Well, it looks like we might finally have a short break from this unreal weather pattern of the past month. It hasn't rained here in 3 days, and the rain chances are very low through Friday. I'm going to do my moisture tests tomorrow, and if everything is clear we will start the Ultraguard application either Thursday evening or Friday morning.
Hopefully this will work out, because if we miss this window they are forecasting another week of rain starting sometime this weekend.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Rain, rain, go away
Well, we've been in a holding pattern for the last week. The prep work is 100% complete, but it has rained every day for the last 7 days straight. Sometimes it's just a light shower, sometimes buckets. We've had about 7-8" of rain over the last week, and of course even a little shower wets the concrete and we have to start the drying process over again. They're still forecasting rain through Wednesday, so it will probably be next weekend at the earliest before the concrete is dry enough to proceed with the Ultraguard.
In the meantime, I've been working on some of the pool equipment so that everything will be ready to go once we fill the pool back up. Over the next few days (weather permitting) I will be making the following changes to our pool equipment:
1) Adding a saltwater system for easier maintenance
2) Removing the old chlorine tablet feeder
3) Adding a 2-speed pump timer in place of the manual pump speed switch
The saltwater chlorinator is an Ecomatic ESC-36 system. I had narrowed it down to this unit or the Aquarite, which seems to be a really popular unit with the pool builders around here. Either of these units are rated up to 40,000 gallons - the more the better (you want an oversized unit so it will run less often, extending the life of the cell). The popularity of the Aquarite might mean having an easier time finding replacement parts when needed, but overall the Ecomatic seemed like a better unit. The cell on the Ecomatic is supposed to have one of the longest lifespans, and I like the fact that the cell is clear and you can actually see when it is generating chlorine. Installation of these units is pretty straightforward, so this is one area where even a marginally handy DIYer can save some money. Pool builders typically charge about $1000-1200 for one of these systems. I found a new Ecomatic unit on EBay for $600, so that's a nice savings by doing it myself.
One thing about saltwater generators - don't fall for the myth that they will save you money. By the time you factor in salt, replacing the cell every 4-5 years ($400) and the electricity to run the system, you're spending about as much as you would on chlorine over that time period. The real reason for getting a saltwater system is convenience. As for downsides, the main thing to be aware of is that there are a lot of reports of the saltwater corroding natural stone finishes on decking and water features. The saltwater itself is not particularly corrosive - it's like 1/20th the salt concentration of seawater. The problem is when the water gets splashed out on the deck or water features, and then the water evaporates and leaves the salt behind. We plan on combatting this by just rinsing down the deck and waterfall after we use the pool. If we have problems, there are sealants you can use to protect the stone from the salt, but they are pretty expensive. I haven't done exhaustive research, but I looked into one brand that my tile distributor sells, and it would cost me $500-700 to buy the materials to seal just our rock waterfall. So we will definitely try the "preventative maintenance" approach first, and see how that goes.
The next part of this project is straightforward - removing the old tablet feeder, which will no longer be used. The original pool builder did not know what they were doing (as evidenced by many things I've found in our pool), and plumbed the chlorinator in the wrong place. Any chlorinator - whether it be saltwater or tablets or whatever - should be plumbed in after the heater, right before the returns. Ours was plumbed in right after the pump, before the filter. The result of this negligence is that we no longer have a working heater for our spa. We've repaired it several times to try to keep it running, but the insides of the heater are so corroded out now that it's beyond repair. Now that we will have a saltwater system, we no longer need the tablet chlorinator. I could just leave it there, and I would if it were plumbed in the correct place, but I want to remove it so that no in the future will make the mistake of using it again.
The last part of the equipment project is adding a 2-speed pump timer. Last fall, we replaced the original 2HP pump with a 1.5HP 2-speed model. This mad a lot of sense because for our regular pool circulation, we only need a 3/4 HP pump, but we need more power to operate the spa jets when using the spa. This is basically what 2 speed pumps were invented for - run the pump in low speed for your circulation, and switch it to high speed as needed for vacuuming, running the spa, etc. When I originally installed the pump, I wired in a simple switch to change speeds - 90% of the time, we left it running in low speed, and when we needed high speed we just flipped a switch.
