Renovating Water Line Tile

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rookieremodeler

0
Jun 16, 2017
6
Cleveland, OH
Hello Trouble Free Pool community,

I'm a new pool owner and just recently (December 2016) purchased a home that has a pool that (I believe) has been pretty neglected. Pool tiles have already begun falling off the sides of the pool (see pictures below) and I'm in the process of draining the pool.

Some specifics about the pool that I believe I know is that it is a plaster pool built only 10 years ago in 2007. The pool is 3 feet in the shallow end and 6 to 7 feet in the deep end. The pool is a saltwater pool and has approximately 25,000 gallons of water capacity. Below is my plan to get this pool back to its former glory days.


  1. Drain the pool of all water and organic debris
  2. Use an angle grinder to create a clean break line just below the existing tile
  3. Remove tile and remaining thinset with the use of a rotary hammer (chisel action) left behind by old tiles
  4. Clean all new debris from the pool
  5. Power wash the walls and floor of the pool
  6. Acid wash the pool walls and floor with muriatic acid
  7. (Do I need to do any prep if the existing substrate is solid?)
    1. I haven't measured it yet, but it appears that the existing void of the previous tile is approximately 1/2" deep which seems like a lot.
    2. I'm not entirely sure if I'll have to build up any sort of backing to compensate for this void
  8. Install new porcelain mosaic tile (link) using Custom Building Product's Megalite thinset
    1. I did call the manufacturer who confirmed that this product can be used in submerged applications
  9. Grout new tile using Custom Building Product's Prism (color is TBD)

20170605_185806.jpg20170605_185821.jpg

Does this plan seem like it'll work? Do I have all the necessary materials to get the job done? Any input you can give me would be greatly appreciated!
 
Be cognizant of water table level in your area prior to draining. A popped pool is no good.

I would bet you have a hydrostatic valve in the bottom of your pool if you have ground water.

Take care.
 
mknauss, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "a popped pool is no good."

I'm assuming my water table is quite low as I'm located outside of Cleveland, Ohio and my house is on a well system. The well is 200 feet below the surface, so I'm assuming that I should be ok ;)

The water in my pool isn't ground water, unfortunately it was what was in there from the previous owner and years of neglect. It's a standard pool setup with a 2HP pump, DE filter, natural gas heater, and salt cell. It just looks like ground water because I couldn't get all of the years of decomposed leaves out of the bottom, nor was I able to get the chemical balanced as a result. Draining and refinishing seemed like the logical step after several weeks and hundreds of dollars wasted.
 
IF you have a high water level around your pool, by removing the water from the vessel (pool shell) the vessel can heave out of the ground. That is what 'popped' means!

I realize your water IN the pool is not ground water. There are areas in the country were when they build the vessel (pool shell) they place a hydrostatic valve in the deep end so that IF water ever was drained out of the pool shell the ground water could enter the pool shell to keep it from 'popping' out of the ground!

Take care.
 
Just an update to my project so far. I've removed all the tile along the water line. Because the base material varied in depth from 1.5" to .5" and my tile is only 3/8" thick, I applied cement board as a substrate to compensate for the variation. The below pictures will show the progress so far.
20170703_194450.jpg

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More pictures...
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One quick question I had for the community is I found that my in wall ladder steps were cast of some type of cement/concrete and have deteriorated. I was able to remove one of the ladder steps intact. I also ordered replacement steps from Amazon.com. I think it would be easier to replace the removed steps with like steps. Does anyone know where I can purchase the below pictured in wall ladder step?
O0GChD-U99IOYLydqYcHcr92CaS-QmQ-O3xCdkTKaokQjzPmn1vxFMDsWgAPCuQr9glT5qqYpiJDnLckjrT9uHsHVqoIM9bEthQ3LLtQ7u6OolYO4gDYaBzSTZdBVWCnl9e154vTTsqt57FqFQHULK5XAivZpjFr1P_HvCrEwoicL2apDU8-BxBvbjH9m6YsR-Ed-QmpjZix3Lqbc3Eb5m_4Qv7GN99bV5gyU7gLLwgld08V5e7US9nrEZfQkkOnpNmTZKLY_XZiYsWUVX9FVtnJEGL-WwufQQqYDPTL0x5kUiWK5hc1ch9YAm3FGDZtiw_mC6JehOhbotmMxHolLbsMC35MTgX1dxrkUxTcvbP0GDGKogUz1PfNOs0hVrQm79HFgnwSH6HBVcp8eFAV6z6B9wX6mUUyeoPC2Q9kn02_QGRNUJd3n3waDThONO2HsUZth90rb2M4uatALPiNnRQ1zNHqCjvmjyG1MOiMb4Cqjhx1Z3hGmLbZILAECqMgmbGVGY8Tn87N6L-iSgVa7UzZoC_ymEXGU9IY_eWhZFzYxvPYcSrJ0lcSKl9URXnY8FxuWNVXDc3aefcaxvtmKClpj95zN3hg9V17u9S_jFfrbgkbkWa8jKk2ew=w591-h787-no

If I'm unable to find drop in replacements, I've ordered the below replacement step. I'm not quite sure how to install these steps. Has anyone had any experience installing these types of replacements? Any help you could provide would be very much appreciated!
61Hhh1LDzVL._SL1500_.jpg
 
Could you repost the picture below your sentence that says "I think it would be easier to replace the removed steps with like steps. Does anyone know where I can purchase the below pictured in wall ladder step?" as that photo did not show for me in your post.
 

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mknauss said:
IF you have a high water level around your pool, by removing the water from the vessel (pool shell) the vessel can heave out of the ground. That is what 'popped' means!

I realize your water IN the pool is not ground water. There are areas in the country were when they build the vessel (pool shell) they place a hydrostatic valve in the deep end so that IF water ever was drained out of the pool shell the ground water could enter the pool shell to keep it from 'popping' out of the ground!

Take care.
Click to expand...

What mknauss says is very sound advice. My hydrostatic drains were in the main drains. I would suggest removing your main drain covers and take a peak. One heavy rain and things could get ugly.
 
Hi Rookieremodeler,

From my understanding the steps you removed are no longer available. Unfortunately I don't have much experience on installing the new style steps but that is probably going to be your best route. You may want to contact Custom Molded Products and ask them if they can give you any assistance or documentation on on how to install there 25578-000-000 In Wall Pool Steps Here you may find Custom Molded Products Contact Information
 
So I've been meaning to update everyone on my progress. I finally finished the tiling around the waterline, and gutters. I never found a drop in replacement part for my in-wall stairs so I ended up just tiling them. Here are some pictures of the final product.

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w455/rookieremodeler/20170923_181616_zpsphxjvqxi.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w455/rookieremodeler/20170923_181558_zpszn35my4d.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w455/rookieremodeler/20170923_181558_zpszn35my4d.jpg

I did also want to thank everyone for their help and advice. It was very much appreciated! I'll have more pictures of us enjoying the pool next year as we will be closing the pool in about 4 days.
 
rookieremodeler said:
I'm assuming my water table is quite low as I'm located outside of Cleveland, Ohio and my house is on a well system. The well is 200 feet below the surface, so I'm assuming that I should be ok ;)
Click to expand...
I was told that the way the earth and shelves/plates/whatever terminology he used stack together you can have a really deep pocket of water not very far from a shallow one.

Pool looks great, btw, glad you didn't run into any issues.
 
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