Large Crack in new Gunnite

[cgarai]

Hi,

The day after gunnite this crack appeared. It is about 5' long and almost 3/8" wide. The PB says that it is easily fixed and is not structural. Is this true and if so what is the correct fix?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

That is a bigger crack that we usually see, kind of an odd shape too. Curious what any experts might think

 

[gwegan]

Wow. That is a structural crack. Do you have pictures of what the rebar looked like before they shot the gunite? What was the temperature on the day they shot the pool? Could you give us a wider view?
I would have my pool builder send this picture to the structural engineer who did your pool plans and get a response from him in writing as to the remedy. You may want to talk to the engineer himself. His name (and Stamp) is on the permit set of plans tacked up somewhere in your backyard.

 

[cgarai]

Well technically it isn't a structural crack, by that I mean it didn't happen under load. I am told that it is not a structural issue by my PB, who referred to it as "slag". I want to be sure he is correct and that it gets treated appropriately so it doesn't telegraph through the Pebbletec. It appears to have sagged shortly after it was applied due to being a bit too wet. For some reason I forgot to take pix of the rebar, but you can see approximately what it looked like in this shot during gunite application.



I ran out of room for uploads (why only 250kB???) so I have posted more pix here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102324...&authkey=Gv1sRgCOOVl9vxsJqSPg&feat=directlink

Thanks,

Chris

Wow. That is a structural crack. Do you have pictures of what the rebar looked like before they shot the gunite? What was the temperature on the day they shot the pool? Could you give us a wider view?
I would have my pool builder send this picture to the structural engineer who did your pool plans and get a response from him in writing as to the remedy. You may want to talk to the engineer himself. His name (and Stamp) is on the permit set of plans tacked up somewhere in your backyard.

 

[jblizzle]

You are free to Become a TFP Supporter and get more space
Or do this: How To Post Pictures

 

[spj318ti]

Wow.. I had couple and my pb said not to worry ( gunite was at 7000 psi )but you have a quite wider crack. Hopefully some experts here will chime in.

 

[36racin]

I no expert here but wow I've never seen rebar hung like that before. Looks like 6'x12" on the walls and 6"x6" on the floor. That's a lot on the floor and may not be enough on the walls? The crack may be a result of not enough horizontal rebar on the sidewalls which may have let the gunite sag.

 

[gwegan]

Pools are not normal concrete structures. In normal concrete structures we plan for and control cracking. But in pools we want no cracks. So we load them up with rebar to create a giant concrete blob with no cracks. You have a crack. Its more than cosmetic. It appears to extend into the wall to the rebar. Again I would have the PB ask the engineer what his solution would be. If the gunite or shotcrete was too wet I can see that as the cause. Your rebar looks right -- 12" on center horizontal -- typical for a California pool. Maybe its patch with mortar and plaster over it or maybe its more extensive work. You paid for the engineered plans and the gunite was not as expected. So the guy that did the engineering should tell you how to fix it.