We noticed a few problems with this setup, however. First of all, the skimmer doesn't operate effectively (read - at all) in low speed, so we didn't get a lot of surface skimming. Second, we noticed that the water level in the spa was dropping, which was caused by the low pressure (from the pump in low speed) wouldn't operate the check valve correctly. As a result, the check valve would get hung open slightly, and water would backsiphon out of the spa into the pool. To solve this, it would be desireable to run the pump on high speed part of every day. In particular, running the pump for 30 minutes or so (we'll play with the exact timing when we're up and running) on high at the end of the pump cycle should reset the check valve in the spa, and skim whatever is floating on the surface. To accomplish this, we bought a special timer that connects between the on/off timer and the pump and can switch the pump speed at preset times.
So, that should keep me busy until we're ready to apply the Ultraguard. Look for an update later this week.
In the meantime, I've been working on some of the pool equipment so that everything will be ready to go once we fill the pool back up. Over the next few days (weather permitting) I will be making the following changes to our pool equipment:
1) Adding a saltwater system for easier maintenance
2) Removing the old chlorine tablet feeder
3) Adding a 2-speed pump timer in place of the manual pump speed switch
The saltwater chlorinator is an Ecomatic ESC-36 system. I had narrowed it down to this unit or the Aquarite, which seems to be a really popular unit with the pool builders around here. Either of these units are rated up to 40,000 gallons - the more the better (you want an oversized unit so it will run less often, extending the life of the cell). The popularity of the Aquarite might mean having an easier time finding replacement parts when needed, but overall the Ecomatic seemed like a better unit. The cell on the Ecomatic is supposed to have one of the longest lifespans, and I like the fact that the cell is clear and you can actually see when it is generating chlorine. Installation of these units is pretty straightforward, so this is one area where even a marginally handy DIYer can save some money. Pool builders typically charge about $1000-1200 for one of these systems. I found a new Ecomatic unit on EBay for $600, so that's a nice savings by doing it myself.
One thing about saltwater generators - don't fall for the myth that they will save you money. By the time you factor in salt, replacing the cell every 4-5 years ($400) and the electricity to run the system, you're spending about as much as you would on chlorine over that time period. The real reason for getting a saltwater system is convenience. As for downsides, the main thing to be aware of is that there are a lot of reports of the saltwater corroding natural stone finishes on decking and water features. The saltwater itself is not particularly corrosive - it's like 1/20th the salt concentration of seawater. The problem is when the water gets splashed out on the deck or water features, and then the water evaporates and leaves the salt behind. We plan on combatting this by just rinsing down the deck and waterfall after we use the pool. If we have problems, there are sealants you can use to protect the stone from the salt, but they are pretty expensive. I haven't done exhaustive research, but I looked into one brand that my tile distributor sells, and it would cost me $500-700 to buy the materials to seal just our rock waterfall. So we will definitely try the "preventative maintenance" approach first, and see how that goes.
The next part of this project is straightforward - removing the old tablet feeder, which will no longer be used. The original pool builder did not know what they were doing (as evidenced by many things I've found in our pool), and plumbed the chlorinator in the wrong place. Any chlorinator - whether it be saltwater or tablets or whatever - should be plumbed in after the heater, right before the returns. Ours was plumbed in right after the pump, before the filter. The result of this negligence is that we no longer have a working heater for our spa. We've repaired it several times to try to keep it running, but the insides of the heater are so corroded out now that it's beyond repair. Now that we will have a saltwater system, we no longer need the tablet chlorinator. I could just leave it there, and I would if it were plumbed in the correct place, but I want to remove it so that no in the future will make the mistake of using it again.
The last part of the equipment project is adding a 2-speed pump timer. Last fall, we replaced the original 2HP pump with a 1.5HP 2-speed model. This mad a lot of sense because for our regular pool circulation, we only need a 3/4 HP pump, but we need more power to operate the spa jets when using the spa. This is basically what 2 speed pumps were invented for - run the pump in low speed for your circulation, and switch it to high speed as needed for vacuuming, running the spa, etc. When I originally installed the pump, I wired in a simple switch to change speeds - 90% of the time, we left it running in low speed, and when we needed high speed we just flipped a switch.
