Anyone Ever Heard of "Hybrid" Pools?

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dawn9579

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Feb 17, 2010
17
I am super new to pool ownership and I need some serious advice. I have not been able to find a pool dealer in my area that has ever even heard of my type of swimming pool, much less know how to work on them.
I have what I think is a hyrbrid pool. Built about 25 years ago has concrete bottom and fiberglass sides. The previous owners never showed our little guy any love and attention. My problem is the pool needs some serious help. It has lots of small hairline cracks in the fiberglass and the bottom concrete has some cracks and some small pitting.
What is the best way to fix these problems? I have thought about the Ultraguard stuff that I have seen online, but then I see just as much stuff calling it junk. So I AM SUPER CONFUSED!
With pool "experts" at the local stores no help, I am desperate and would appreciate help so much more than you know.

Dawn
27,000 gallons
Sand
IG
Hybrid
 
Dawn,

We built about 20 or more glass/concrete pools in the late 70's and early 80's and my first personal pool was glass concrete that I owned for 18 years. They were manufactured by Ft. Wayne pools and marketed under the name Starlite and were rolled fiberglas with an acrylic finish. At the time there were lots of manufacturers making these pools with gelcoat and differerent methods of wall support. I can speculate on how yours was built and give you some history but I'm not sure how much help I can be with your repair efforts.

The link to $1500 repair is pretty amazing and if you find a pool pro willing to do that job for $3000 or even $6000, hire them!

If you post some pictures there should be a lot more responses and I am willing to tell you what I know.
 
Guys thank you very much for all the help!! I will get some pictures better pictures of the pool posted soon. I have these 3 pictures that show the coping?? around the pool. It is having problems too!! We live in rural Oklahoma so I am having the hardest time finding any help with this. I had a concrete guy come over to see what it would take to fix this and he said he would not touch it with a 10-ft. pole!!
Thanks for all the help! I am soooo glad I found this board!!

Dawn :lol:
 

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Hey Dawn, welcome aboard!

I take care of three of these pools and given their age they're all in need of help. I'll be refurbing two this season. You basically have three options:

a) Stick with the pool as it was made. Replaster the floor, replace or repair the fiberglass walls. If there's no longer a builder that does this type of construction in your area you'll have a hard time finding someone to tackle the walls but you never know. This would be your most expensive option.

b) Patch and paint the whole thing as described in the link. This has been done to 2 of the 3 pools I mentioned above. It's a quick fix, lasts for about 2-3 years and then you're back in the same boat. If you do a DIY job it's definitely the least expensive but it will continue to be a headache.

c) You can insert a vinyl liner. This is a complicated task but it's what I'll be doing to one of the pools that's been painted 3 times in the last 10 years. They're tired of dealing with it. You have to do a VERY thorough measurement of the pool because it's basically a freeform bottom. The cost is more than doing paint DIY, comparable to hiring someone to repaint, and will have the lifespan of a vinyl liner (10-15 years if installed and cared for properly).

I'm not sure what the rates are in Oklahoma but hopefully someone will be along that can give you a rough idea of cost. Around here option A starts around $10,000, B and C are more around the $5,000 range depending on the size of the pool.

Good luck!

Tim
 
Yeah it is on a hill. But it does not really look like the deck has pitched anywhere, but I am not positive on that, just has some cracking of the concrete. Is the white stuff around the edges coping? Do you know if you can replace that where it is separating from the concrete and who I could talk to about that.
Went to our local pool store again today during my lunch hour and asked them again and they said I might contact Blue Haven in OKC about getting it completely gunited??? I can't imagine what that would cost.

Thanks for the advice

Dawn
 
Yes just the deck that is cracked. I know that there are a few cracks in the bottom concrete of the pool (only in the shallow end) I was told by the previous owners who had the pool built in the early 1980's and they drained the pool every year.

Dawn
 

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Dawn, welcome to TFP!!

I've done the #3, drop a liner in it, fix a couple of times. You DO need to address the bottom and sides before installing a liner. There are other complications too, like the measuring Spishex talked about.

If the pool itself is still holding water, and you simply want to address the deck cracking issue, that's another option - but I think it'd be best to do it all at once, if the money is available.
 
Hi Dawn, Hybrid pools are among the finest pools built since the advent of gunite (shot-on cement) in the late '60's. An 8" concrete bottom covered with 5/8" of marcite with 3' or 4' fiberglass walls.

There is only one problem with hybrids, they are just now reaching the point when they need help, and pool professionals have no idea of how to care for them. The best part is, they are the easiest and least expensive to renovate. You're in for a pleasent surprise. But enough for philosphy, let's relieve your anxiety.

