Popped Tiles and Bond Beam Damage?

[KBpools]

For starters I wanted to thank everyone on this website, I recently purchased a home with a pool and reading these forums have proven invaluable as I navigate the fun and challenging world of pool ownership. When I purchased the home I paid for a pool inspection, the inspection showed no leaks but the inspector did point out that there were some cracks in the bond beam, as well as some damage to the coping. The pool was built around 1992, and has been re-plastered once over the original plaster, some time in the mid 2000s. I accepted the fact that the pool will need to be re-plastered, re-tiled, and have some repairs to the bond beam and made sure it was negotiated as part of the sale.

I am a big believer in preventative maintenance, but I also don't like wasting money (who does ), so I wanted to ask the opinion of the forums if I should try to repair the area myself and run it for a few more years, or bit the bullet and redo the pool now. The area is flaking concrete on a daily basis, so I would like to take action soon, be it a DIY repair or a complete redo from a pro. If DIY is an option, I am curios if anyone has any recommendations for repairing the concrete, I have found a lot of good reading on repairing popped tiles, but not a lot on filling in mortar to fill back in the pool.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[kimkats]

Kevin, That is some pretty tile. Too bad it is falling off.

Okay now lets get to work. Does the pool hold water with out leaking? You say you think it needs new plaster. Can you show or say why? (the plaster is below the waterline tile.

That area under the tile is a mess BUT I think you could fix it up to get you a little more time before you have to reno it.

I will wait for you answers and we will see what can be done.

Kim

 

[KBpools]

Wow thanks for the quick response! The water line will leak down to where is is shown in the photo in my original post, once it settles at that point no leaks. That matches up with the damaged area, as you can see its worse near the top.

My second issue is that the plaster has some "pops" where the second coat of plaster is de-laminating from the original coat. These are located at the shallow end of the pool. The original plaster coat was installed in 1992 when the pool was built, I don't have a date on the second coat, but it was some time in the mid 2000s. The nice part (relatively speaking) is that my plaster "pops" break and expose the original plaster, so it doesn't expose the gunite or leak.

I always believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some plaster shots. At night with the light on you can see the pops forming in the plaster:



Here is a shot of the two pops that have actually de-laminated exposing the original plaster coat, these don't worry me too much, from reading the forms I believe they are a good candidate for patching with one of the plaster patches on the market:

 

[kimkats]

The plaster pops are really a non issue as they hold water. You might be able to fix the places under the tile and have it work for a while.

Lets talk money. Do you have the money to redo it now or would it be better for you to wait a while? That will help me know which way to lead you.As we get further alone with your wants/needs I will give a shout out to others that will be able to help also.

Kim

 

[KBpools]

I have the money, but as a new home owner it comes down to prioritizing. I have some projects going on inside the house too, and I have one couch for the entire house at the moment. My preference would be to go DIY now, and do the pool in a few years, but if the pool will suffer damage or be more expensive to repair down the road as a result of my delay I can swing the repair now and delay my other projects a bit.

FYI... I do count myself reasonably handy, I do electrical commissioning work at my day job. I feel comfortable working with concrete, mortar and grout.

Thanks so much!

 

[kimkats]

I say go for the DIY fix to buy you a couple/few years then! You make the area under the tiles water proof then you are good to go!

I did a search. Here are the first three threads I found:

Materials for Tiling

Replacing Waterline Tile and Coping S. Florida

Questions about replacing coping and water tile

These may or may not help but it is a start. There is a search box at the top of the page. Using this leads only to TFP threads so helps narrow down on results.

Let me know what you decide and PLEASE take lots of pics and write the "story" for others to learn from.

I SO understand new homes and priorities! When we bought this house it had been foreclosed on and sat for 6 months. It had not really been cared for before they moved out. LOTS of cleaning to be done just to get started BUT it is all worth it! The pool was the last thing we did.

Kim