We noticed a few problems with this setup, however. First of all, the skimmer doesn't operate effectively (read - at all) in low speed, so we didn't get a lot of surface skimming. Second, we noticed that the water level in the spa was dropping, which was caused by the low pressure (from the pump in low speed) wouldn't operate the check valve correctly. As a result, the check valve would get hung open slightly, and water would backsiphon out of the spa into the pool. To solve this, it would be desireable to run the pump on high speed part of every day. In particular, running the pump for 30 minutes or so (we'll play with the exact timing when we're up and running) on high at the end of the pump cycle should reset the check valve in the spa, and skim whatever is floating on the surface. To accomplish this, we bought a special timer that connects between the on/off timer and the pump and can switch the pump speed at preset times.
So, that should keep me busy until we're ready to apply the Ultraguard. Look for an update later this week.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Another update
Well, I bet you all thought I gave up. Rest assured the project is still moving along, and moving rapidly towards completion - now, at least. The biggest problem I've faced the last month has been the weather. There was a good 3 week period there where we didn't go more than a day or two without rain. In fact, I heard it was one of the wettest Mays on record for our area. Whenever the rain would let up, by the time I got the rainwater drained out of the pool (kind of neccesary for using electric grinders), it would start raining again.
Fortunately, the last week or so has been clear - and incredibly hot. But despite the heat, I've been knocking it out and I'm proud to say that the prep work is done! There's a little bit more touchup sanding I want to do tonight, and then I'll take some pictures to post. Barring anymore unforeseen setbacks, this project will be done this week! I'll start doing my moisture tests on Wednesday, and as soon as the concrete is dry enough, I'll proceed with the Ultraguard application. Check back in a couple of days for more updates.
Fortunately, the last week or so has been clear - and incredibly hot. But despite the heat, I've been knocking it out and I'm proud to say that the prep work is done! There's a little bit more touchup sanding I want to do tonight, and then I'll take some pictures to post. Barring anymore unforeseen setbacks, this project will be done this week! I'll start doing my moisture tests on Wednesday, and as soon as the concrete is dry enough, I'll proceed with the Ultraguard application. Check back in a couple of days for more updates.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Yes, I'm still here
Well, things have been crazy over the last few weeks. I did get the acid washing done right after my previous post, but not much has happened since then. Between bad weather and some health issues I had to deal with, there have only been a few days I could work on the pool. I also have been suffering from a lack of motivation - I admit I was a little overwhelmed when I saw how much patching had to be done. The good news is, I'm healthy again, the weather looks decent, and I'm motivated to get this thing finished within the next few weeks (before the heat gets miserable).
For the patching process, I will mostly be using the concrete mix recipe posted on the Ultraguard website. This mix consists of 2 parts screened sand to 1 part white cement, mixed with acrylic admix to a pancake-batter consistency. This appears to work well for the floors - for the wall I will have to mix it a little thicker, which is somewhat problematic because this stuff sets up very quickly.
I did experiment a little with this mixture and noticed a couple of things. First of all, I wasn't able to fill the deep holes in the plaster AND obtain a smooth, even surface with one coat - the holes are just too deep. So I will have to fill in the holes first, then go back over with a top coat to get the entire surface smooth and even. Second, when you mix this stuff thick enough to stick to the walls, it sets up VERY quickly (like 3-4 minutes after emptying it from the bucket). The first time I mixed it, I did a big batch and ended up scraping half of it off and pitching it because I couldn't work it fast enough. So patching the walls will be a somewhat lengthy process, because I will have to mix small batches over and over.
One more tip - at first I had trouble finding the white cement, so I bought a regular bag of portland cement instead. I wouldn't suggest this in hindsite. The chemical properties should be the same, but the darker cement is harder to work with, because for me at least it was harder to see how well it blended with the existing surface. Also, I started worrying if the Ultraguard would cover up the dark color completely (I'm still not sure about this). Fortunately, I was able to find some white cement last weekend, so I can start using it instead and will cover up the few areas I've already done with the darker stuff.
