waterline tile installation concern

[sham]

Our coping was just put on today and to me it looks like the tile is too low (or the coping and/or mortar under coping is too high). It is bothering me because every pool or pool photo i've looked at you don't see the mortar above the tile at all or very little. Does this make sense? Am I over-reacting?

How thick is mortar normally above tile under the coping? If my tile were a different color like blue it would look even worse.

They did the tile first, then the coping. They have not done grout yet. The guys were doing great stonework so I was not even worried when they started the coping...then

 

[kimkats]

I think it look fine because of the color match. It looks well done and smooth. BUT it is NOT my pool and I am not the one that has to look at everyday. Talk to your PB and see what he says.

Kim:cat:

 

[gwegan]

A couple of things are happening here you need to understand.

First, generally the tile crew does the final leveling of the bond beam. When they are done the tile should be level with or consistently just below the top of the bond beam. The bond beam and tile line should be level.

The deck crew or coping crew either pours the deck over the bod beam or in the case of separate coping lays the coping on top of the bond beam. In the case of separate coping they must use sufficient mortar to stick the coping to the top of the bond beam. In other words it must be adequate to resist lateral forces from the deck as well as hold the coping in place.
Different mortar mixes have different requirements but all will result in a mortar joint below the coping. That joint is much larger than the joint with a cantilevered concrete deck. So is what you have out of line. I don't know. I would talk to the pool builder about your concern.

It doesn't appear out of line to me. Thick but not out ofd line. Generally this will disappear after the pool is full of water.

 

[philboyj]

That gap seems about an inch. I would have assumed that the tile will be almost touching the coping, except for a thin mortar joint.

I will not be happy if this was my pool. But I would also want to find out from PB if there is a technical reason for doing it this way.

 

[philboyj]

Also, since your coping and tile and grout are of similar colors, you may not really notice it.

 

[sham]

It is 3/4 inch thick, to me its too thick compared to every other pool i've seen. You can see the gap when standing by pool and from the window etc not just when down in the pool. Ready to hear what PB has to say. Also worried not just because of how it looks, but wondering if that is more space that could be susceptible to cracks later down the road?

 

[kimkats]

Time for a sit down with your PB...........he is the one that can take of it. We can only give our opinion but it does not count or help

Kim:cat:

 

[gwegan]

If its only 3/4" I think you are going to have a difficult time finding someone knowledgeable about this saying its to large. 1/2" is a common instruction for mortar for veneer bricks and its common in brickwork in general. While mortar thickness can be a problem I don't think it will be one here.

 

[sham]

Today it doesn't seem as bad, mainly it's just two places that seem like you can see the mortar more than others, at end of raised wall and at the other end where the coping stops for raised spa. I may be overly picky with stuff like that, my husband doesn't really see it. The PM is going to take a look.

As soon as we get some blue water in the pool (and a few margaritas in me) all should be good!

 

[philboyj]

I like the margarita solution. Keep drinking till the gap reduces to 1/4th inch

 

[bmoreswim]

Mine is easily 3/4" in much of the pool. I also have a cover track below that. But the track didn't cause the size of the joint. It seems within reason to me.

 

[1herm4]

Was the coping chosen before or after tile selection?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk