Regrouting swimming pool

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Torrox_campo
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Regrouting swimming pool

Postby Torrox_campo » Mon Oct 01, 2018 2:00 pm

Could someone who has done this before advice the method and materials to regrout the swimming pool tiles.
Came back a few days ago, we emptied the "green soup" water and started to clean the tiles and the grouts. We used a fine wire brushes for the grouts and stiff brush on the tiles. This is on going at the moment.
Someone says we need to "acid wash" then regrout with proper swimming pool grouting. There seems to be some chlorine deposite on the surface of the tiles, can we use agua fuerte to wash them and if agua fuerte is used for acid wash do we use it neat or mixed with water?
Thank for any advice.

TorreDelAguila
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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby TorreDelAguila » Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:47 pm

Dilute the a.f. with water (try 50:50, always adding the acid to water, not the other way round - safety).
This should very quickly dissolve the limescale - and will also attack the grout - without much effort.
Wash off immediately afterwards with plenty of water.
Googles, gloves, covered arms etc....
Chris

Torrox_campo
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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby Torrox_campo » Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:07 am

Thank you TorreDelAguila! Have you done the regrout before and what grout would you recommend?

olive
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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby olive » Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:30 am

Good question

years ago , I bought a "blade" type hand tool for raking out grout. I have never had occasion to use it. I suspect on a swimming pool it would take forever. I have seen powered tools, basically a disc which clears grout out. Obvious danger is it slipping and seriously damaging the tiles.


My question would be : Whilst applying grout over a worn area would work, isn't there a problem with where it meets a good area. i.e. isn't it liable to flake off as it is too thin ?

Has anyone ever had their whole pool overhauled by cleaning all the old damaged grout out and regrouting the lot? If so how long did it take and how much did it cost approx.?

TorreDelAguila
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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby TorreDelAguila » Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:13 am

Torrox_campo wrote:Thank you TorreDelAguila! Have you done the regrout before and what grout would you recommend?
Standard grout - which can be very fast to apply, which is why it's used - will last maybe 5+ years, but is slowly attacked (dissolved) by the mildly acid water in the pool. This is exacerbated by regularly adding acid to the pool, if pH is over-corrected.

A sturdy alternative is epoxy grout, used in professional/municipal pools, and also for tiling in hospitals, food-handling areas, etc. Life of epoxy grout is pretty much indefinite, as it actually adheres to the (glass) mosaic pool tiles, rather than just sitting between them, and is also acid resistant.

If you would like details of epoxy grout, send me a PM with your e-mail address, and I can mail you details of how to obtain and use it.
Chris

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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby TorreDelAguila » Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:40 am

Hi Olive,

Old/loose grout does need raking out, hopefully leaving the mosaic tiles still adhered. Never tried doing it with a power tool, but if it can be done without damaging the mosaics (which are glass), then I can't see why not; would need doing with a bit of care.

New grout will adhere well to remains of the old (if it is clean), and, yes, best to avoid very thin layers of it. After raking out damaged/loose grout, a good jet-wash will chase out any loose old grout - and also chase off any badly-adhered mosaics. These can be stuck down again with a pool-quality glass tile adhesive (not grout, unless epoxy).

I had re-grouted bits of our pool with standard grout, but never managed to get on top of some of the original stuff (no more than about 5 years old) falling out and disappearing. The pool would leak - past the missing grout - and soak into the base concrete. It is only good grout, and impermeable tiles, that stops a pool from leaking. After a bit of research and some recommendations, I opted to completely re-grout it with epoxy. That was 10+ years ago, and the new grout is as good as the day it was done.
Chris

Torrox_campo
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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby Torrox_campo » Tue Oct 02, 2018 2:16 pm

Thanks TorreDelAguila for your advice.
Our French neighbour did his swimming pool last year and when he cleaned our pool, when we were away, he said that the tiles joints are very bad as the brushes rollers made noise when going up/down uneven surface. We then left the pool unattended over the summer in order to regrout. I had a Karcher jet wash and a grout removal hand held tool but they are in England so the job here is very slow and tedious. Had just bought a small drainage pump to get rid of the waste as we washing down and a main pump capacitor as it blown up during 4 hours emptying last week.

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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby Nicknjh23 » Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:23 am

I’m interested in details of the epoxy grout please

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Re: Regrouting swimming pool

Postby Nicknjh23 » Sat Jun 06, 2020 5:25 pm

TorreDelAguila wrote: Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:13 am
Torrox_campo wrote:Thank you TorreDelAguila! Have you done the regrout before and what grout would you recommend?
Standard grout - which can be very fast to apply, which is why it's used - will last maybe 5+ years, but is slowly attacked (dissolved) by the mildly acid water in the pool. This is exacerbated by regularly adding acid to the pool, if pH is over-corrected.

A sturdy alternative is epoxy grout, used in professional/municipal pools, and also for tiling in hospitals, food-handling areas, etc. Life of epoxy grout is pretty much indefinite, as it actually adheres to the (glass) mosaic pool tiles, rather than just sitting between them, and is also acid resistant.

If you would like details of epoxy grout, send me a PM with your e-mail address, and I can mail you details of how to obtain and use it.
Hello. Where can I get epoxy grout from ? Many thanks


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