For the patching process, I will mostly be using the concrete mix recipe posted on the Ultraguard website. This mix consists of 2 parts screened sand to 1 part white cement, mixed with acrylic admix to a pancake-batter consistency. This appears to work well for the floors - for the wall I will have to mix it a little thicker, which is somewhat problematic because this stuff sets up very quickly.
I did experiment a little with this mixture and noticed a couple of things. First of all, I wasn't able to fill the deep holes in the plaster AND obtain a smooth, even surface with one coat - the holes are just too deep. So I will have to fill in the holes first, then go back over with a top coat to get the entire surface smooth and even. Second, when you mix this stuff thick enough to stick to the walls, it sets up VERY quickly (like 3-4 minutes after emptying it from the bucket). The first time I mixed it, I did a big batch and ended up scraping half of it off and pitching it because I couldn't work it fast enough. So patching the walls will be a somewhat lengthy process, because I will have to mix small batches over and over.
One more tip - at first I had trouble finding the white cement, so I bought a regular bag of portland cement instead. I wouldn't suggest this in hindsite. The chemical properties should be the same, but the darker cement is harder to work with, because for me at least it was harder to see how well it blended with the existing surface. Also, I started worrying if the Ultraguard would cover up the dark color completely (I'm still not sure about this). Fortunately, I was able to find some white cement last weekend, so I can start using it instead and will cover up the few areas I've already done with the darker stuff.
Friday, April 20, 2007
No grout about it...
Well, it's been a busy week since I last posted. First of all, we finished the grout! My dad and I worked on it last Sunday and finished about 3/4 of it. Then he came over Monday evening and we would have finished it but - I ran out of grout mix with only about 12-15' of waterline tile left! The instructions called for 24 lbs. of mix for 100 sq. ft. of 1x1 tile. I bought 50 lbs. of mix for ~85 sq. ft. of tile and ran short. Besides me being really sloppy and wasting a lot (note - grouting a vertical wall is a LOT messier than a floor), I think the biggest difference was in the 3/8" gap along the top of the tile, which was completely filled in with grout.
Anyway, a quick trip to Master Tile at lunch Tuesday to get another bag of grout, and the last bit of grouting was finished Tuesday afternoon. In the rain. Just a drizzle at first - then it really rained steady. I took the afternoon off to finish the grout before the rain came in, which according to the weatherman wasn't supposed to happen until that evening. As soon as I finished mixing the grout - you guessed it. I was determined to get it done (I originally had only planned on 1 day for grout), so I just stood there in the rain and finished it. For the most part it worked ok, but there was one place where water was leaking from under the deck into the pool, and every time I tried to cover up that hole with grout, it just washed it away. The rest turned out fine - here's a quick picture:
So with the tile finished and the end in site, I took the rest of the week off to work on this project. Who needs vacation days anyway? The original thinking was that I could do the prep for the Ultraguard on Weds. and Thurs. and then apply the coating Fri. and Sat. I quickly found out that wouldn't happen, because it takes 2-3 days after prep for the concrete to dry out enough to apply the Ultraguard. No problem, I would just get all the prep done and then apply the coating when I had a 4-5 day window of clear weather. The prep for the Ultraguard breaks down to these steps:
1 - Pressure wash the pool to remove any dirt and loose plaster.
2- Wash the pool with trisodium phosphate (TSP) to remove any grease and oils which can inhibit the acid wash to follow
3- Acid wash the pool to etch the plaster
4- Immediately wash again with TSP to neutralize the acid
5- Chip out any loose plaster and make repairs
6- Wait until concrete is dry (2-3 days, you do a moisture test in several areas to check)
7 - Apply Ultraguard (bond coat, wait a day, then top coat)
8 - Wait a day, fill pool
I've been studying these instructions for 3 months, and it doesn't really sound too bad. I feel like I was very prepared for all of these steps, so after 3 days work I am proud to say that I'm finished... with step 1. :(
That's right, it took me a good 2 1/2 days to finish all the pressure washing. This is primarily because my pool finish was in much worse shape than I thought. Almost immediately after I started pressure washing, I noticed large sections of the plaster just flying off exposing the raw gunite below. After doing a small section, I called Ken at Ultraguard to make sure I wasn't overdoing it. He assured me, all that loose plaster has to be removed. So I kept at it.
