Good day, everyone.
Long time lurker - first time poster. I hope that I do this correctly - if not, please let me know and I will update it to fall within what's acceptable for this community.
The "tldr" is that we have a fiberglass pool that we paid a local pool company to retile about 2 months ago. We already have tiles popping off ~2 months later. Additionally, I believe/fear that I am also seeing other damage to the pool installation. I believe that the popping tiles and other damage may be due to the job having been done incorrectly - namely that the aging fiberglass pool was emptied and refilled multiple times over the course of the project. I'm seeking input on if my suspicions are in line with other's knowledge and expertise, or is this just normal stuff?
...now for the rest of the story...
We moved into our current home in 2015 - in part selected because it already had a pool installed. The pool is an 11K gallon fiberglass that was installed in about 2010 by the original owners. We spent a fair amount of time last year reaffixing tiles based on some guidance that we found on this site as well as others... After we made it through the 2017 pool season, I began heavily researching the process of retiling the pool and ultimately determined it was too big of a job for me to undertake - opting instead to outsource it to a local licensed pool company. During that research phase, I saw numerous cautions regarding the draining of fiberglass pools in pretty much every video, site and discussion thread that I could find - in part, it was this heavily stressing of dangers to the pool setup that made me realize how little I knew about doing this myself. With my own inabilities accepted, we decided to reach out to a local pool service company to inquire about getting the tile and grout redone.
During the initial discussions with the manager, he indicated that it would be a relatively small and straight forward job - and that they'd be able to knock it out in about 2 days. During these discussions, I'd mentioned that I'd done quite a bit of research on the retile process - specifically making mention that it seems that it's universally cautioned against draining a fiberglass pool entirely due to problems that often arise when an aging fiberglass pool is emptied and refilled. The manager readily agreed to the dangers of draining/refilling an aging fiberglass pool, indicating that they would not drain the pool in order to do the job.
I won't go into all of the many things that went wrong with this job, nor will I go too far into the complaints surrounding the job taking more than a month for them to complete due to just not showing back up for days on end... Now my main concern centers around the current state of my pool, and I am wondering if my observations are due to my fears concerning draining and refilling a fiberglass pool.
During the demo phase of the project, they left the pool filled as agreed. After a bit of follow up and prodding, the tile guys showed up to finish cleaning the pool up and to begin the retile job... Without notice, I arrived home one day to discover my pool 1/2 drained with a pump running unattended... When I called the pool company's manager, he indicated that the tile guy said he couldn't do the job with the water in the pool and so they decided to go ahead and drain it - reassuring me that everything would be fine... When I questioned our previously agreeing on the dangers of doing this, the pool manager essentially dismissed my concerns and our previous agreement - again indicating that everything would be fine and that we'd be more than happy with the job… Stating that I should just trust them - which I reluctantly did.
Fast forward a couple more weeks... They've now hung all of the tile and refilled the pool most of the way... They then against concluded that they'd not be able to properly grout the pool tiles, and so again without my agreement, opted to drain the pool before leaving for the day... Then about a week later, they returned to complete the grout job - at which time they started the refill process.
I communicated with the pool company and staff all throughout the job - including relaying that we'd agreed to not empty the pool, reiterating the concerns, and conveying being displeased with this being done without approval... And again I was reassured that everything would be fine and that I shouldn't worry about it...
Nearly from the start, I began noticing things that caused me concern... For starters, it seemed like nearly the entire grout line had cracked where the pavers meet the top grout line before the first line of tiles began. I also began to notice more cracks running down into the tile grout in various places around the pool. I also felt as if I was seeing more and more areas where the pavers seemed to be separating from the concrete pad that makes up the patio surrounding the deck... But being a bit of a stickler, I didn't know if I was actually seeing the beginning of problems stemming from the draining and refilling as I was suspecting, or if I was just being too picky and paranoid.
Now, roughly 2 months after the completion of the tile job, we have some tiles which have broken free completely from their adhesive that now need to be reaffixed... We also have some tiles that appear to have buckled under some unidentified pressure that are on the verge of completely popping loose as well. I also believe I am seeing even more separation between the paving stones and concrete patio pad in a lot of areas around the whole outside of the pool... This past week, I also noticed a paver stone which appears to be "splintering' under some pressure that's being exerted between the stone/brick and the concrete pad surrounding the pool… To me this all screams “the shifting, expanding and flexing that everyone online warned about in regards to draining a fiberglass pool” - but I’m no pool expert...
Needless to say - I am quite bummed about how this is playing out… We paid $3k just 2 months ago to have this done - and now we're seemingly back in the same boat, if not a much worse boat...
Why I am reaching out here is in the hopes that someone with more experience than I can chime in - as I don't quite trust to get an honest and complete answer from the contracted pool company... Are my fears unfounded and what we're seeing is completely normal with fiberglass pools? Were my initial concerns about draining/filling legit and so we're likely seeing what may be the start of much larger problems with our fiberglass pool? Or is it possibly something else entirely? Currently, I am considering paying another pool company to come out and evaluate the previously company's work, but I'm just now in the initial phase of trying to find a company that would be a good fit for this..
Any information is appreciated!
