Does this look right??...HELP!

[NGApool]

We are building a geometric pool and our coping was just put in. Problem is that one side looks okay when you look at the space between the coping and waterline tile, but the other side looks like Crud!! not happy!! The coping is chipped and uneven sizes which makes the gap between the waterline tile and coping not even too! Ugh!
We spoke to our pool guy and he said he had only put in that type of coping one other time before and did not know that this is how it would look. He told us that the gap between the coping and waterline tile is b/c they had to level off the coping to slop down away from the pool. (ummm...ok?) When we put the level on it it was level!! Problem is the cement is already put in around the coping and ready to have porcelain pavers put in. Pool builder said it would take a lot of labor(which i'm thinking he would charge us for it when he really shouldn't) to tear the coping out and it might even possibly damage our tiles and delay everything else! We don't care about the delay. What we want is for our investment to be put in correctly! He said when the whole pool is done we wouldn't even notice it b/c we would be looking at the whole pool and not just the tile and coping, but honestly we don't think we will forget b/c we will see it every time we are in the pool!
I have enclosed pics. You can see the uneven sizes of the coping and the large gap between the tile and coping. The other side of the pool is not this bad.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! I'm sorry but your builder is full of it. Of course you are going to notice it later! Chipped coping doesn't just "blend in" when a pool is finished. It would be one thing if this was supposed to be natural stone with irregular edges, but its not. It looks like damaged materials and careless workmanship. Have you finished paying for the pool or do you still owe him money? If you still owe money it might give you some leverage to get the pool coping installed correctly.

 

[Liz315]

Don’t accept that, no way.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Sloppy work with no quality control standards. They should have rejected the precast that was chipped and uneven. The reason you use precast is it should be of uniform quality. And the large gap above the tile is poor planning or communication with the crew laying the tile.

Did they give you the correct expansion joint between your coping and deck? Show some pics looking down at the coping and deck interface.

Expansion Joints and Coping - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[NGApool]

Hi, welcome to TFP! I'm sorry but your builder is full of it. Of course you are going to notice it later! Chipped coping doesn't just "blend in" when a pool is finished. It would be one thing if this was supposed to be natural stone with irregular edges, but its not. It looks like damaged materials and careless workmanship. Have you finished paying for the pool or do you still owe him money? If you still owe money it might give you some leverage to get the pool coping installed correctly.

Thanks for the reply. We are pretty upset and it's stressing us out and don't know what to do. the pool is a geometric shape and the coping it may be some kind of natural stone, but even in this picture of the other side you can see it has hardly any imperfections. Also the spa porcelain tile is not perfect on the corners. I really don't know what they can do to make this craftmanship better.

 

[NGApool]

Welcome to TFP.

Sloppy work with no quality control standards. They should have rejected the precast that was chipped and uneven. The reason you use precast is it should be of uniform quality. And the large gap above the tile is poor planning or communication with the crew laying the tile.

Did they give you the correct expansion joint between your coping and deck? Show some pics looking down at the coping and deck interface.

Expansion Joints and Coping - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Thanks for the reply. The coping is natural stone but as you can see the other side is pretty even. it's like the bad side was a bad batch that they didn't look at the quality of them. Even the corners of the spa tile looks bad. You can even see how small the gap is on this side between the tile and coping as compared to the pictures from the other side that I posted earlier.

 

[ajw22]

It is not clear to me that you have a proper expansion joint between your pool and deck. That is a serious flaw that can lead to cracks in your pool and tiles popping off. The pool and the deck need to be separate structures that can move independently. Otherwise the deck will put pressure on the pool and crack it.

 

[Pv2]

what is the coping material? if it is stone it might be able to be ground/sanded to a more even edge, if it is cast concrete or some kind of porcelain (do they make porcelain pool coping?) then it is far too damaged to be left like that.

the gap between the top of the tile and the coping seems excessive.

the shoddy work on the spa is a do-over for sure.