In retrospect, I might have been a little more thorough than necessary at this stage. Some areas of the plaster came off easily - the water sliced through it like the proverbial knife through butter. Other areas were more stubborn - they would flake and peel, but not come off all the way down to the gunite. But if I kept working them over with the water pressure, they would slowly erode away until they were mostly worn all the way down. I don't doubt that these areas needed to be removed, but I wonder if it could have been done more efficiently between the acid and manual chiseling. Oh well, hopefully the extra time spent here will save me a little time when I'm chipping out the weak plaster later.
I mentioned calling Ken earlier - I just wanted to take the time to say that he has been extremely helpful during all this. I know some people are following this blog specifically for information about Ultraguard, and some have said that they don't give the best customer service. And I've noticed that sometimes it takes awhile to get an email response, or they were somewhat short on the phone. I think a lot of that is because this is a small operation and they seem to be growing quickly (although that doesn't neccessarily excuse it). But I can say this - when it comes to assistance during the application of the product, none of that applies at all. I have called Ken 3 times in the last 4 days with questions, and only once did he not take my call immediately, and the other time he called me back with 2 minutes. Every time, he was extremely helpful and reassuring. That's just my 2 cents - I have no interest in the company other than if the product is as good as it sounds, I want the company to be around 12 years from now when it's time to apply a new top coat.
So, that's where I'm at now. Tomorrow morning I start all the washes, then the chip out. I have all weekend to work on this, and the weather should be nice, so hopefully I can make some good progress. I doubt I can finish all the patch work, because as you can see from the pictures there are a LOT of areas to patch. But hopefully I can finish the chip out, and maybe get some patching done. I'll try to keep updating each night as this moves along.
Anyway, a quick trip to Master Tile at lunch Tuesday to get another bag of grout, and the last bit of grouting was finished Tuesday afternoon. In the rain. Just a drizzle at first - then it really rained steady. I took the afternoon off to finish the grout before the rain came in, which according to the weatherman wasn't supposed to happen until that evening. As soon as I finished mixing the grout - you guessed it. I was determined to get it done (I originally had only planned on 1 day for grout), so I just stood there in the rain and finished it. For the most part it worked ok, but there was one place where water was leaking from under the deck into the pool, and every time I tried to cover up that hole with grout, it just washed it away. The rest turned out fine - here's a quick picture:
So with the tile finished and the end in site, I took the rest of the week off to work on this project. Who needs vacation days anyway? The original thinking was that I could do the prep for the Ultraguard on Weds. and Thurs. and then apply the coating Fri. and Sat. I quickly found out that wouldn't happen, because it takes 2-3 days after prep for the concrete to dry out enough to apply the Ultraguard. No problem, I would just get all the prep done and then apply the coating when I had a 4-5 day window of clear weather. The prep for the Ultraguard breaks down to these steps:
1 - Pressure wash the pool to remove any dirt and loose plaster.
2- Wash the pool with trisodium phosphate (TSP) to remove any grease and oils which can inhibit the acid wash to follow
3- Acid wash the pool to etch the plaster
4- Immediately wash again with TSP to neutralize the acid
5- Chip out any loose plaster and make repairs
6- Wait until concrete is dry (2-3 days, you do a moisture test in several areas to check)
7 - Apply Ultraguard (bond coat, wait a day, then top coat)
8 - Wait a day, fill pool
I've been studying these instructions for 3 months, and it doesn't really sound too bad. I feel like I was very prepared for all of these steps, so after 3 days work I am proud to say that I'm finished... with step 1. :(
That's right, it took me a good 2 1/2 days to finish all the pressure washing. This is primarily because my pool finish was in much worse shape than I thought. Almost immediately after I started pressure washing, I noticed large sections of the plaster just flying off exposing the raw gunite below. After doing a small section, I called Ken at Ultraguard to make sure I wasn't overdoing it. He assured me, all that loose plaster has to be removed. So I kept at it.
