Inground Pool Coping Questions....

[masong]

Hey...newbie here..

My pool(38,000 gals) is eight years old now..... Two years ago the tiles began to pop off..About 50 of them(all 6 X 6 five piece tiles).

The pool was never caulked at the coping / Deck..However I did do it myself a few years ago after I had Cool deck applied...Which, BTW, led to the only time the deck has heaved in winter.

OK...here is my question... While removing all the tiles this year, and chipping the wall back to the shell, I have discovered that the coping is literally not even connected to the beam wall..( beam Wall is in great shape...)

You can see in my pictures that a lot of my coping was installed using what looks like Tile compound...I mean, Its white, not grey like morter mix(brixmix)..Some coping is adheared with the proper grey mix.

Is this improper to use on brick coping ?

As a result..I have decided to remove all the coping(most came off by hand alone) and replace it with stone..

The (white) mix used once the coping was removed was very flaky at best..

I realise that deck movement , due to lack of the expansion joint not sealed, may have caused some of this...But it seems to me that the white mastic should have never been used...

Some coping are still attached, and sound very solid, but most is loose.

Thanks ...(please see pictures for the areas where the coping was installed with Tile Mastic)

many thanks

BTW...My builder is going to come look at it...I would really like to know before hand if it was improperly done from day one...

 

[bigdav160]

I'm not an expert but the color of the mortar probably is not the problem. There's grey portland and white portland with the white having less iron content.

My guess is there is two errors in the installation. First is not using a proper mortar.
The mortar bought at the home improvement store (usual type 1 and type 2) is not intended for continuous water exposure.
The second problem might be they didn't get enough mortar contact. A typical floor tile can get away with 75% mortar coverage. In a pool setting I'd want 90% or more. This keeps water from working into the voids. Which you've found out can cause the mortar to fail.

 

[masong]

I'm not an expert but the color of the mortar probably is not the problem. There's grey portland and white portland with the white having less iron content.

My guess is there is two errors in the installation. First is not using a proper mortar.
The mortar bought at the home improvement store (usual type 1 and type 2) is not intended for continuous water exposure.
The second problem might be they didn't get enough mortar contact. A typical floor tile can get away with 75% mortar coverage. In a pool setting I'd want 90% or more. This keeps water from working into the voids. Which you've found out can cause the mortar to fail.

Thanks for that info..I was not aware...i do know it was August, HOT and the mix used was cut with water several times...Incorrect...

I also think no expansion joint between the cpoing and deck was a big factor too..

many thanks

ALSO...The pics dont show this good, BUT all corners (coping) were done in a grey material, and all the rest of the field is done in that white stuff, leading me to believe a corner was cut there somehow...its curious at best as to why two different materials were used