Mastic and Mortor

[aeh0603]

I'm finally getting ready to tackle some pool repairs that are long overdue. We bought our house pool several years ago and there have been a lot of general maintenance type things that the previous owners let slide. Next on my list is fixing the area imediately surrounding the pool, namely replacing the mastic and repairing the mortor between the coping tiles (there are large sections missing along the pool edge). There is also a section of the pool deck where the concrete is pushed up higher than the coping (probably from a nearby tree) that I'm considering grinding down closer to level to reduce the tripping hazard it currently is.

I bought some deck o seal for the mastic and some hydrolic water stop cement for the mortor. Any tips on doing this diy? I know I'll have to dig out all the mastic, but do I have to chip out the whole mortor joint too or can I just clean it and knock off anything loose?

Here's a sample picture of the coping and mastic since I'm not sure I described it very well.

 

[aeh0603]

Just bumping to see if anyone has experience or tips for doing these repairs. I also took a few more pictures to try and show some of the worst areas.

 

[duraleigh]

Clean out the mastic pretty well, just as you intend.

There is no point in using anything but masonry grout between the coping bricks. "Hydraulic water stop" (not sure what that is) may not give you the look you want and there is no point to waterproofing the grout anyway.

Home Depot stocks a good grout made by Custom Building Products that is "modified" (that means it has some latex in it and is a little tiny bit flexible). Other brands may be good as well.

You will have to clean out the old grout pretty good. The problem is much of it is not sticking to the coping so you would be putting new grout on an unstable substrate. If the grout is adhering tightly to the coping, it's fine to leave it.

Grinding down the concrete will be a nightmare. I wouldn't even try it. Beak out the entire section and repour (it won't match the old concrete) or simply learn to live with it.

PS - Good pics! Easy to see the issues.

 

[aeh0603]

Thanks, I'll use regular masonry grout instead.

It's going to be a long project for me since I don't have a lot of free time and I have a toddler "helping", but I did get started today and got about 5 or 6 feet of the mastic removed. The expansion gap was a lot smaller than I expected. I was expecting maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch, and the section near where the concrete deck is pushed up is closer to 1 inch, but the section I started in the gap is barely wide enough for the multi tool scraper thing I'm using to fit in the gap.