In retrospect, I might have been a little more thorough than necessary at this stage. Some areas of the plaster came off easily - the water sliced through it like the proverbial knife through butter. Other areas were more stubborn - they would flake and peel, but not come off all the way down to the gunite. But if I kept working them over with the water pressure, they would slowly erode away until they were mostly worn all the way down. I don't doubt that these areas needed to be removed, but I wonder if it could have been done more efficiently between the acid and manual chiseling. Oh well, hopefully the extra time spent here will save me a little time when I'm chipping out the weak plaster later.
I mentioned calling Ken earlier - I just wanted to take the time to say that he has been extremely helpful during all this. I know some people are following this blog specifically for information about Ultraguard, and some have said that they don't give the best customer service. And I've noticed that sometimes it takes awhile to get an email response, or they were somewhat short on the phone. I think a lot of that is because this is a small operation and they seem to be growing quickly (although that doesn't neccessarily excuse it). But I can say this - when it comes to assistance during the application of the product, none of that applies at all. I have called Ken 3 times in the last 4 days with questions, and only once did he not take my call immediately, and the other time he called me back with 2 minutes. Every time, he was extremely helpful and reassuring. That's just my 2 cents - I have no interest in the company other than if the product is as good as it sounds, I want the company to be around 12 years from now when it's time to apply a new top coat.
So, that's where I'm at now. Tomorrow morning I start all the washes, then the chip out. I have all weekend to work on this, and the weather should be nice, so hopefully I can make some good progress. I doubt I can finish all the patch work, because as you can see from the pictures there are a LOT of areas to patch. But hopefully I can finish the chip out, and maybe get some patching done. I'll try to keep updating each night as this moves along.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Update
Just thought I would give a little update of what's happened over the last week. Monday I started cleaning out all the thinset from the gaps between the tile. This was a big job, especially around the quarter round where I had to use a lot of thinset to get it to stick. During the process, I noticed a few lose tiles, so I started marking them with tape to go back and repair later.
I didn't get a chance to work on the pool again until tonight, when I finished removing the thinset from the gaps and re-set the loose tiles I had previously marked. So now the tile should be 100% ready for grouting. There is a front moving in and we are getting some rain, but it is supposed to clear out sometime Saturday morning. So the current plan is to grout on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday we should be able to start prepping for the Ultraguard application. This will require a total of 3 washes (TSP, acid, then TSP again), plus repairing all the damaged plaster by filling it in with thinset. Optimistically, I might be able to complete that on Sunday, but realistically I might need a session or two during the week to finish all the prep.
The Ultraguard application shouldn't take more than a couple of hours per coat, so this could easily be done in the evenings after work. So right now, I'm looking at being ready for the Ultraguard application by later next week, or next weekend at the worst. It's all coming together pretty quick now, and it's exciting to think that this project could be done and the pool filled again within the next week!
I didn't get a chance to work on the pool again until tonight, when I finished removing the thinset from the gaps and re-set the loose tiles I had previously marked. So now the tile should be 100% ready for grouting. There is a front moving in and we are getting some rain, but it is supposed to clear out sometime Saturday morning. So the current plan is to grout on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday we should be able to start prepping for the Ultraguard application. This will require a total of 3 washes (TSP, acid, then TSP again), plus repairing all the damaged plaster by filling it in with thinset. Optimistically, I might be able to complete that on Sunday, but realistically I might need a session or two during the week to finish all the prep.
The Ultraguard application shouldn't take more than a couple of hours per coat, so this could easily be done in the evenings after work. So right now, I'm looking at being ready for the Ultraguard application by later next week, or next weekend at the worst. It's all coming together pretty quick now, and it's exciting to think that this project could be done and the pool filled again within the next week!
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Tiling is done!
Well, setting the tile that is. I still need to grout, but this is a major milestone. The last couple of weeks have been hectic and I haven't had much time to work on the tile. Plus, we were having trouble figuring out how to finish the top of the spa, specifically how to handle the transition between the tile on the spa wall and the top of the spa. A simple butt joint wouldn't work, because the tile is just short of the top of the wall, so there would have been a > 1/4" grout line around the top, which wouldn't look right. We first picked out a blue quarter round that matched some of the blue in the tile perfectly, but when we laid it out it just didn't work.
