is bed in new tiles as before but they are going to sit over the coping slightly by about an inch. Should I use some Sikaflex under this area to fill the void whilst retaining some flexibility for movement?
 
8ightiesfan said:
I understand what your saying. Unfortunately I cannot rectify the expansion gap. All I can do is bed in new tiles as before but they are going to sit over the coping slightly by about an inch. Should I use some Sikaflex under this area to fill the void whilst retaining some flexibility for movement?
Click to expand...
Would need someone else to comment on that. I’m not sure it would do much in that case. Are all the pool tiles still bonded well with no signs of the bond beam cracking?
 

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8ightiesfan said:
Bond beam looks fine and all tiles are still adhered very well. Just worried if I leave the area underneath hollow there is risk of them breaking when walked on.
Click to expand...

I would try setting the tiles in mortar on the deck, but use sikaflex or something like that to attach them on the pool side. You get some support on the side by the coping and hopefully the sikaflex allows the tile to move a bit without cracking/releasing.

If you wanted to rectify the expansion joint between the coping tiles and the deck tiles, you could take a grinder with a tile blade and trim back the deck tiles so that the joint is exposed. Probably won't end up with an even joint though.
 
MAPR-Austin said:
I would try setting the tiles in mortar on the deck, but use sikaflex or something like that to attach them on the pool side. You get some support on the side by the coping and hopefully the sikaflex allows the tile to move a bit without cracking/releasing.

If you wanted to rectify the expansion joint between the coping tiles and the deck tiles, you could take a grinder with a tile blade and trim back the deck tiles so that the joint is exposed. Probably won't end up with an even joint though.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I think this is the method I will use with Sikaflex.
 
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