- Apr 6, 2021
- 4
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Hello! I’m looking for some guidance about whether or not the leak repair done by my PB was done correctly.
TLDR: The leaks in both skimmers were repaired with pool putty and then the putty was covered with caulk. Pretty sure this not only looks terrible, but will not last.
Long version: Our pool was finished and filled in October 2021. I messaged our PB’s maintenance guy in November and said I thought we had a leak because we were losing 3/4“ or water a day. He told me that was normal since we were heating the pool. This is my first pool, so I believed him.
This summer, I have been doing all of the testing (TFTestKit and Pool Math FTW!) and maintenance. I was having to add 160 lbs of salt every month, and 5 lbs of CYA a week. I had no idea how quickly salt might be consumed by the SWG, so I assumed this was just normal summer pool maintenance, and I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
We have been under drought conditions all summer, and one day I noticed that one corner of our pool was 1/2” higher than the rest of the pool. The waterline tile (and the pool) were no longer level. I took pictures and sent them to my PB. It took a month of follow up to get him to come out and take a look. Meanwhile, a 4 foot long crack worked its way from the corner of the skimmer to the bottom of the pool. I continued to update the PB about this. I start researching how to determine if this new crack is leaking, and discover that my pool has been leaking the entire time I have owned it. You all know this, but I should not have been losing salt and CYA all year. I’m pretty sure the original leak was keeping the ground around the skimmer saturated, while the rest of the ground dried out, pushing up the corner of the pool by 1/2”.
He finally sent out a gunite/plaster repair person. This man took a look and told me he would remove the coping, the tile in the skimmer, cut out a trench in the plaster, and repair the crack. Sounds great. When our repair team comes out, it is a different man. I speak with him about removing the coping and tile. I tell him I have more of both to replace whatever he has to ruin to fix the pool. I watch him work, and he injects KEMCO epoxy into the crack in the gunite, but then uses a trowel and his finger to smear the same epoxy along the crack between the skimmer and the tile. He does not remove the coping, so there is no way for him to know if this crack extends up the bond beam. He also smears some clear silicone caulk on some other cracks in the grout around the skimmer and calls it a day.
I contact the PB and tell him what happened, and that this is unattractive and unsatisfactory. He says his tile guys are going to come out and replace the skimmer tiles and grind out and replace the grout where the previous man smeared epoxy. He promises it will all look great. Their work is completed, and we refill the pool. I did a bucket test. We are still losing 1/2” a day. Better, but not fixed. The PB assures me that this is a normal amount of water to lose “because of the weather”. I ask him to send a leak detection team, as I don’t think we have found the original source of the leak. He does, but says it will cost us $350 if they come out and don’t find anything. Seems like a safe gamble to me.
Leak detection team finds leaks in BOTH skimmers, but all the plumbing and lights are a-ok. The leak detection guys plug the leaks with pool putty. It looks pretty bad, but after another bucket test, it holds water! I was preparing to call PB again, because the leak detection guy said the pool putty would last 2.5 years, and that seems pretty lame to me when the warranty on our pool is 3 years (and lifetime on gunite). Of his own volition this time (!!!), PB calls me and says he is sending out his tile crew to scrape out the pool putty and grout and replace it to all look great and fix the problem.
The tile crew just left. I watched them work. They did not scrape out much pool putty as far as I can tell. They did not scrape out any old grout. They did not mix up any new grout. They used a caulk gun to add just a TON of caulk over the top of the pool putty. It is thick and globby. I could not tell what specific kind of caulk they were using, but it looks and feels like white latex caulk. I know that grout caulk exists, it might be that.
FINALLY MY QUESTION: This caulk is going to fail, right? Especially since it is over top of pool putty, which is also not a permanent fix? How should I insist upon these skimmer leaks being repaired? The coping and tile needs to be removed so we can make sure the crack did not extend UP to the bond beam, right?
Here are some pictures:
Also notice the caulk used to replace the chip they made in the plaster at the front.
