Recent content by MinerJason

1. I have my favorite, but there's not enough difference between them to be of any material concern. Use whatever is available. 2. In some cases yes, but if you're concerned about bonding to old concrete you're much better off painting the bonding agent onto the old concrete than mixing it...

I would normally say use whatever looks best and you're comfortable with, but in this case I think I'd recommend something easier to work with. The 15 min initial set time is going to make things very difficult, without offering any significant advantage. It's going to be very difficult to...

Doesn't freeze often enough or deeply enough to be an issue. But adobe walls and no attic, which is why the pipes are under the slab beneath the house. Adding water to the rain collection system is an interesting idea that hadn't occurred to me. Might need to think on that some more.

Yeah, so many ways to do it I'm struggling to pick one! I'd love softened water for the whole house to reduce scale and help appliances last longer. I just don't want to kill my garden with salt in the process. Installing a bypass for the garden would be a huge undertaking, lots of trenching...

Yeah, my CH goes up about 200-250 ppm/year. Looking into water softeners, but I don't have any way to keep my garden water separated from a whole house water softener (70's home with under slab water lines, and the garden and pool share the same water line running from the house to the back...

Out of curiosity I took a sample to Leslie's today to compare their "AccuBlue" machine to my own tests using the TF-100 (plus a digital pH meter). Collected a large sample and split it in half, tested half myself, filled a sample bottle with the other half and took it to the Leslie's down the...

Ha! Yeah, it's just a constant struggle to keep the pH and TA low with this much CH. Wondering how much I need to drop the CH to make it more manageable, and how much more it will matter if I'm switching to SWG. Currently is just causes a bit of minor scaling, which I don't care about too...

Yep. Ideally at least 3 core samples tested at 28-days post placement, using ASTM C1604 procedures for sample collection, preparation, and testing.

I considered installing a SWG during my big pool remodel a couple years ago, but couldn't quite fit it in the budget. I've been using the TFP method to maintain my pool with great success since the remodel, but adding liquid chlorine every other day is a slight hassle for my family when I'm...

Rebound is the stuff that bounces off during spraying and doesn't stick. Slightly different from material carved off during shaping, but they're equally bad, and yes should be removed to the extent that it's practical. The rebound under the rebar on the floor is very difficult to remove, but...

It's called laitance, and can have several causes, but it's most commonly caused by working excess water into the surface during floating / troweling. Could also have been caused by getting salt water on it before it had cured sufficiently. Salt water shouldn't have a significantly detrimental...

I would think they'd want to supervise or at least observe to make sure their recommendations were followed and limit their liability. I'm a geotech engineer and I insist on supervising or observing any jobs where I've done the design, though I don't work on pools or small civil jobs so it may...

If you google "pool plaster Houston" you should be able to find a few. Looks like there's a Superior Pool Products in Houston too, they sell supplies to pool plastering companies and pool builders. They're not open to the general public, but I bet if you call they'd be happy to give you a few...

I removed the kool deck from the decking around our pool last year as part of the remodel and exposed the concrete underneath. When it's 104-110 F outside like it is now, the concrete gets extremely hot and can definitely burn feet. I've been to places locally with travertine coping/decking...

Hard to say looking at the tables alone, but that's definitely a strong possibility. Water pressure and equivalent fluid pressure of soil are both depth dependent.