Low water bill and broken bond beam?

[tifacola]

Two years ago, I bought a luxury home that's now draining my savings with constant maintenance costs, causing extreme financial strain. Recently, I noticed issues with the pool deck cracking and suspect the bond beam is cracked, as it lacks a proper extension joint, and the slabs are butting up to the house. The tiles had already been delaminated at the date of inspection during the home purchase process. I never thought anything of it because neither the home or pool inspector mentioned anything. And my pool maintenance guy has never said anything about it either.

My home is on a hillside with shallow bedrock, and there are no signs of problems in the retaining wall and my water bill has never been very high to alert me of an issue. Recent monsoons have made me curious about erosion, so that's why I am looking into it now.

The seller, a builder of luxury homes in the area, owned the house for a while. I'm contemplating seeking compensation from him, as he should have been aware of the construction issue. This situation is disheartening for me. I'm going to go bankrupt! I seriously did not expect these kinds of issues.

I've attached pictures for reference. Please tell me I'm wrong.

 

[Bperry]

Two years ago, I bought a luxury home that's now draining my savings with constant maintenance costs, causing extreme financial strain. Recently, I noticed issues with the pool deck cracking and suspect the bond beam is cracked, as it lacks a proper extension joint, and the slabs are butting up to the house. The tiles had already been delaminated at the date of inspection during the home purchase process. I never thought anything of it because neither the home or pool inspector mentioned anything. And my pool maintenance guy has never said anything about it either.

My home is on a hillside with shallow bedrock, and there are no signs of problems in the retaining wall and my water bill has never been very high to alert me of an issue. Recent monsoons have made me curious about erosion, so that's why I am looking into it now.

The seller, a builder of luxury homes in the area, owned the house for a while. I'm contemplating seeking compensation from him, as he should have been aware of the construction issue. This situation is disheartening for me. I'm going to go bankrupt! I seriously did not expect these kinds of issues.

I've attached pictures for reference. Please tell me I'm wrong.

The bond beam does appear to be broken, but it appears the coping is cantilever decking so the expansion joint is above the tile and looks like it’s there? It’s possible the decking wasn’t poured correctly and is pushing on the bond beam though. Unfortunately it’s super common.

You won’t find a pool leak using the water bill unless you have both an auto fill line and a gigantic leak. But if the leak was very large you’de notice it very easily. Water getting into those cracks can compromise the surrounding pool structure and the soil around the pool and cause lots of expensive damage. Best to get it fixed as finances allow. Sorry to hear of the trouble.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

What is this access cover for? It is not a skimmer. The cracks radiate from it.

Looks like it may be your autofill as I see an outlet pipe in the area.

Is this the only spot you lost tiles and have cracks?

Open the lid and post pics looking down into it.

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Can you draw a line on picture #5 of the bond beam crack locations?

 

[ajw22]

Here is my WAG as to what is happening...

You have a cantilevered deck that has a slip joint gap above the bond beam. That is all working except when they poured the deck they did not think through that the autofill canister is cemented and coupled to the pool shell.

They needed to leave an expansion joint around the autofill so that the deck can move independently of the autofill area.

The autofill in that area has coupled the deck to the pool preventing independent movement and causing the cracks.

Expansion Joints and Coping - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[ajw22]

Where are the skimmers for the pool?

 

[ajw22]

Can you draw a line on picture #5 of the bond beam crack locations?

Looks to me to be here...

 

[tifacola]

Welcome to TFP.

What is this access cover for? It is not a skimmer. The cracks radiate from it.

Looks like it may be your autofill as I see an outlet pipe in the area.

Is this the only spot you lost tiles and have cracks?

Open the lid and post pics looking down into it.

 

[tifacola]

Looks to me to be here...

View attachment 536831

Yes, but I just looked again and there’s tile delaminating in ever inner corner.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

That’s poured-in-place coping that they did at the same time as pouring the deck. If they were not careful with the slip/expansion joint under the coping or they didn’t get the grade done properly, then there could be a lip of concrete from the bond beam that the deck is pushing against and cracking the bond beam. Also, as @ajw22 said, they didn’t do the auto fill can and skimmer correctly.

You’re looking at a lot of demolition and repair work.

As for suing rhe previous owner … good luck. You had inspectors ok everything and the previous owner disclosed everything he knew during the earnest period. You’d have to prove that he knowingly tried to deceive you and held back information. That’s a huge hill to climb legally and the fact that inspectors signed off on it all and you accepted that leaves you to prove negligence. Not saying it’s impossible but you’re likely to waste way more money on litigation than you’ll ever receive in judgement and you still have to fix the pool.

I have a “custom built” home too. They suck. The developers and builders that do these “custom” homes routinely do a half-butt job 110 of the time because cutting corners and hiring the least qualified subs is what makes them the most money. I have fixed more code-violations than I care to recount here and will certainly be fixing many more in the near future. It’s life with a “modern” home.

 

[tifacola]

That’s poured-in-place coping that they did at the same time as pouring the deck. If they were not careful with the slip/expansion joint under the coping or they didn’t get the grade done properly, then there could be a lip of concrete from the bond beam that the deck is pushing against and cracking the bond beam. Also, as @ajw22 said, they didn’t do the auto fill can and skimmer correctly.

You’re looking at a lot of demolition and repair work.

As for suing rhe previous owner … good luck. You had inspectors ok everything and the previous owner disclosed everything he knew during the earnest period. You’d have to prove that he knowingly tried to deceive you and held back information. That’s a huge hill to climb legally and the fact that inspectors signed off on it all and you accepted that leaves you to prove negligence. Not saying it’s impossible but you’re likely to waste way more money on litigation than you’ll ever receive in judgement and you still have to fix the pool.