 

[NGApool]

Hi, welcome to TFP! I'm sorry but your builder is full of it. Of course you are going to notice it later! Chipped coping doesn't just "blend in" when a pool is finished. It would be one thing if this was supposed to be natural stone with irregular edges, but its not. It looks like damaged materials and careless workmanship. Have you finished paying for the pool or do you still owe him money? If you still owe money it might give you some leverage to get the pool coping installed correctly.

It is not clear to me that you have a proper expansion joint between your pool and deck. That is a serious flaw that can lead to cracks in your pool and tiles popping off. The pool and the deck need to be separate structures that can move independently. Otherwise the deck will put pressure on the pool and crack it.

Here is a pic of the cement decking that will have cement pavers put on top. I don't believe they put an expansion joint between the pool and cement. Ugh! What do we do?? The coping, waterline tile, pool decking, and spa ledger do not look like a professional did the job. How can I be happy to show this to people??

 

[NGApool]

what is the coping material? if it is stone it might be able to be ground/sanded to a more even edge, if it is cast concrete or some kind of porcelain (do they make porcelain pool coping?) then it is far to damaged to be left like that.

the gap between the top of the tile and the coping seems excessive.

the shoddy work on the spa is a do-over for sure.

the coping is natural sandstone but you can order with eased edge, which we did and one side of our pool looks fine even with the gap between the coping and tile but the other side...
Spa tile is porcelain tile.

 

[ajw22]

Talk to your builder about where the expansion joint is. You now have structural issues, not just cosmetic ones.

 

[NGApool]

Talk to your builder about where the expansion joint is. You now have structural issues, not just cosmetic ones.

Ugh! they might as well take all the tile and coping out and start all over.

 

[ajw22]

Ugh! they might as well take all the tile and coping out and start all over.

The tile, coping, and decking show no thought or planning as to the proper design so they all come together properly. Each was thrown in independently.

 

[ajw22]

This is what can happen to your pool without an expansion joint…

Tiles popping off

We just had a new in ground pool built, and it has had significant issues, the last of which is the waterline tiles (glass) are popping off. Last week, three in a row popped off and today three more on the other side. We have contacted the PB and he says he is ‘working on it’. In the first set...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[NGApool]

This is what can happen to your pool without an expansion joint…

Tiles popping off

We just had a new in ground pool built, and it has had significant issues, the last of which is the waterline tiles (glass) are popping off. Last week, three in a row popped off and today three more on the other side. We have contacted the PB and he says he is ‘working on it’. In the first set...

www.troublefreepool.com

At this stage is any of this fixable without damaging the integrity of the pool structure. Our pool is going to be 35k gallons

 

[ajw22]

At this stage is any of this fixable without damaging the integrity of the pool structure. Our pool is going to be 35k gallons

It is all fixable around your gunite shell. They can’t be ham fisted as they remove the tile and coping. And they need to chisel away concrete on the deck from the shell to create the expansion joint.

 

[NGApool]

It is all fixable around your gunite shell. They can’t be ham fisted as they remove the tile and coping. And they need to chisel away concrete on the deck from the shell to create the expansion joint.

Question is will our PB fix everything without charging us for the labor but he really should eat this cost b/c it wasnt done right in the first place. When we spoke to him he kind of made it out that it wasn't their fault. If there was QC then each stage would be done correctly. What is the accepted tolerance for the gap between the coping and tile?

 

[ajw22]

What is the accepted tolerance for the gap between the coping and tile?

APSP 2013 Workmanship Guidelines and Practices

These workmanship guidelines are for dispute resolution for the construction, installation, remodeling, renovation, and warranty repair of inground residential swimming pools and permanently installed spas as required under the contract covering same. The requirements in this document supplement...

issuu.com

 

[zea3]

Its certainly not your fault! The builder should not be charging you to fix their mistakes. If he had subcontractors who did not do the job properly then he should go after them to fix it at their expense. He as the builder of record is responsible for the quality and integrity of all work done and he should have been making periodic visits at each stage of construction to ensure that the work was done correctly. How long has he been a pool builder? You may want to do some research to see what regulations if any a pool builder is required to follow in your area.