Spillover Flow and Travertine Etching

[ACastillo]

I'm in my 3rd year of a new pool, that has been run under the TFP method from the beginning. Never had any water issues, and other than having trouble at times sourcing liquid chlorine, it's been a mostly "trouble free pool".

Recently, we started to notice that the spillover from our hot tub wasn't flowing cleanly over the tile, and would instead run down the split faced stone under the pool side of the spillover. This has gotten progressively worse and now happens from both edges of the spillover. I clean my filter cartridges about 3 times a year, and even after cleaning the cartridges there is no improvement of the flow over the spillover. Just this past weekend, I noticed that the travertine tiles that make up the spillover are loose and water is seeping under the tile and coming out from under the tile on the pool side of the spillover.

I reached out to our pool builder, to see if there was anything they could do, and they of course asked for my water chemistry logs, which I provide to them. Their response after reviewing the water chemistry was first that I was already out of the 2 year tile and coping warranty, but second they said I had aggressive water and the flow issue was likely due to etching of the travertine tile by the aggressive water. He said that I might try polishing the stone to see if I can restore a nice clean edge to the spillover.

I'm not sure I agree with his conclusion that I have "aggressive water," or if the tile etching is a likely issue. I feel like the spillover tiles being loose probably allows some of the water to flow under the stone, and may also affect surface tension on the pool side edge of the spillover.
Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

If the travertine is loose and you can lift it by hand, then the thinset or mortar used to attach it has failed. They need to be reattached and secured. My gut feeling is you need to pull them all up and check the integrity of the spa wall in that area. You might reach out to the pool builder and ask them who the stone mason or tile subcontractor was that did the work and then see if they will come out and give you an estimate of what it will cost to fix it. Like replacing a window, it could be as simple as popping in a new window frame or as complex as finding rotten headers and sills and needing to remediate a wall.

And, of course, the PB will always say your water chemistry is off because that allows them to avoid any warranty work.