Coping movement

[trivetman]

My coping seems to be moving all over the place.

Its clearly separating a bit from the deck and the seal on the mastic hasn’t held.

I had tiles fall off underneath this section. Theres clearly been movement between the tile and the coping also. I would have thought these both would have moved together with the pool shell but the coping seems to be moving on its own as its separated from the top of the tile at the grout line

Thoughts? Anything to do but reset the tiles and hope for the best? Can i repair the mastic without doing the entire perimeter?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Is the coping poured-in-place (pip), precast, or stone/paver?

Depending on the installation, the coping isn’t necessarily fixed to the bond beam of the pool. If it can move and the tile isn’t set properly, then the coping can pop the tiles off.

Typically PIP coping is poured at the same time as the deck and can physically slide and move over the bond beam.

Is any of the coping loose? Bang on it GENTLY with a hard plastic mallet and listen for the sound. If it sounds hollow then the coping is loose.

 

[trivetman]

Travertine pavers. Installed around 5 years ago when we gave it a facelift.

I thought they were mortared to the bond beam which is why i was surprised at the movement. They don’t sound any different to me than at other parts of the pool and definitely no movement is visually noticeable

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Did the renovator apply any moisture barrier to the bond beam before placing the tile and attaching the coping? Your pictures make me wonder if water got under the tile and coping and then a freeze caused them to separate. They wouldn’t necessarily pop off right away from a freeze.

 

[trivetman]

Not that i know of. I definitely don’t see any moisture barrier as ive chipped away at the thinset prepping for resetting the tile

 

[ajw22]

You have freezing water popping off your coping and tiles.

Water gets into the gaps in the expansion joint and mortar and grout lines and gets under the coping and tiles. If you get a freezing event with water under them it can expand and pop the coping or tile off.

You can remove the coping, chip out the old mortar, and reset it in new mortar.

To prevent this from being an ongoing problem you need to fix the small cracks that open up in the stone joints.

 

[trivetman]

You have freezing water popping off your coping and tiles.

I believe it

You can remove the coping, chip out the old mortar, and reset it in new mortar.

easy fix!!!! Ugh!!!

 

[trivetman]

You can remove the coping, chip out the old mortar, and reset it in new mortar.

To prevent this from being an ongoing problem you need to fix the small cracks that open up in the stone joints.

Is there a way to seal a crack such as this that doesn’t involve removing and resetting the coping? Thats more project than I can undertake right now.

 

[ajw22]

Is this a mortar joint or an expansion joint?

Is the material mortar or mastic?

 

[trivetman]

Sorry. I should have given more context.

Its a mortar joint btw coping tiles. Whatever water is getting in to cause the freeze/thaw and pop the waterline tiles has got to be coming in through this crack (and others like it but smaller) or from the separated mastic itself.

Hard to know whew the initial point of failure was but both areas are probably letting moisture behind the tiles at this point

 

[ajw22]

Use colored grout that best matches the mortar color to fill in the opening.

The grout will not last forever and you may need to touch it up every season.

 

[trivetman]

can the mastic in the damaged section only be cut out and replaced without redoing the entire pool perimeter? Other than this 3-4 foot section everything else around the pool is in good shape.

 

[ajw22]

can the mastic in the damaged section only be cut out and replaced without redoing the entire pool perimeter? Other than this 3-4 foot section everything else around the pool is in good shape.

View attachment 538955

You can scrape out sections of the mastic and replace it.

It will not match in appearance but be functional.

 

[trivetman]

Thanks thats what i was hoping to hear