South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - STARTUP PHASE

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

Water is now over most of the steps. I noticed that the water has washed away the plaster in between the subway tile step markers. It remains in some places and appears to be pure mortar in others. Is this common or considered acceptable? Wanted to get everyone's thoughts here before ringing the finish subcontractor.

1d199565ec2c1c56037a8ebca780abc4.jpg


dbbd54b12730f98b31866f0c31fd4fa7.jpg




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

You should see what brushing will do. The aggregate is probably too large to get into those grout lines so they were hopefully grouted with a color similar to the plaster. The plasterer should have acid washed most of the plaster away in those areas. If not, brushing might help.

I'd shoot the plasterer a phone call and maybe email some pictures to get their take on it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

From what I have read, the tiles should have been laid with thin set mortar and once set, they clean out the lines between and place grout in between the tiles before doing the pool plaster. Do you know if they grouted yours?
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

JoyfulNoise said:
You should see what brushing will do. The aggregate is probably too large to get into those grout lines so they were hopefully grouted with a color similar to the plaster. The plasterer should have acid washed most of the plaster away in those areas. If not, brushing might help.

I'd shoot the plasterer a phone call and maybe email some pictures to get their take on it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding. You hit it. Just spoke to the plasterer and it was exactly that. It's not that the finish is being washed off, it's that the finish was over applied on top of the grout (quite a bit if you look at it).

The PB's tile crew grouted the marker tiles with dark grey grout to match the spa (which looks great with grey grout). Since the marker tiles were sitting on a concrete shell and mortar/thinset I never thought about it being grouted different than the plaster. Clearly I was assuming the plaster got applied on top of the tile, which now thinking about it that doesn't make any sense but just a rookie oversight. Oh man, this was a big rookie mistake!

So while the plasterer is going to come back and scrape off the plaster on the grout, I still think it's going to look horrendous with dark grey concrete-like grout against a whitish based plaster. It is also going to take away so much of the definition of the subway style. What other options if any should I be considering or talking to the PB about? I really wish they would have advised us on this, I can't imagine this is the norm when you use grey grout on waterline tile or spa tile.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

Well for a lot of pools, marker tiles are busy stand alone 1"X1" tile set 12-18" apart. You have a long strip of them which requires grouting.

The only truly permanent fix is to drain the water down below the tile, VERY CAREFULLY REMOVE THE GROUT, and regrout with a color that is closer to the plaster creme color.

Sorry dude. That's all I got....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

JoyfulNoise said:
Well for a lot of pools, marker tiles are busy stand alone 1"X1" tile set 12-18" apart. You have a long strip of them which requires grouting.

The only truly permanent fix is to drain the water down below the tile, VERY CAREFULLY REMOVE THE GROUT, and regrout with a color that is closer to the plaster creme color.

Sorry dude. That's all I got....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks, Matt. That's what I prepared myself for. I'll have to go to the PB on this one. But I'm expecting to have them clean the plaster off the grout and see what it looks like cleaned up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

grumpiebk said:
Yea, this was definitely what I was expecting. But candidly, I didn't know any better to think about grout on the tile.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

And I am sorry to say I did not know about it either. I am learning something from this with you. I wish I knew about it before so you were not going through this worry.

So grout for the tile on the steps and shelf should be thought about with an eye on just using the plaster. Will try to file that one away for the future.

:hug: I am sorry I was not able to head this off :(

Kim:kim:
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

BigEinAZ said:
It will look fine after the plaster is cleaned off and the gray grout exposed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have to agree. I think once you get the excess plaster cleaned off, the grout will look fine. I think the biggest downside of the dark grey grout is that it kind of hides the individual nature of each tile so that they all seem to blend into one another (at least that's how the picture looks, maybe it's different in person). With a grout as light as the plaster, the individual shape of each tile will have come out more.

I say get the excess plaster cleaned off, let the break in period run it's course and see how it goes. Over time, chlorine and sun exposure is going to bleach the grout to a lighter shade anyway.
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

kimkats said:
And I am sorry to say I did not know about it either. I am learning something from this with you. I wish I knew about it before so you were not going through this worry.

So grout for the tile on the steps and shelf should be thought about with an eye on just using the plaster. Will try to file that one away for the future.

:hug: I am sorry I was not able to head this off :(

Kim:kim:
Click to expand...

No worries Kim. It still looks beautiful. I think this is the epitome of what I was missing form my PB in the build tho. I wish there was a 2 way street of guidance. Asking us what our preference is, but also advising us on what is common or what may not make sense.

Thinking back to how this played out, I remember vividly. I was at work and the tile guys showed up at the house. They asked my wife about grout and offered an off white or grey. We asked what they recommended and they said grey. We confirmed as we really liked the look on the spa. I wish they would have said "also for the marker tiles?" or "well that may not make sense on the marker tile because of your plaster". We never connected the dots that the marker tile would be grouted. And even after they were laid, I didn't realize they were grouted (shame on me for that one).

The plasterer offered to come on Monday to remove the excess plaster from the grout and reassess. He also said he is willing to speak with the PB about what could be done, leading on that they may be willing to address it. Honestly though, draining the pool, removing the grout (without damaging the plaster), and regrouting or replastering may be more headache or risk than it is worth. So there is a very good chance we follow Matt's advice (again).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

Leave it alone. The grey will fade with time and the excess plaster on top of the grout will eventually work its way off. Their fix will probably be an acid bath which will needlessly dissolve more of the plaster and that is exactly what your new pool does not need.

I'm sure they grouted the tile because the aggregate wouldn't fit in the narrow spaces between the tiles.
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

grumpiebk said:
... So there is a very good chance we follow Matt's advice (again).
Click to expand...

Considering my daily consciousness can be described with the spectrum of "mildly inebriated" to "vastly incapacitated", those words should send shivers down anyone's spine...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

Pool is full, filling spa now. Meter reading is almost exactly 18,000 gallons since starting fill yesterday at 2pm. I'm guessing we've probably used 1,000 gallons inside the home, so I'm betting we are closer to 17,000 gallons. Fill test coming soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

JoyfulNoise said:
Considering my daily consciousness can be described with the spectrum of "mildly inebriated" to "vastly incapacitated", those words should send shivers down anyone's spine...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ha! Every time you are logical, I say "MAN, Matt made sense again." I've usually had a few drinks around that time tho. Although, I think the only thing I've gone against you for is the handheld controller circa 1980. Screenlogic kit will be here Monday, compliments of the PB (he took the controller back).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

grumpiebk said:
Ha! Every time you are logical, I say "MAN, Matt made sense again." I've usually had a few drinks around that time tho. Although, I think the only thing I've gone against you for is the handheld controller circa 1980. Screenlogic kit will be here Monday, compliments of the PB (he took the controller back).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That's ok. As bdavis466 (or, the "original" Brian) will tell you, my taste is music should not be trusted as well -

A Flock Of Seagulls- Space Age Love Song - YouTube
 
Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - INTERIOR FINISH PHASE

You know me all too well Brian! It's like...we're long lost twins!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply