North DFW - Gunite Seepage / Weeping Water

[bmartin391]

Hey everyone,

Looking for some advice here. I've read a lot of the other posts here and it sounds like the solution is a combination of digging around the pool, adding drains, gravel, sump pumps or pits, etc....

We signed on this new build back in November 2022. Gunite was sprayed in January and has basically looked like this since then.

Deck, drains and sprinklers went in last week so we're nearing the final stages of the build but our current Project Manager says this weeping is a "no-go" and our only solution is to wait, he offered me no other solution.
The General Manager suggested "tubing" which really does not make sense to me, he described it as adding tubes from the weep points down to the bottom of the pool but honestly that sounds like a good path for water to travel in reverse?

Our street has over 20+ houses with pools and I cannot find a single other person who ran into this issue, the other builds just torched the pool and then applied plaster.

When there has been no rain, there are only 2-3 spots that stay damp- the bottom of the pool typically has 1-2" of water in it. After a heavy rain the penetrations will flow a fairly good stream for a day or two.

Is this builder just being extremely cautious? Are they blowing smoke? Wasting time?
DFW has been fairly rainy lately and I don't see any signs of this water stopping.

Even if it stops and they apply plaster, am I just asking for trouble in the future?


Thanks,

 

[Jimrahbe]

391,

I had the same problem.. The plaster company said they could not warrantee the plaster until the weeping stopped.

My pool builder tried all kinds of stuff, but nothing worked until the dug up abut 50 feet of new deck and installed a French drain on two sides of the pool about 5 feet down. Then they added a sump pump about 8 feet down, to suck the water out. It is now about 8 years later and the pump runs 24/7/365 and never shuts off.. Slows down in the summer, but never goes more than an hour or two before pumping again.

When the ground gets wet the water has to go somewhere, In my case, the gunite acted like hoover dam and just backed the water up.

I was more worried over what will happen in the future, when I might need a new plaster job. I wanted to make sure that the pool would not float out of the ground when it got drained.

You can't stop water from the inside of the pool, you need to give it a place to go..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[bmartin391]

Thanks,

Yeah your explanation makes sense.
They came out again today, this time with the manager of the plaster company.

Sounds like they are going to start by drilling bore holes in the area where the weeping is and see if they can relieve some pressure.
Maybe also removing the hydrostatic drain plugs from the base of the pool.

At least the weather forecast is dry for a few days, maybe they'll sort this out.......

 

[Jimrahbe]

391,

Yep..

All the same stuff they did to my pool. At one point they sprayed a thin coating (Like clear paint) on the inside of the pool walls and it was guaranteed to fix the problem. Not so much... so they did it again and still no help. All magic and no rabbit.

A couple of pics for you to laugh at...










Here is a pic showing where the French drains went in, before the new deck when down.

Thanks and good luck..

Jim R.