Hello everyone,
You've got a pool newbie here. I purchased a home with a pool last June. The pool was described as having a brand new liner. As part of the closing process, we hired a pool inspector because we thought it was strange that the coping edge was raised with a 'half-speed bump' shape leading up to it. Over the last year I have noticed that there are different styles of concrete that were used for the slabs that are around the pool. One is best described as rougher look and feel with small rocks and pebbles in it that is mostly what's visible in the picture. The other is the smoother concrete which you can see a little on the right side of the picture. The concrete leading up to the coping seems completely different than these two, feeling very thin and brittle.
Our pool inspector mentioned the deck condition on the pool inspection as:
Many cracks; Coping is raised several inches and a concrete patch is installed to tie coping with existing concrete
The rest of the pool was described as follows on the pool inspection:
18 x 36 28,000 Gallon Inground Vinyl Liner with 3 liner covered steps surrounded by concrete deck
White plastic/tooled expansion joints and aluminum coping
1 Hayward Skimmer Square Lid, 2 Wall Inlets, 2 Wall Returns
1HP Hayward Superpump and Hayward S244T Sand Filter using 1.5" PVC
When closing the pool, I installed a safety cover which was installed and under tension all winter. After taking the safety cover off, I noticed that the concrete slabs were separating from the concrete lip that meets the coping concrete. I have attached a picture showing the separation that I'm talking about. In one place, you can see that the coping concrete is breaking away significantly and you can see the steel structure behind the broken pieces. In that location, the concrete slab is visibly canted downwards towards the pool.
I have a handful of questions about this:
Thanks for reading and any advice you can provide.
You've got a pool newbie here. I purchased a home with a pool last June. The pool was described as having a brand new liner. As part of the closing process, we hired a pool inspector because we thought it was strange that the coping edge was raised with a 'half-speed bump' shape leading up to it. Over the last year I have noticed that there are different styles of concrete that were used for the slabs that are around the pool. One is best described as rougher look and feel with small rocks and pebbles in it that is mostly what's visible in the picture. The other is the smoother concrete which you can see a little on the right side of the picture. The concrete leading up to the coping seems completely different than these two, feeling very thin and brittle.
Our pool inspector mentioned the deck condition on the pool inspection as:
Many cracks; Coping is raised several inches and a concrete patch is installed to tie coping with existing concrete
The rest of the pool was described as follows on the pool inspection:
18 x 36 28,000 Gallon Inground Vinyl Liner with 3 liner covered steps surrounded by concrete deck
White plastic/tooled expansion joints and aluminum coping
1 Hayward Skimmer Square Lid, 2 Wall Inlets, 2 Wall Returns
1HP Hayward Superpump and Hayward S244T Sand Filter using 1.5" PVC
When closing the pool, I installed a safety cover which was installed and under tension all winter. After taking the safety cover off, I noticed that the concrete slabs were separating from the concrete lip that meets the coping concrete. I have attached a picture showing the separation that I'm talking about. In one place, you can see that the coping concrete is breaking away significantly and you can see the steel structure behind the broken pieces. In that location, the concrete slab is visibly canted downwards towards the pool.
I have a handful of questions about this:
- Is the coping concrete a patch that is indicative a problem that the previous owner / renovation contractor was trying to cover up?
- Should the pool inspector have been able to diagnose and warn us about this?
- Can anyone describe possible causes for the separation?
- Given possible causes, what are the best courses of action for recovering from this?
Thanks for reading and any advice you can provide.