Pool Tile Repair in Hudson Bend, Texas

Lake Travis water and the tile band

Travis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 17, known as WCID 17, covers about 99.4% of Hudson Bend's Census area on the Texas Water Development Board's map, and it serves the Lake Travis South area along RR 620 from FM 2222 to Highway 71 West. The district draws from Lake Travis, and its 2025 report lists hardness of 185 ppm (182 to 185), calcium of 38.5 ppm, magnesium of 21.5 ppm and alkalinity of 156 ppm (142 to 156), with a pH of 7.81 from its 2024 sampling. It describes its water as moderately hard to hard, 10.64 to 10.82 grains per gallon, averaging 10.73.

Deposits behind the tile

LATICRETE says pool water that runs too high in pH leaves mineral deposits on tile and grout, especially at the waterline, and that deposits forming beneath the tile can press it loose. Water that runs too low in pH etches cement grout until it turns rough or falls apart, and the mortar under the tile follows. A tile that sounds hollow has delaminated, which the National Plasterers Council defines as a material separating from itself or from the surface it was bonded to.

Joints that let the band move

LATICRETE calls for movement joints every 8 to 12 feet in each direction in a tiled pool, on top of any joints carried up from the shell, to allow for long-term moisture expansion and for shrinkage when the pool is emptied. It names poor preparation and cleaning of the shell as a primary cause of failure in the waterproofing and leveling mortars that sit under pool tile.

Lowering the water under the district's drought plan

Regrouting at the waterline starts with the water brought down below the tile, not a full drain, and both lowering and refilling fall under WCID 17's drought plan, adopted June 20, 2024. The district's Stage 1 notice, dated July 15, 2025, limits watering to twice a week while combined storage in Lakes Buchanan and Travis stays above 900,000 acre-feet. Stage 2 narrows draining and refilling to three cases, rain-raised water, pool parts that have turned hazardous and leak repairs, with the water sent onto pervious ground, and in Stage 4 a single-family pool may be filled only if it is kept covered when not in use. The stage is checked before the water comes down.

Refilling after the tile cures

LATICRETE asks for at least 14 days at 70°F before refilling over latex-fortified cement grout and 10 days over epoxy grout, while Oceanside Glass & Tile asks for at least 21 days unless the setting-material maker says otherwise. LATICRETE then refills at about 2 feet per 24 hours, so water pressure reaches the tile gradually, warns against running cold fill water into a shell heated by days of sun, and keeps the fill water within 10°F of the shell.

Where lowered water goes

In unincorporated Travis County, the only pool water allowed into a storm sewer or state waters is uncontaminated, dechlorinated water from a residential pool, spa or fountain, and even that only if it doesn't add substantial pollutants; filter backwash and saltwater are excluded.

A bend in the Colorado River before the lake

Wiley Hudson, an emigrant from Arkansas, secured a land grant in 1854 near a bend of the Colorado River, and the bend and the farming settlement took his family's name, the Handbook of Texas records. LCRA and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built Mansfield Dam, first called Marshall Ford Dam, from 1937 to 1942, and with Lake Travis the community lost nearly half of its roughly 4,000 acres. Developers laid out the first subdivisions, Hudson Bend Colony No. 1 and No. 2, in the 1940s, farmland gave way to homes, and marinas and lodges grew up along the lake. Hudson Bend received a Texas Historical Marker in 1978, and by the end of the 20th century much of its population was retirees and Austin commuters. In a straight line, its Census center point lies about 11.7 miles south-southwest of Leander's.