I'm having to re-tile my pool. Questions about draining and why tile failed

shellbmb

Member
Jun 5, 2018
20
ATX
My pool is about 4.5 years old and our glass tile is falling off around the spa. It happened once in a small area two years ago and we had that repaired. Now the entire spa is falling off. Top and the sides. The only tile that is staying on is the waterline and the back wall. It was a glass tile approved for pool use, but for some reason it started separating. Builder is of no help.

So here's my dilemma. Do I just replace the spa tile or do I go ahead an re-do the entire tile job? They don't make the tile anymore and I wouldn't want to use it if they did. Impossible to find a perfect match so I'd have to find something that's close to matching or just go with something that contrasts. I found a master tile product that we like, but the sizes are different. I'd probably use that if we did the entire pool.

Here's the other dilemma. The tile guy says the pool must be drained to re-tile the pool. I know very little about pools, so you always hear the horror stories of pools lifting or cracking when drained. I live in Austin at the top of a hill at about 900ft elevation. When they dug the pool, it was solid limestone. It literally looked like a limestone shell. You dig 6 inches you hit limestone in my yard. It took them a week with a rock hammer on the back of a tractor to blast enough rock away for my pool. My pool is only 5 feet deep at its deepest point. There is a water well about 100 yards from my pool and the water level is roughly 500 feet down. So I think I'd be fine, but I don't know. And I don't think the "tile guy" is going to warranty my pool lifting and being ruined. And I've found most pool companies don't want to touch it or they want to charge and astronomically high fee to make it worth their while. One guy wanted to drill holes through my pool shell to relieve possible pressure and patch it once done.

Thoughts to as why the tile is failing? It seems all the tile that is capped with Travertine is staying on. That's the waterline and back wall.

Think it would be a huge risk if I drained it? What's another option? I could leave some water in and create some scaffolding to walk on why they are repairing it.

TIA.


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Grout between the tiles gets hairline cracks. Water then gets into grout cracks and erodes the back of the tile and the tile bond. With tile like you have the grout needs to be inspected and repaired periodically. The areas with travertine above are more protected from water seeping down behind the tiles.

Also poor water chemistry can suck calcium from the grout and weaken it. Proper grout sealing is needed to protect the tiles.

Every season I inspect my tiles and regrout areas with cracks.
 
I live in Austin at the top of a hill at about 900ft elevation. When they dug the pool, it was solid limestone. It literally looked like a limestone shell. You dig 6 inches you hit limestone in my yard. It took them a week with a rock hammer on the back of a tractor to blast enough rock away for my pool. My pool is only 5 feet deep at its deepest point. There is a water well about 100 yards from my pool and the water level is roughly 500 feet down. So I think I'd be fine, but I don't know.

Can't help you with your tile dilemma, but based on this description of your lot, I don't think there's much risk of the water table popping your pool out of it's limestone shell.
 
I've read and searched and it seems there are differing opinions on glass tile installation. The tile that is falling off had a paper front with no mesh backing so I would think there would be more surface area to bond to the tile. MasterTile, which I think is a reputable brand, has a mesh backing and some say that is a bad thing. I'm getting differing opinions from installers.

I'm very hesitant to put glass back on, but the porcelain/ceramic options are obviously much duller.
 
I've read and searched and it seems there are differing opinions on glass tile installation. The tile that is falling off had a paper front with no mesh backing so I would think there would be more surface area to bond to the tile. MasterTile, which I think is a reputable brand, has a mesh backing and some say that is a bad thing. I'm getting differing opinions from installers.

I'm very hesitant to put glass back on, but the porcelain/ceramic options are obviously much duller.

The backing does not matter if you do not maintain the integrity of your grout.

Porcelain/ceramic will also pop off if not maintained.
 
I can’t help with the tile situation, but from looking on Instagram and searching for tile companies I’ve seen plenty of pictures of installers in bathing suits and wet suits installing new tile. So i would guess some situations wouldn’t call for fully draining
 
I have managed multi family for years and contracted a few tile replacements. With the ones I have done they were able to do the work after lowering the water a few feet. Not sure if there is something different about your pool.
 
I have managed multi family for years and contracted a few tile replacements. With the ones I have done they were able to do the work after lowering the water a few feet. Not sure if there is something different about your pool.

Yeah, not sure either. Other than the fact the pool water is 45 degrees!

I'm getting some other opinions as well as calling the tile manufacturers. I called Master Tile asking for some recommendations on what materials to use to set their product or installation instructions and they were clueless. They said just trust your PB. Well, that worked out really well for me the first time around.

I found a local Oceanside and Lunada Bay Tile rep and showroom. They have detailed installation instructions on how to set their tile. it's probably more expensive, but a little more piece of mind. We'll see.
 

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