Let's begin with the concrete deck problem. You have a ground water problem in the area where the deck and the coping have seperated. This ground water has, over the past 30 or so years, eaten away the sub-strate under the deck (causing the cracks) and pushed the top of the wall slightly inward.

The deck, on just this side of the pool, needs to be removed. The source of the water problem will become evident and must be resolved before rebuilding the sub-strate and pouring a new deck. Otherwise, it certainly happen again. Cracked and tilted slabs of concrete on one side of the pool is proof positive that some form of underground water has eroded the sub-strate and pushed inward the pool wall.

All the pro's in our industry know how to deal with the concrete/marcite bottom of your pool, so that is not an issue. The fiberglass walls, the top 3 or 4 feet all the way around your pool, is easy to make like brand new. First, permit me to emphasise that these panels never leak at the joining of the panels. There is no need for caulking or anything else at the vertical joining between them. Here is the procedure:

  • The walls must be sanded down to the fiberglass using an angle grinder with a 24grit sanding pad
  • After removing all the gel coat (the white or faded blue color) hose down and let dry overnight
  • Wash walls down with pool solvent
  • Roll on 1 coating of vinyl ester resin
  • Roll on first coating of swimming pool gel coat
  • Roll on second coating of swimming pool gel coat
  • Do not cover walls with pool water for 3 full days, rain does not matter
  • Fill the pool and do not empty again except for emergency repair
  • Walls will be like the day they were new for the next 15 years.

We have helped between 25 and 50 hybrid pool owners restore these pools over the past 11 years. This link shows what your pool will look like after the gel coat is sanded-off and then refinished
http://uglassit.com/concrete_fiberglass_pool.htm. This page has a link that will show photos of another hybrid pool on another one of our sites. We supply detailed written instructions and all the required materials, plus 7 day a week telephone help.

One last thing, the wall can be jacked back into place after the deck is removed. Pool pro's that build and repair vinyl liner pools are experts in this procedure, or we'll explain and you can DIY.

You will enjoy your pool this summer. -Bill
 
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Yes, but given that the deck around the pool will need to be removed, you have the opportunity to use a different coping or pour a canter levered deck that doesn't need coping.

A Styrofoam form is affixed to the top of the pool wall. A layer of roofing felt or similar material separates the deck from the pool allowing independent expansion and contraction of the pool and deck. The deck is poured and extends a couple inches over the pool. IMHO, this is my favorite look. Clean, easy to hold on when in the pool, and almost never has an issue in any weather condition.

Finding the root cause of the soil shifts when the deck is removed is most important. Solving that and correcting the damage is next. Then, pouring the new deck will complete this portion.

The crack in the floor are troublesome. Again, there was a soil shift that caused a lack of support. It's probable that some of the bottom will need to be jack hammered at the crack(s), and again, find the cause of the soil shift. I suspect that it is the same on as the reason the deck shifts. Then the bottom can be reshot with gunite/shotcrete and refinished.

Scott
 
Dawn, you can probably use that coping. It has a slot in the back that carraige bolts slide into and a clamp that holds it to the fiberglas wall. There doesn't appear to be any control or expansion joints in the patio and its possible that is the cause of your cracks and the separation from the coping.

If its a FT. Wayne pool The walls finish is acrylic and sanding them down to the fiberglas would be a major task. I have seen the acrylic delaminate from the fiberglas forming bubbles that eventually crack just like an acrylic spa. There is a thread on this site that talks about making that kind of repair.

The cracks in you floor could be plaster checking from the pool being emptied. Those pools were typically hand stacked concrete reinforced with steel. The concrete mix was almost identical to a 4000psi shotcrete mix with a slightly different stone/sand ratio.

I don't see anything in the pictures that conclusively indicate a shift from water or walls bowing nor do I understand the statement about how to do a cantelever patio on your pool. There is a fairly good chance that rebar goes through a molded channel on the back of you walls that is bent over and tied into the patio. The patio becomes structural support for the top of the pool wall in this application.

Some more pictures would be helpful.

Rod
 
Great info guys again I appreciate it! Rod I think that you are right on about how my pool is made! Would it be possible to just try and salvage the coping and just fill in the cracking with a concrete filler?? Yeah we do not have any expansion joints in our decking.
 
Dawn, You can use the existing coping. I would reccommend cutting out the cracked areas and using some creative thinking with brick, pavers, stone or some sort of complementery material to act as decorative control joint in the patio. This should relieve the stresses and add a new look.

If you wanted to fill in the cracks for the short term you should use a mastic that can handle the movement.

Rod
 
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