Long time lurker - first time poster. I hope that I do this correctly - if not, please let me know and I will update it to fall within what's acceptable for this community.
The "tldr" is that we have a fiberglass pool that we paid a local pool company to retile about 2 months ago. We already have tiles popping off ~2 months later. Additionally, I believe/fear that I am also seeing other damage to the pool installation. I believe that the popping tiles and other damage may be due to the job having been done incorrectly - namely that the aging fiberglass pool was emptied and refilled multiple times over the course of the project. I'm seeking input on if my suspicions are in line with other's knowledge and expertise, or is this just normal stuff?
...now for the rest of the story...
We moved into our current home in 2015 - in part selected because it already had a pool installed. The pool is an 11K gallon fiberglass that was installed in about 2010 by the original owners. We spent a fair amount of time last year reaffixing tiles based on some guidance that we found on this site as well as others... After we made it through the 2017 pool season, I began heavily researching the process of retiling the pool and ultimately determined it was too big of a job for me to undertake - opting instead to outsource it to a local licensed pool company. During that research phase, I saw numerous cautions regarding the draining of fiberglass pools in pretty much every video, site and discussion thread that I could find - in part, it was this heavily stressing of dangers to the pool setup that made me realize how little I knew about doing this myself. With my own inabilities accepted, we decided to reach out to a local pool service company to inquire about getting the tile and grout redone.
During the initial discussions with the manager, he indicated that it would be a relatively small and straight forward job - and that they'd be able to knock it out in about 2 days. During these discussions, I'd mentioned that I'd done quite a bit of research on the retile process - specifically making mention that it seems that it's universally cautioned against draining a fiberglass pool entirely due to problems that often arise when an aging fiberglass pool is emptied and refilled. The manager readily agreed to the dangers of draining/refilling an aging fiberglass pool, indicating that they would not drain the pool in order to do the job.
I won't go into all of the many things that went wrong with this job, nor will I go too far into the complaints surrounding the job taking more than a month for them to complete due to just not showing back up for days on end... Now my main concern centers around the current state of my pool, and I am wondering if my observations are due to my fears concerning draining and refilling a fiberglass pool.
During the demo phase of the project, they left the pool filled as agreed. After a bit of follow up and prodding, the tile guys showed up to finish cleaning the pool up and to begin the retile job... Without notice, I arrived home one day to discover my pool 1/2 drained with a pump running unattended... When I called the pool company's manager, he indicated that the tile guy said he couldn't do the job with the water in the pool and so they decided to go ahead and drain it - reassuring me that everything would be fine... When I questioned our previously agreeing on the dangers of doing this, the pool manager essentially dismissed my concerns and our previous agreement - again indicating that everything would be fine and that we'd be more than happy with the job… Stating that I should just trust them - which I reluctantly did.
Fast forward a couple more weeks... They've now hung all of the tile and refilled the pool most of the way... They then against concluded that they'd not be able to properly grout the pool tiles, and so again without my agreement, opted to drain the pool before leaving for the day... Then about a week later, they returned to complete the grout job - at which time they started the refill process.
I communicated with the pool company and staff all throughout the job - including relaying that we'd agreed to not empty the pool, reiterating the concerns, and conveying being displeased with this being done without approval... And again I was reassured that everything would be fine and that I shouldn't worry about it...
Nearly from the start, I began noticing things that caused me concern... For starters, it seemed like nearly the entire grout line had cracked where the pavers meet the top grout line before the first line of tiles began. I also began to notice more cracks running down into the tile grout in various places around the pool. I also felt as if I was seeing more and more areas where the pavers seemed to be separating from the concrete pad that makes up the patio surrounding the deck... But being a bit of a stickler, I didn't know if I was actually seeing the beginning of problems stemming from the draining and refilling as I was suspecting, or if I was just being too picky and paranoid.
Now, roughly 2 months after the completion of the tile job, we have some tiles which have broken free completely from their adhesive that now need to be reaffixed... We also have some tiles that appear to have buckled under some unidentified pressure that are on the verge of completely popping loose as well. I also believe I am seeing even more separation between the paving stones and concrete patio pad in a lot of areas around the whole outside of the pool... This past week, I also noticed a paver stone which appears to be "splintering' under some pressure that's being exerted between the stone/brick and the concrete pad surrounding the pool… To me this all screams “the shifting, expanding and flexing that everyone online warned about in regards to draining a fiberglass pool” - but I’m no pool expert...
Needless to say - I am quite bummed about how this is playing out… We paid $3k just 2 months ago to have this done - and now we're seemingly back in the same boat, if not a much worse boat...
Why I am reaching out here is in the hopes that someone with more experience than I can chime in - as I don't quite trust to get an honest and complete answer from the contracted pool company... Are my fears unfounded and what we're seeing is completely normal with fiberglass pools? Were my initial concerns about draining/filling legit and so we're likely seeing what may be the start of much larger problems with our fiberglass pool? Or is it possibly something else entirely? Currently, I am considering paying another pool company to come out and evaluate the previously company's work, but I'm just now in the initial phase of trying to find a company that would be a good fit for this..
Any information is appreciated!
