Repair advice for concrete coping chip?

[rdshackleford]

The coping of my cantilever patterned concrete patio is chipping at the base of my raised beam wall water feature. Can anybody suggest a product to repair and/or seal the chip before it breaks off? Ideally, the least visible repair the better (obviously). Thank you,
-Tom

 

[kimkats]

Here is a bump and a couple of pings to get more eyes on this. @jimmythegreek @ajw22 any ideas?

 

[rdshackleford]

thanks for the bump. I am thinking since the chips are still in place and in one piece, I should pull the chips off and use a clear epoxy on the center of the chip and not let it ooze to the perimeter.

 

[kimkats]

Me? I would get a long, skinny "nose" to squirt the epoxy into the hole then some way to push and hold that piece closer to where it should be AND let some the epoxy ooze and use a wet finger to smooth it. That will keep water from getting behind it.

 

[Chuckiechan]

Have you considered hydraulic cement? Or for longer, more workable cure time, high strength concrete. You can probably tint it darker by making test batches if it is that important.

 

[rdshackleford]

invisible is that important, yes. clear silicone caulk might be a safer choice than epoxy.

 

[ajw22]

You have alot going on in that area that is concerning to me.

There is a crack in the tile right below the where the deck and wall meet.

Your cantilevered deck looks like it has a proper expansion joint below the deck however I think it should also have had an expansion joint between the coping/deck and the wall as I indicated in yellow.

The expansion joint should allow the coping/deck and the pool structure to move independently. Your setup has coupled the coping/deck and the pool wall and bond beam together which is likely putting pressure on the bond beam and tile below causing the crack in red.

I would use some Type S mortar to fill the crack in the blue circle. Or maybe cement crack filler sold in tubes although I don't know how expansive it is. I would not use hydraulic cement for repair as hydraulic cement expands and will just push the crack open which is not what you want.

But that crack is radiating down, I think due to pressure in that area.

Overall I think you will see more cracking in that area due to the lack of the expansion joint.

 

[Chuckiechan]

You can make an expansion joint with roofing felt, and cut away the excess when it is hardened.

 

[rdshackleford]

Allen, the tile is not cracked, that is the design. There is 1/2" gap filled with tinted foam on all 3 sides of the water feature. I believe the chip happened because it is a very small section of concrete with a sharp turn to hide the expansion joints. The chip is the only thing I need to address.

 

[ajw22]

Still looks to me like the yellow line is along concrete that ties together the deck and wall. What is the material the yellow arrow points to?

I don’t see the 1/2 inch gap with the tinted foam.

 

[rdshackleford]

maybe the pic from the other side of the water feature will be easier to see the foam filled expansion joint.

 

[ajw22]

You have the expansion joint along the top but someone compromised the expansion joint on the side and filled it in. Youc an see where concrete was smoothed over the area and filled the expansion joint.

There should be no place where the coping/deck is touching the wall.