UNM reopened Johnson’s Olympic pool after renovations in March, and the pool already needs repairs.
Tiles surrounding the pool are coming up from the floor, and Johnson Center staff taped them down with duct tape. Aquatics Manager Kenneth Lucas said people who have used the pool have complained about the uneven tiles.
“You see that there is cracked tile — there is duct tape over tile, and people have brought that to our attention,” Lucas said. “They’ve said, ‘Look, this is brand new tile, why is it cracking?’ or ‘Why is there this huge expansion joint that’s dirty?’”
UNM spent 2 percent — or $114,600 — of the $5,667,000 renovation cost on the tile floor, and the Vernon Tile one-year warranty means UNM won’t foot the bill to fix the tiles.
But the warranty is void if UNM waits until after March to get the tiles fixed, Lucas said, so the repairs can’t wait until summer.
Robert Notary, Johnson Pool project manager, said Vernon Tile has already done multiple repairs, but there are still problems with the tiles.
“I think it’s more of a cleanliness issue and my biggest worry is that if it’s not great, it’s going to be a problem down the road,” Lucas said. “Then we’ll have to rip it all out. We want to get the tile in there right now so it’s not two years down the road we’ll have to replace it. That would not be cheap.”
Lucas said expansion joints are the caulking between tiles that allow for expansion so tiles don’t break.
Notary said the tiles will be fixed over winter break.
Lucas said before these renovations, concrete surrounded the pool instead of tiles. He said latest renovations included a new pool bottom, filters, motors and the tiled deck.
“I guess the aesthetic part is the deck of the pool,” Lucas said. “It used to be concrete with paint on top, which was a bad idea. We took that out and put tile on it. Tile was a great idea, but if we’re having any issues after the project, I would say tile is the biggest one.”
Notary said replacing the tiles and re-caulking is a big endeavor.
“We’re going to have the pool shut down for about two weeks to accomplish that,” Notary said. “It’s quite a bit of work involving tile replacement and expansion joint modifications.”
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Tracy Ljone, UNM swim coach, said the renovations to the pool were beneficial for her team, even though practices have been canceled because of ongoing repairs.
“We’ve used it every day since it’s been remodeled,” she said. “I think overall the remodels are great. It’s nice and bright and there are new windows so the sun and air comes in. They’re having a little bit of problems with tiles coming up, but for the most part we’re very pleased with it.”
Abel Sanchez, UNM diving coach, said the popped-up tiles aren’t pleasing to the eye, but the pool itself hasn’t had problems.
“The pool is nice. It does the job,” he said. “The tiles are having issues. I know that they kind of did a poor job and you’ll see corners that are coming up with duct tape over them and the expansion joints are way too big or way too small. The pool itself is holding up, though.”
Notary said Johnson pool is about 50 years old.
