Spa bond beam rebuild at a failed cold joint
This Deltona spa was leaking through cracks and separations along its tile line. The real problem sat underneath: the cold joint between the deck slab and the spa shell.
The tile had been set directly over the seam where those two separate pours meet. Over time the cold joint failed, the concrete above it softened, and the tile line cracked open with it. We cut back the decking along the beam and removed the deteriorated concrete from the joint upward. Next we installed an expansion joint, drilled and doweled rebar into the shell, and tied a continuous horizontal bar across the full length of the beam. With the beam formed, we poured new concrete back in place and reset the tile. The final step, not pictured, was spraying knockdown texture over the new concrete to match the existing deck.
The repair, step by step
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01
The spa drained down. The leak was along the tile line on the outer beam. -
02
The tile line up close: cracked, separated and rust-stained where the joint behind it had failed. -
03
Decking cut back to expose the cold joint. The concrete above it had gone soft. -
04
Deteriorated concrete removed from the joint upward, along the full length of the beam. -
05
The beam opened end to end, with the expansion joint set against the deck slab. -
06
Rebar drilled and doweled into the shell, then tied to a continuous horizontal bar across the entire beam. -
07
Forms set and braced along the beam. -
08
New concrete poured into the forms. -
09
Forms stripped: the rebuilt beam, ready for tile. -
10
Tile line reset on the new beam. -
11
The finished beam. Knockdown texture went on afterward to match the deck.
More about tile line cracks
Tile and bond beam leaks, typically caused by structural cracking and waterproofing failures.
Losing water and not sure where?
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