After trying a couple more colors of quarter round, I then had the idea to do the top of the spa in 3x3 blue tile that matched the blue quarter round. I bought a few sheets of tile and laid it out, and again it just didn't look right. Then I thought about buying some coping tile with a bullnose edge and using that on top of the spa. Although we liked the looks of it, it would have required a lot of cutting, i.e. a lot of work. Also, it just didn't work well with the flagstone coping that already covers 2/3 of the top of the spa. We agreed that if we were going to do the the coping, we should tear out the existing flagstone around the spa and do the entire top of the spa in the same coping. That was way too much work and way out of the budget, so we nixed that idea.
Finally, it came to me - the reason the quarter round looked out of place was because you had a solid blue line around the edge of the spa, which stood out from the varied mosaic pattern. I picked up some black quarter round, and alternated it with the blue and that did the trick. Just by adding the second color, the quarter round blends in with the rest of the tile so much better.
So having solved that problem, I took today off work with the goal of getting all the tile set. I started by setting all of the quarter round, which was a very messy process. That's why there is so much thinset showing in the gaps around the quarter round. I had to slap a bunch of thinset on the back, then stick the tile to the corner. Then I put some thinset on the top of the spa and pushed it up against the back of the quarter round - backfilling the tile with thinset, so to speak. Then I put a skim coat of thinset on the entire top of the spa to raise the level a little bit, since the quarter round stuck up a little higher than the tile. Finally, after a last minute trip to the tile store (I was 2 sheets of tile short!) I laid all the tile on the top of the spa and the job was done.
Next up will be grouting on Monday, weather permitting. Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend.
After trying a couple more colors of quarter round, I then had the idea to do the top of the spa in 3x3 blue tile that matched the blue quarter round. I bought a few sheets of tile and laid it out, and again it just didn't look right. Then I thought about buying some coping tile with a bullnose edge and using that on top of the spa. Although we liked the looks of it, it would have required a lot of cutting, i.e. a lot of work. Also, it just didn't work well with the flagstone coping that already covers 2/3 of the top of the spa. We agreed that if we were going to do the the coping, we should tear out the existing flagstone around the spa and do the entire top of the spa in the same coping. That was way too much work and way out of the budget, so we nixed that idea.
Finally, it came to me - the reason the quarter round looked out of place was because you had a solid blue line around the edge of the spa, which stood out from the varied mosaic pattern. I picked up some black quarter round, and alternated it with the blue and that did the trick. Just by adding the second color, the quarter round blends in with the rest of the tile so much better.
So having solved that problem, I took today off work with the goal of getting all the tile set. I started by setting all of the quarter round, which was a very messy process. That's why there is so much thinset showing in the gaps around the quarter round. I had to slap a bunch of thinset on the back, then stick the tile to the corner. Then I put some thinset on the top of the spa and pushed it up against the back of the quarter round - backfilling the tile with thinset, so to speak. Then I put a skim coat of thinset on the entire top of the spa to raise the level a little bit, since the quarter round stuck up a little higher than the tile. Finally, after a last minute trip to the tile store (I was 2 sheets of tile short!) I laid all the tile on the top of the spa and the job was done.
Next up will be grouting on Monday, weather permitting. Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Tile update
Here are some more pics of the tile progress. All that's left is the top of the spa and the spa waterline.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Finally some tile
Today was my first day back to work, but I still had a couple of hours after work to lay some tile. I had planned to do a lot more tile work yesterday while I was still off work, but the previous 4 days of working on the pool caught up with me and I ended up resting most of the day. I did set a small section of tile yesterday, just to test how well everything sets up, and to get used to working with thinset with acrylic admix, since I have never used that formulation before.
Tonight I finished about 3/4 of the main pool waterline tile and the skimmer. Hopefully over the next couple of nights I'll get most of the tile finished. Here are a few pictures of how it's going so far.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
More Power!
