Re: Pasadena Pool Build by Owner (aka Our Great "Adventure")
We had good news and bad news today. Good progress and bad progress.
But let's start with the good. Work was done today! Our water feature was set in the raised bond beam. Going off the inspiration photo we had five scuppers/ channel spouts custom made. The plumber was essential in the process as he knew what company made them. Originally he thought 1x3" rectangular scuppers were our only option. But I wasn't in love with that. I wanted something that was more of a statement. Ideally 3x3 squares. So he called back to check if they had 3x3 squares. They didn't, but they could make them for me. It was not cheap but it was worth it to me. So here they are set in the wall:
View from behind/above. The vertical pipes were set when the plumbers did their initial work. They will come back out next week to connect the water features to the stubs.
Tile guys also had to float/level and smooth the edge of the bond beam where the cover rail is going to be installed.
Maggie standing over the newly finished edge:
And now for the bad news...
While the tile guys were working they found cracks in the shell. :shaking: They are very thin but they are very long. One goes most of the way across the deep end with a few branches outward. And one goes perpendicular from the shallow end down toward the deep end. I'm still super upset about these cracks. The shotcrete guy is coming out in the morning to look at them and see what we need to do about them. I have scoured the fourm and the web for info on cracks. Some of the stuff I read is downright terrifying (one pool that had to be completely demolished and redone because of cracks! to be fair those cracks looked way worse then ours and developed after the pool was filled but it was still enough to make me question everything). Other stuff I read said there are such things as shrinkage cracks that can be easily repaired. I'm not sure what kind of cracks ours are. If they are bad or BAD. But honestly no matter what kind of cracks they are I'm not happy. We watered the shell as instructed and then some (we were told by our shotcrete guy to water 3 times a day for 10 days. We watered at least 4 or 5 times a day. Really well each time, especially on the hottest days). But the 10 days passed so I had stopped watering and stop studying the shell. And sometime between now and when I stopped watering these cracks appeared.
This is the crack that goes across the deep end. It's the most noticeable.
I adjusted the clarity and color in this photo so you can better see the crack:
This is the one that starts in the shallow end and heads down the middle of the pool.
Sigh...
If anyone has any experience with cracks please chime in. How were your cracks repaired? If you have repaired cracks did they eventually surface in the plaster?
I'll let you know what the shotcrete guy says tomorrow. But for tonight this adventure is not all it's cracked up to be. Ugh... even the pun is painful.