Leak between spa wall and pool. Help!

[ajc77]

Hello. My pool is only 1.5 years old. Since February we started having water leak through one of the grout lines on the spa wall into the pool (spa is elevated and overflows into pool). The stream has grown and become more steady (original only leaked when pool was running, now always leaks a steady stream). Our pool company is saying it is normal and to just re-grout it. BUT I am concerned that there is now a significant amount of water in the wall - where is it coming from, and won't patching the grout just leave the water inside the wall to rot it... eventually finding it's way out somewhere else?

Please help! I need to somehow get the pool company to address the root of the problem (how the water is getting inside the wall). Any advice, recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Photo below

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

That is not normal and you are correct to fix the source of the water. The water could be from a leaking pipe in the pool/spa wall.

What does the other side of that wall look like? Show us other pics of both sides of the spa so we can see what the construction looks like.

@bdavis466 @jimmythegreek take a look.

 

[ajc77]

Thank you so much for your quick response. Here are some more photos of the pool (I am not home right now but can take more if needed):

 

[ajw22]

Nice looking pool. Looks like you have a fountain in the middle of the spa? What other water features do you have?

I am trying to get an idea of what plumbing you have and where it might run. I suspect you have a leaking pipe in the wall. If you do it is going it take some demo of your beautiful new pool to find it. I am sure the PB is going to look for ways not to do that. But I can not imagine that type of leak is coming through the other side of the pool wall.

Do you have any pics or vids of the pool while it was under construction?

 

[mguzzy]

...
The stream has grown and become more steady (original only leaked when pool was running, now always leaks a steady stream). Our pool company is saying it is normal and to just re-grout it. BUT I am concerned that there is now a significant amount of water in the wall - where is it coming from, and won't patching the grout just leave the water inside the wall to rot it... eventually finding it's way out somewhere else?

Please help! I need to somehow get the pool company to address the root of the problem (how the water is getting inside the wall). Any advice, recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Photo below...
[photo removed]

Yes, nice pool! Sounds like you are trying to get some information before you go back to the PB. The thing that makes me think its plumbing is that you said it originally happened only when the pumps were on, correct? Now that it happens all the time, does the flow increase when the pumps are on?

It would be useful to see what is on the wall on the other side of the leak. Is it possible to drain your spa and take some pics of the interior of the spa? Also if the leak continues or the flow changes with no water in the spa would be good to know as well.

Allen is right.. this is not normal.. and if his first assessment is right and it's plumbing related.. patching it with grout is going to be a classic Dutch Boy scenario

 

[ajc77]

Here are some construction progress photos I have on my phone:

 

[ajc77]

Yes, nice pool! Sounds like you are trying to get some information before you go back to the PB. The thing that makes me think its plumbing is that you said it originally happened only when the pumps were on, correct? Now that it happens all the time, does the flow increase when the pumps are on?

It would be useful to see what is on the wall on the other side of the leak. Is it possible to drain your spa and take some pics of the interior of the spa? Also if the leak continues or the flow changes with no water in the spa would be good to know as well.

Allen is right.. this is not normal.. and if his first assessment is right and it's plumbing related.. patching it with grout is going to be a classic Dutch Boy scenario

Yes - my goal is to be able to speak more informed with them rather than just insisting it is not just a grout issue.

The flow remains unchanged now when the pool is on or off - it is now just constant.

I can drain the spa when I get home from work and report back what happens and take some photos.

Thank you so much for the quick replies!

 

[ajw22]

The flow remains unchanged now when the pool is on or off - it is now just constant.

I can drain the spa when I get home from work and report back what happens

If the flow continues when all pumps are off then it is not likely to be a pipe leak.

Drain the spa and see if the leak flow stops after a while. That would indicate it is coming from the spa wall or floor.

See if it leaks when pumps are off and spa is drained.

You need to use a process of elimination to determine what starts and stops that leak flow.

Do you have the spa spillover running when in pool mode?

What valves do you have that can turn individual pipes off and on?

Good luck in your experiments.

 

[mguzzy]

If the flow continues when all pumps are off then it is not likely to be a pipe leak...

Thinking out loud here.. the OP said it originally leaked only when they ran the "pool" I presume he meant pumps. And now it leaks all the time. So I'm thinking whatever pipe was leaking has now filled the whatever chamber with water and it leaks all the time. I wonder if draining the spa will cause the chamber to drain.. or not running any of the returns to the spa... I'm looking forward to the results of your testing.

 

[ajw22]

The “chamber” could be the ground or pocket below the spa floor. Water could be coming from the pool, spa, pipes, ground water, or some combination of them.

To your point, when testing pumps off or spa drained wait a while to see if leak flow stops.

 

[ajc77]

Good Morning Everyone!

Thank you so much for your advice yesterday. I did in fact find a gap (pretty significant) between the granite piece that sits at the spillover and the wall it is sits on. The water is flowing over AND under the granite, which is causing water to sit in the wall between the spa and the pool, and it is then finding its way out the through the grout in the tiles.

My pool company sent me this forum thread 'to help me understand my GROUT problem' Leaking Tile band? - Swimming Pool Help and is INSISTING I don't have a true leak that grout on the tile cant fix. I am cutting my losses and hiring a leak detection company to remove the granite piece, seal the wall and the reinstall the granite with an actual seal this time to solve for the problem.

Very disappointed in my pool builder but at least the problem will be solved and save me significant reconstruction in the future.

Thank you again for all your help and validating my concerns!

 

[mguzzy]

Cool! glad you found the source of the leak.. that's half the battle. If water gets under the tiles/grout structure it will cause them to pop off when sediments or calcification deposits happen.

From what you are describing that sounds like something that was incorrectly done at the time of construction. And on a pool that is only 36 months old, I point the finger at the pool builder. If its a grout issue then he he needs to get the grout people out there an fix it. if the tiles were set in a way that allows water to flow underneath it then it wasn't affixed properly. They should fix it, IMHO. And If you have to hire someone else to fix their shoddy construction, send them the bill. Just say'n your going to spend a couple thousand (est) to fix something that should not have been an issue. Just my two cents.. It makes me grumpy to see people have issues with new pools and the PB's try to blow them off. OK.. I'll get off my soap box now.