At last I found the solution to speed up removing the thinset - a pneumatic chisel! The only problem was, my air compressor had a hard time powering it for very long. I ended up taking 3 days off work so I could make some progress on the pool, so I decided to go ahead and spend the money and rent a better air compressor. Now it turns out my compressor wasn't that bad, just slower, so when my friend Todd offered to help out over the weekend, I picked up another chisel and an air hose and we both went to work. It's a good thing too, because between the two of us it took the better part of 3 days to finish removing all of the thinset and clean up.The first day was plagued with several technical 
difficulties. Besides the requisite dozen trips to the hardware store, we quickly found that the $10 Harbor Freight air chisels (the only ones they had in stock) were good for about 30-60 minutes of work before blowing out. After going through 4 of them in 1 day, I ended up returning them and bought some decent Ingersol Rand chisels from Northern Tool - at $50 a pop! Still, it was worth it considering we would still be chiseling away if we didn't have them.
difficulties. Besides the requisite dozen trips to the hardware store, we quickly found that the $10 Harbor Freight air chisels (the only ones they had in stock) were good for about 30-60 minutes of work before blowing out. After going through 4 of them in 1 day, I ended up returning them and bought some decent Ingersol Rand chisels from Northern Tool - at $50 a pop! Still, it was worth it considering we would still be chiseling away if we didn't have them. On Sunday afternoon, we finished the last bit of chiseling - a full hour before the rented compressor had to be returned! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon sweeping and vacuuming up all the debris, and finally hosed down everything to get rid of the dust. After 2 long weeks, all the prep work for the tile job was done, and we were finally ready to lay tile.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Careful with that (chisel) Eugene
So it's the first weekend in March, and the project is officially underway. As I began draining the pool, my highly skilled apprentice startedremoving the old tile from around the spa. I thought this would be one of the most labor intensive parts of the project, but I was wrong. The old tile came off fairly easy, but there was a ton of thinset left behind. Since Ryan had the chiseling mastered, I began to look for ways to more easily remove the old thinset. I experimented with acid, angle grinders, and even manual chiseling (which worked, but would take me until retirement to complete).So over the course of the first 2 weekends in March, Ryan removed tile and I cleaned up and tried to remove thinset. By the end of the second weekend (my birthday), we had achieved our goal of removing all of the tile and everything was cleaned up. And I was on the verge of finding the solution to our thinset problem.
Friday, March 2, 2007
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Well, mostly the ugly. As it neared 13 years old, our pool was in pretty desperate shape. We've had our share of the usual mechanical problems - bad check valves, cracked filter, even replaced the main pump last fall with a nice new 2-speed model. But cosmetically, the pool was ready for a complete makeover.
Large sections of tile around the raised spa had come loose and fallen off. At first I tried to patch these areas (as did the previous owner gauging by the copious amounts of putty in some areas), but eventually I gave up the battle and decided at some point we would just replace the old tile completely. Besides, neither of us really liked the old tile pattern anyway, so no big loss. 
The plaster finish was in similar condition, and was worsening each season. What began as several splotchy areas which appeared shortly after we bought the house (damn that inspector!) eventually turned into all out failures, with several areas worn all the way through to the gunite. Besides being an eyesore, these problems also made it very uncomfortable for the kids to use the pool because the rough plaster really tears up your feet. 
Over a year ago, I started looking into solutions to the problem. The tile work was something I decided to tackle myself pretty much from the beginning. I've tiled a couple of floors in our home and am fairly competant with a trowel, so that seemed like an excellent opportunity to save some money. So, I just had to find someone to replaster the pool, or so I thought. If you haven't ever tried to get a recommendation for someone to refinish a pool, it is definitely an eye-opening experience. Everyone I asked gave me an answer along the lines of "well we used so-and-so, but I wouldn't recommend him". I found that it was nearly impossible to find someone who is happy with their pool refinishing job. So before I hired someone to do it, I wanted to know why it was so darned hard so I knew what to look for and what questions to ask.
The more I read about the subject, the more I began to dislike plaster as a pool finish. Sure, that original plaster job might last you 15 years, but after that you are lucky to get 5-7 years out of plaster. The profit margins appear to be pretty high on these jobs, so it's no wonder they keep being pushed as the "standard" resurfacing technique. Looking for alternatives to plaster led me in the usual directions Google will send you - fiberglass refinishing products and 2-part epoxies. After reading all the pros and cons of each, I decided to go with an industrial epoxy called Ultraguard. We'll see if it lives up to its hype as the project proceeds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)