Spa Spillover Wall Cracks and Tiles

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mguzzy

mguzzy

Gold Supporter
Jul 8, 2015
3,926
California, somewhere in the middle
So I thought I would throw this out there to see if anyone has any experience with this. It's something I can mull over in the coming years. The spillover wall on our attached spa loses tiles. When we bought the house the previous owners told us this would happen (as she handed me the two loose tiles) and said the pool company told them it was from the expansion and contraction of the spillover wall when the spa is heated. I have seen later builds by this same pool builder and the spillover wall is thicker. in fact you can see where cracks have developed in the spillover wall over time likely from the thermal expansion. It was decided then that if it was leaking, it was leaking into the pool. So nothing was ever done about it. When we bought the house the pool was already almost 10 years old.. that was 20 years ago. Anyway here are my two questions.

-In the short term it would be nice to glue the tiles and edge tiles back on. I have used several different epoxies and adhesives but have not found a good material to bond them back that seems to work for more than a year or two. I'm guessing because of the flexing of the wall. or other issue. Does anyone have a suggested glue or epoxy for this?

-In the long term I expect to have the pool replastered at some point and figured I could thicken the spa wall at that point. I have read on the forum where it was possible to make change at the gunite level during a chipout and replaster. Can this be done? Would that work to address this issue? Does anyone have any insights as to weather this is worth it or possible and what I should be looking out for when we do it.
TIA
 
Show us some pics of your spillover area and what you are dealing with.

@bdavis466 may have sone thoughts once your pics are posted.
 
Pics as requested.. . These cracks have been there for years... decades. They don't seem to change.. What does change is the auto-pop-off tiles. The black edge tiles on the outside of the curve pop off most often. That seems to support the premise that as the spa expands with heat hey pop off. Eventually I will get enough of them to mix up a batch of something and glue them back on.. I should add a pick of the whole arc.
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The pics you posted show deteriorated grout with cracks. On a spillover that lets water get behind the tiles and erode the tile bond with the thinset. Its the same way the Grand Canyon was formed. Flowing water causes erosion.

I had the problem of tiles popping off my spa until I started carefully checking the grout lines ever year for even hairline cracks and filling them in. Once I began annual grout maintenance I have not had any tile issues.

Fix your grout and maintain it and you will fix your tile issues. You may have to remove and reattach tiles that have lost most of its adhesion.
 
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I don't think you have a structural problem with the wall.

@bdavis466 has commented before on the best process for tiles on a spillover.
 
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