I have a “custom built” home too. They suck. The developers and builders that do these “custom” homes routinely do a half-a⒮⒮ed job 110% of the time because cutting corners and hiring the least qualified subs is what makes them the most money. I have fixed more code-violations than I care to recount here and will certainly be fixing many more in the near future. It’s life with a “modern” home.

Thanks for your insight. I figured if he’s the builder of the home then it’s still covered for the defects as it’s under 6 years. I’ll talk to my lawyer next week.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Thanks for your insight. I figured if he’s the builder of the home then it’s still covered for the defects as it’s under 6 years. I’ll talk to my lawyer next week.

Depends on the warranty of the home. But the pool is likely excluded from the warranty of the home and so that would have to go through the pool builder and/or their subcontractors. The pool shell would be covered under the builder’s warranty but the shell isn’t defective, it’s the deck/coping construction that was at fault. The pool builder will likely say that they built the pool to modern standards and that the ground must be shifting since you’re home and pool are on a hill. So they will tell you to go to your homeowners insurance. But your homeowners insurance will not cover the pool construction and tell you to go back to the builder. It will be round and round you go with everyone blaming someone else.

But hey, if you have a lawyer on retainer, never hurts to ask …

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

The deck is applying more pressure on the inside radius of the pool. Most likely the deck work is not completely separate from the top of the B/B or a lip was created on the bottom side of the deck where it comes in contact with the B/B and allowing pressure to be placed on the top portion of the B/B from the expansion of the deck creating a sheer crack on the top portion of the B/B.

 

[tifacola]

Depends on the warranty of the home. But the pool is likely excluded from the warranty of the home and so that would have to go through the pool builder and/or their subcontractors. The pool shell would be covered under the builder’s warranty but the shell isn’t defective, it’s the deck/coping construction that was at fault. The pool builder will likely say that they built the pool to modern standards and that the ground must be shifting since you’re home and pool are on a hill. So they will tell you to go to your homeowners insurance. But your homeowners insurance will not cover the pool construction and tell you to go back to the builder. It will be round and round you go with everyone blaming someone else.

But hey, if you have a lawyer on retainer, never hurts to ask …

What do you think it will cost let’s say if 30% of the bond beam is compromised? I’m already guesstimating the deck will be about 8k-14k We just did a driveway and it seems to be the same square footage. I have a cache of tiles still.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

What do you think it will cost let’s say if 30% of the bond beam is compromised? I’m already guesstimating the deck will be about 8k-14k We just did a driveway and it seems to be the same square footage. I have a cache of tiles still.

Can’t really say. Prices on those kinds of repairs will be regional. You’ll need to call in a few different pool builders and get estimates. It’s a pretty extensive repair process as all of the coping has to come off, tile line has to be removed, and the extents of the bond beam damage has to be determined. Then they have to cut away all the compromised B/B, do a new rebar cage with forms and pour a new B/B. Only after that can you then redo the coping properly with the right expansion joint and grading to ensure the deck doesn’t compromise the pool again. It’s not going to be under $10k that’s for sure. And you’re going to be a low priority job as builders want to build new pools, not fix broken pools. Only by getting quotes can you know what the price range will be.

 

[tifacola]

Can’t really say. Prices on those kinds of repairs will be regional. You’ll need to call in a few different pool builders and get estimates. It’s a pretty extensive repair process as all of the coping has to come off, tile line has to be removed, and the extents of the bond beam damage has to be determined. Then they have to cut away all the compromised B/B, do a new rebar cage with forms and pour a new B/B. Only after that can you then redo the coping properly with the right expansion joint and grading to ensure the deck doesn’t compromise the pool again. It’s not going to be under $10k that’s for sure. And you’re going to be a low priority job as builders want to build new pools, not fix broken pools. Only by getting quotes can you know what the price range will be.

Yeah... I already reached out to a guy who solved a really complicated heating problem on my pool and all he wants to do is remodel it. I have pictures of the builder putting the pool in March 2019 from Google Streets. Like 3-4yo pool!!!

This is what he said:

Pool guy:
Without doing a bunch of engineering forensic investigation, we could just remove all of your tile and all of your coping and redo it
Probably run 12-18k

Tiffany Kosa:
The coping is the cantilever concrete slab.
You don't think that I need to rebuild the Bond Beam?

Pool guy:
No
It's only cantilevered 1 inch...

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Since the homeowner (builder) O/B’d the pool himself, the current problem would normally fall on the builder … the builder is the homeowner and unless he specifically transferred his warranty of the work to you (which I highly doubt as it would have been part of the closing documents), then you assumed all the risk of the pool outside of the warranties from the subcontractors. As I said previously, what you have is not a defect in the manufacturer of the shell or the pouring of the deck. What you have is the result of the ignorance of the builder/homeowner not carefully planning out the deck and pip/cantelever coping. The pool is separate from the home and so you have very little legal recourse here. Since, I am assuming, you didn’t specifically get his warranty of the work done on the pool, then all the liability of the pool falls on to you. This is where a good real estate lawyer would have thrown a yellow flag on the home purchase deal as they would have wondered who built the pool and who was liable for warranty work. My guess is no one asked those questions and so now you are dealing with a complicated legal situation. You can pursue it in small claims court but I doubt you’ll get anywhere with it in any reasonable time frame.

You can always reach out to previous owner and see if they’re willing to work with you on it but I suspect they will politely tell you to go pound sand.