This is the original repair. I’m sorry they’re sideways. I don’t know how to fix that.
TLDR: The leaks in both skimmers were repaired with pool putty and then the putty was covered with caulk. Pretty sure this not only looks terrible, but will not last.
Long version: Our pool was finished and filled in October 2021. I messaged our PB’s maintenance guy in November and said I thought we had a leak because we were losing 3/4“ or water a day. He told me that was normal since we were heating the pool. This is my first pool, so I believed him.
This summer, I have been doing all of the testing (TFTestKit and Pool Math FTW!) and maintenance. I was having to add 160 lbs of salt every month, and 5 lbs of CYA a week. I had no idea how quickly salt might be consumed by the SWG, so I assumed this was just normal summer pool maintenance, and I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
We have been under drought conditions all summer, and one day I noticed that one corner of our pool was 1/2” higher than the rest of the pool. The waterline tile (and the pool) were no longer level. I took pictures and sent them to my PB. It took a month of follow up to get him to come out and take a look. Meanwhile, a 4 foot long crack worked its way from the corner of the skimmer to the bottom of the pool. I continued to update the PB about this. I start researching how to determine if this new crack is leaking, and discover that my pool has been leaking the entire time I have owned it. You all know this, but I should not have been losing salt and CYA all year. I’m pretty sure the original leak was keeping the ground around the skimmer saturated, while the rest of the ground dried out, pushing up the corner of the pool by 1/2”.
He finally sent out a gunite/plaster repair person. This man took a look and told me he would remove the coping, the tile in the skimmer, cut out a trench in the plaster, and repair the crack. Sounds great. When our repair team comes out, it is a different man. I speak with him about removing the coping and tile. I tell him I have more of both to replace whatever he has to ruin to fix the pool. I watch him work, and he injects KEMCO epoxy into the crack in the gunite, but then uses a trowel and his finger to smear the same epoxy along the crack between the skimmer and the tile. He does not remove the coping, so there is no way for him to know if this crack extends up the bond beam. He also smears some clear silicone caulk on some other cracks in the grout around the skimmer and calls it a day.
I contact the PB and tell him what happened, and that this is unattractive and unsatisfactory. He says his tile guys are going to come out and replace the skimmer tiles and grind out and replace the grout where the previous man smeared epoxy. He promises it will all look great. Their work is completed, and we refill the pool. I did a bucket test. We are still losing 1/2” a day. Better, but not fixed. The PB assures me that this is a normal amount of water to lose “because of the weather”. I ask him to send a leak detection team, as I don’t think we have found the original source of the leak. He does, but says it will cost us $350 if they come out and don’t find anything. Seems like a safe gamble to me.
Leak detection team finds leaks in BOTH skimmers, but all the plumbing and lights are a-ok. The leak detection guys plug the leaks with pool putty. It looks pretty bad, but after another bucket test, it holds water! I was preparing to call PB again, because the leak detection guy said the pool putty would last 2.5 years, and that seems pretty lame to me when the warranty on our pool is 3 years (and lifetime on gunite). Of his own volition this time (!!!), PB calls me and says he is sending out his tile crew to scrape out the pool putty and grout and replace it to all look great and fix the problem.
The tile crew just left. I watched them work. They did not scrape out much pool putty as far as I can tell. They did not scrape out any old grout. They did not mix up any new grout. They used a caulk gun to add just a TON of caulk over the top of the pool putty. It is thick and globby. I could not tell what specific kind of caulk they were using, but it looks and feels like white latex caulk. I know that grout caulk exists, it might be that.
FINALLY MY QUESTION: This caulk is going to fail, right? Especially since it is over top of pool putty, which is also not a permanent fix? How should I insist upon these skimmer leaks being repaired? The coping and tile needs to be removed so we can make sure the crack did not extend UP to the bond beam, right?
Here are some pictures:
Also notice the caulk used to replace the chip they made in the plaster at the front.
This is the original repair. I’m sorry they’re sideways. I don’t know how to fix that.
