This article is dedicated to featuring Steve Pool: A Successful Business Development Story. Steve Pool, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, founded his company American Tile and Descaling (ATD) in 1999. Prior to that, his father Jerry owned a pool store in Thousand Oaks, CA called Steve’s Pool Service which Steve says has helped him gain vast knowledge and expertise in the swimming pool industry.
American Tile and Descaling Services
While his company outsources the leak detection jobs, ATD offers a wide variety of swimming pool services and repairs such as tile and glass tile descaling, high heat pressure wash, decorative concrete resurfacing for pool decks, copings, driveways, and so much more. The company accommodates everything between pool building and servicing. It also offers exclusive products, applications, and custom solutions to homeowners which make the company and its team well-rounded and the go-to in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties.
ATD also added structural crack repair and pool stapling to their list of services and has been using our Torque Lock staples for 6 years. Steve stated the Torque Lock installation process videos and instructions were enough to complete a structural crack repair job and says would be helpful for pool builders to watch when using the Torque Lock staples for the first couple of installations.
When asked what the most common repairs his company used Torque Lock for were, Steve listed foundation cracks and gaps prior to installing floor tiles, skimmer throat, coping cracks, and more. The Torque Lock staples can be a solution to a wide range of structural crack repairs and are guaranteed by ATD and Torque Lock.
Torque Lock Repairs and Warranty
Steve gives a great example of the durability of the Torque Lock staples by sharing with us a recent finding from a previous repair he had done 7 years ago. The first pool he ever built had 7-8 feet of linear crack towards the deep end of the pool, close to the previous repair he had done. The warranty ATD offers is for up to 3 years, however, Torque Lock protects him and his customers by offering a 10-year warranty on the staples, given that the re-crack is specific to the staple or its application.
Steve also mentions the importance of seeking an engineer’s opinion when the repaired area cracks again within less than 3 years to investigate the underlying issue. It is important to identify if the initial repair is problematic or if it is land movement, poor building technique, or pool building defect that is the real issue. Swimming pools crack for so many reasons and earthquakes and ground movement are certainly some of them.
Speaking of the seasonality of leak detection and repairs, Steve says that coming into the swim season, towards the beginning of April, when homeowners resurrect their pools after winterizing them, people start using their pools and notice certain cracks or leaks. That’s when Steve states people typically reach out to him for structural crack repairs or even leaks. In addition, his company offers inspection prior to pool renovations for a minimal fee to ensure there are no structural cracks prior to initiating renovations.
Tips for Homeowners and Fellow Pool Contractors
Steve highly recommends other contractors to encourage homeowners to better understand how Torque Lock staples for structural crack repairs work and what makes them superior to other solutions on the market.
American Tile and Descaling is a well-rounded company that offers so many swimming pool services and repairs that homeowners can benefit from whether they own an old or new pool or are in the process of building one. Whether you are a homeowner or contractor, if you have any questions for Steve and the American Tile and Descaling team, you can reach out to them at (805) 552-1975 or stephen@tiledescale.com. Just like his father, Steve has a passion for the industry and wants to use his 40+ years of experience to help other contractors find the right solutions and answers, whether they are beginners or seasoned.
For more information about our Torque Lock staples and products, reach out to us at 818-436-2953 or at info@torque-lock.com.
