Gunite mistake on shelf/ledge depth - what are my remedies?

[TampaKathy]

I thought you wanted 15" of water? You should go measure yourself based on where the waterline will be as PoolGate said...I would verify that you will even get to 11" or is the PB hoping you don't check? Are the plans that you signed off on clear that it was supposed to be 15" of water? If not, there's probably a limit as to how much the PB is willing to do.

 

[TampaKathy]

Also, it's hard to tell with the pictures you posted but what is the depth when you step off the sunshelf? That looks really shallow as well...is that how it was supposed to be?

 

[spd500]

They said they could remove one inch of gunite through "chipping."

That would be a no go for me, it seems like a bad idea to compromise the shell of the pool to correct their mistake. I think the only recourse you really have here will be to find some way to be happy with what you have. The builder needs to give a sizable discount for the error as well.

 

[Poolnerdgrandma]

In other words they are going to chip the gunite down as close to the rebar as they can hopefully not exposing it and call that a fix. I don't like that at all. I am not an expert though. Also I don't think that is deep enough. Did you measure/figure what the actual water depth will be based on where the water line will be?

Yes, and I would love the group's advice. They said they could remove one inch of gunite through "chipping." And we could keep the water line one inch higher. They said this would get us 11" of water. They are asking how we feel about this. My main issue is that I wanted the water to be waist deep when sitting. I think this gets us close, but 12" would be better. Thoughts? Thank you!

IMO, nope. Sit down, hold your hand where you want the water to hit you, and have someone measure the height. My guess is that 11 inches won't cut it. They should make it right, period. If you accept less, it will bother you every time you sit on the ledge. Forever.

 

[Poolnerdgrandma]

Here's our ledge depth. We are tall, but I can't imagine 11 or 12 inches. This is the seating ledge that wraps about 1/3 of the pool. We also have a sunshelf that is much shallower, where we can sit in chairs and put our feet in the water, and the grandbabies can splash around. I am never on the sunshelf. When the kids are playing there I play goalie... from the seating ledge, which is the first "step" into the pool from the sunshelf.

 

[ajw22]

Rebar too close to the gunite surface can rust and rust stains can bleed through the plaster. You want at least an inch of gunite above any rebar.

 

[blondechica]

I thought you wanted 15" of water? You should go measure yourself based on where the waterline will be as PoolGate said...I would verify that you will even get to 11" or is the PB hoping you don't check? Are the plans that you signed off on clear that it was supposed to be 15" of water? If not, there's probably a limit as to how much the PB is willing to do.

Hi- no I wanted 12 inches of water so the gunite should have been at 15" with room for tile.

 

[JJ_Tex]

So... I would try to negotiate with the builder. Propose that they buy you ledge loungers (~$650+ each) or something else to be able to enjoy your tanning ledge that they screwed up.

That way your builder doesnt have to chip away/redo anything, you dont have to worry about compromising the integrity of the shell, and you dont have to shell out any $ to get ledge furniture.

If that would work for you, it could be a win-win for everyone.

PS - The standard ledge loungers only work up to 10" of water... I would recommend the chair version vs the lounger version. Here are ours in ~9-10" of water.

 

[mguzzy]

This sounds like an awful compromise. .. the salesman says "I don't have any big cars but I have this one here with a sun roof. You can buy this one and drive around with the sun roof open..problem solved." NOT!

They are trying to not fix it properly, that would be to take out enough of the shelf-Gunite and rebar, to re--rebar it and re-gunite it to the proper depth. That is the correct fix. It can be done without damaging the rest of the shell. Would it be a lot of work? yes, but its his fail.

I would not want to have to keep my pool at higher water level just to compromise a construction defect. There really is not that much wiggle room there? The water should be in the MIDDLE of the tile line. How will the higher water line affect other components? The skimmer for example. My skimmer doesn't work as well if the water is too high. How does it affect the geometry of the other steps too? Will those be changed out to match? AND if you do accept that lame work around I would ask for a huge discount on top of it.

 

[blondechica]

Here are the communications from the pool builder:

" I’ve talked with the team and it looks like we can remove about an inch of gunite from the shelf area. If you then keep the water an inch higher (slightly above mid tile line) then we will have made up two of the three inches missing and you would be at 11 inches of depth.

Let me know what you think, if you’re happy with that I’ll proceed with the corrections."

And in answer to a question about how they remove the gunite:

"They will chip away with chisels to remove some of the top layer of gunite. The end result will still be plastered, and the change only affects the finished sunshelf depth."

 

[mguzzy]

Here are the communications from the pool builder:

Right... Honestly, will you be happy with a shelf that is 11 inches compared to what was originally specified? I don't think you will really be keeping the water an inch higher from a functional standpoint.

 

[blondechica]

Also, it's hard to tell with the pictures you posted but what is the depth when you step off the sunshelf? That looks really shallow as well...is that how it was supposed to be?

12 inches.

 

[blondechica]

Photo with a 12 1/4 inch length ruler

 

[blondechica]

The step we added so that we could have the requested depth with 12 inches of water.

 

[spd500]

This sounds like an awful compromise. .. the salesman says "I don't have any big cars but I have this one here with a sun roof. You can buy this one and drive around with the sun roof open..problem solved." NOT!

They are trying to not fix it properly, that would be to take out enough of the shelf-Gunite and rebar, to re--rebar it and re-gunite it to the proper depth. That is the correct fix. It can be done without damaging the rest of the shell. Would it be a lot of work? yes, but its his fail.

I would not want to have to keep my pool at higher water level just to compromise a construction defect. There really is not that much wiggle room there? The water should be in the MIDDLE of the tile line. How will the higher water line affect other components? The skimmer for example. My skimmer doesn't work as well if the water is too high. How does it affect the geometry of the other steps too? Will those be changed out to match? AND if you do accept that lame work around I would ask for a huge discount on top of it.

I would be skeptical of having the cold joint in the pool shell with doing it this way. I know it can be done, but it can also fail later if not 100% perfect.

 

[Neto]

chipping down the shelf would be awful and a full fix could doing rebar, gunite, plaster, etc could mess with the structure of the pool. There is no easy fix IMO, maybe removing the coping and raising the bond beam? That would require raising a deck, new waterline tile and coping..

 

[spd500]

chipping down the shelf would be awful and a full fix could doing rebar, gunite, plaster, etc could mess with the structure of the pool. There is no easy fix IMO, maybe removing the coping and raising the bond beam? That would require raising a deck, new waterline tile and coping..

I thought of this too, but the problem is raising the beam will not change the level of the skimmer baskets.

 

[blondechica]

Thanks for everyone who gave their input and advice. Very much appreciated. The pool company is offering some money off the pool in addition to the one inch chip out. What do you think would be a fair amount? It will not be at the right depth but I think I will be okay with it.

 

[PoolGate]

$1k

 

[NCMike]

Whatever the cost of 2 ledge loungers, and the table that goes between them with an umbrella. Probably around $2000.