Water Level Tile Repairs

[bgray9]

Hi,

We had our pool redone four years ago and we've had some problems with the quality of work done by the company. We recently discovered that we have some slow leaking out the side of the pool and I've found that in places the grout/concrete between the water level row of tiles is decaying and in at least a few places the top part of the grout joining two tiles is gone, so I'm surmising that water gets through that and finds its way out into the ground beside the pool. The pool redo only came with a two year warranty on the water level tiles. It seems like the areas behind these tiles are such that when water goes through/over the water level tiles, it may sit in places (or leak out the side into the ground). So I wanted to ask what suggestions/options people have for how to deal with this problem. Do we have to tear out the tile and have it all redone or the grout/concrete between the tiles be reinforced where needed or something?

Also, we're in the Phoenix area, so if anyone has suggestions of good companies that could address this for us, that would be great. I don't really want to go back to the company that did the poor job to begin with.

Thanks so much!

 

[ajw22]

Some pics of the problem areas may help us better understand your situation.

Can you post your water chemistry? Poor water balance can dissolve grout.

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Water temp
CSI

 

[bgray9]

FC - 3
CC - 0
pH - 7.4
TA - 50
CH
CYA - 40
Water temp - 80
CSI

I'll get a few pictures tonight.

 

[ajw22]

CH?

Depending on your CH level you could have a very aggressive CSI or not.

What temperature does your pool water get down to in the winter?

 

[bgray9]

It gets down into the 50s at times in the winter.

I haven't checked CH lately, but it was fairly high last time I checked.

 

[ajw22]

Need CH to figure out CSI.

What pH do you keep your pool at in the winter?

With your chemistry as above and CH of 500 you get an aggressive CSI with water at 50. You need to keep your pH at 7.8 in the winter to offset that. If your water caused your grout loss that is the reason. You need to keep your CSI above -0.3 through the winter.

 

[bgray9]

In the winter the ph is generally pretty high, around 7.8 or so. The 7.4 I have now is lower than typical.

CH is about 950. I'll get a few pics up soon.

 

[bgray9]

So, here are some pictures. The first two are showing the area where the leak is. In this area are my pool refill, a return line, and sprinkler line for the grass. I'm pretty sure the leak is from the pool, as the third picture shows the water trickling slowly from the dirt just under the concrete and tile side of the pool decking. I put some food coloring in the pool refill and plugged it up from going in the pool for a couple days to see if any food coloring in the water came out the leak, but none did, so I don't think there is a problem with the pool refill. I also did a bucket test and didn't see a noticeable difference between the water in the pool and in the bucket. The last two pictures are a couple examples of where the grout/concrete between the waterline tiles are decaying (it was hard to get a good angle and picture for this). I tend to not think it is an issue with the water (though I certainly could be wrong), as most of the decay is at the top, where the grout has a lot less contact with the grout/concrete than it does lower down, where it is under water all the time. A lot of the waterline tiles don't have any decay between them, but there are at least a handful that have decay similar to these last two pictures.

Could it be as simple as lowering the water level a bit and me putting some grout/concrete back in to fill in the spots?

 

[bgray9]

Any thoughts? Thanks.