Spa spillover repair - 3/14 - Repair done! but sad plaster spot

If each and every stone was waiting on the PBs floor when he walked into his showroom tomorrow, i don't know nothing.

No sir, I don't.
 
  • Love
Reactions: dfwnoob
Given that some of the bricks were already pretty severely dislodged, I peered down inside. It doesn't look like there is any "second wall" at all.. it's full of rocks and stones. It looks like what they did was build up the brick veneer, fill the void between the spa shell and veneer with rocks/stones, and then poured concrete on top of it. That's why it sounds hollow. THAT's what the mason saw and why he called the contractor.

That pretty much explains everything, and leaves me with no actual option at this point but to have it rebuilt.

I can ask to have them drill the concrete on top but that's exactly what it looks like to me.
Surprise, surprise.

How old is your pool?

What warranty did the PB give on the shell, of which that wall is a part of.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dfwnoob
The pool was built back in 2006, two owners ago. I'm assuming any warranty is loooooooong gone and probably wouldn't apply to me anyway.
 
I'd play that angle up regardless if it's really how it looks once they get in there. Make him explain how his company thought it was acceptable. Make him explain why you're responsible for it.

It'll be easy enough to deflect blame all these years later between different subs or new management, but still. Maybe you get half off. 🤷‍♂️

Be civil/polite but firm that it's fouled up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dfwnoob and .ben
You know, I bet having a salt water pool did this.

IMG_2081.JPG

My brother came over and I was showing him the work they have to do, and I pulled on the top of the wall to show him how loose it was.

How loose was it? Yes.
 
A low salinity pool water has nothing to do with poor workmanship.

Hey look Marty, I'm just trying to give all the Texas pool builder answers here. That pesky Aquapure clearly put those scrap pieces of brick, stone, and wood in there. Anyone want to do an over/under on how many beer cans they'll find? Those sneaky snakes over at Jandy..

He was joking. :laughblue:

Holy Hollow Wall, Batman! Yikes.

Just noticed your avatar photo...Lycoming O-360 for an RV-6?

Indeed it is an O-360! I'm pretty sure I just googled O-360 back in the day and that was the best picture I could find :ROFLMAO: I generally only fly Cessnas and Pipers, though. Never had a chance to take an RV for a spin.

On other pool related news, I picked up some new drain covers for the pool today since one was broken and ugly anyway.
 
Indeed it is an O-360! I'm pretty sure I just googled O-360 back in the day and that was the best picture I could find :ROFLMAO: I generally only fly Cessnas and Pipers, though. Never had a chance to take an RV for a spin.
Built an RV-7A back in the day. Seemed familiar. Also flew an RV-10. Both great planes.
 
I'm jealous! I'd love to be able to build something one day. I'm not the biggest Rotax fan, but I think a Sling TSi kit would be fun.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I'm jealous! I'd love to be able to build something one day. I'm not the biggest Rotax fan, but I think a Sling TSi kit would be fun.
I'm getting too old to keep up. The Sling is a cool design, but I'm old school. Lycoming, Continental, or I'm out. I don't trust Rotax.

When you get older, your risk profile changes...

Had a FIKI Mooney Ovation, in the Great Lakes region...wouldn't fly Great Lakes without FIKI. FIKI weeping wing failed me on a flight from South Bend to Cleveland. Sold it in 2010 to an Inuit lawyer in Canada...last flight in known icing to CYQA.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dfwnoob
I'm of the same mindset. In my head, whether or not it actually makes any reliability difference, the Rotaxs are just too complex. You've got a gear reduction, liquid cooling, etc. I like the sheer simplicity of the Lycoming and Continental stuff I fly. Way less to go wrong. Granted an IO-360 in a low time, shiny new 172S nearly killed my buddy, so who knows.

A single engine piston in icing conditions just isn't for me. FIKI vastly, vastly exceeds my personal risk envelope. Heck, I really try not to even fly at night. Same for IMC flight in general; I'm kind of a wuss.. I like the severe clear days. I still haven't gotten around to finishing my instrument ticket, but I actually have quite a bit of actual IMC time in my book thanks my good friend who is a CFI. I think I was at 4 hours of actual when I took my PPL checkride lol. So I guess I don't mind IMC, but I'm not too interested in doing it alone and, again, I don't really feel comfortable in a single engine piston when I can't see the ground.

If I could afford it (or any plane, let's be honest) I'd probably be another dork with a Cirrus and a parachute. For now the club 182 and Pipers will have to do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PoolStored
Well, the spa/spillover is now rebuilt! Unlike before, there is now an actual "second wall" for the brick to attach to.

IMG_2094.JPG

I'd say it certainly looks much better now than before. I think he did a nice job on the brickwork, and he reset two of the big flagstone pieces on the top that were loose. Also I threw new drain covers on:

IMG_2110.JPG
IMG_2111.JPG
IMG_2112.JPG
IMG_2113.JPG

Unfortunately, sitting dry for days on end (I DID spray it down a 3-4 times a day, but it's been extremely dry here lately and we're actually under a fire warning due to the low humidity and dryness) took it's toll on the plaster in one spot:

IMG_2115.JPG

It's about a 1.5x1.5" spot where the plaster had delaminated and I guess finally popped off. I tapped all around it, and for the most part everything about 4" outside of the center seems solid. Immediately outside of that "pothole" feels hollow, though.

I have seen people recommend E-Z Patch for spots like this; a $13k+ chip out and replaster just isn't in the cards for us with all of the other house projects we have going on this year. Does anyone have any experience with the E-Z Patch product? I assume I'll need to chip out all of the delaminated plaster surrounding the hole first.
 
Searched and actually found a few positive reviews of the E-Z Patch stuff here on the forum. The 1FS kind looks like it can be used underwater, so I can go ahead and fill the pool all the way back up and not have to either keep it low or re-drain some when it gets here. Doesn't appear to be any place I can actually buy it locally so it has to be shipped.

I don't really care how close the gray matches, I just need it to last another year or two until we can plunk down the money on a full replaster (and given the state of some of the coping, probably re-coping too..)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Newdude
You will find it a lot easier and less frustrating to use the regular plaster repair and drain down the pool below that step for 24 hours during the repair and curing.

The FS repair is very difficult to keep together underwater.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dfwnoob
Message received! I’ll only have to drain the pool down a few inches anyway. I’ll just do that and wait until I patch it to fully get my water chemistry in order. Thanks for the advice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dfwnoob
I'll do that. Looks like there are actually multiple spots that are delaminating on the "sunning shelf" or whatever you want to call it. Argh.

I actually can't tell if that's gunnite underneath or another plaster. Given how insanely thin it seems to be, I'm leaning toward it being maybe being the original plaster coat underneath. It looks like it might be white plaster with little black and blue specks in it. I was under the impression plaster was supposed to be about 1/2" thick. You'd need a micrometer to measure this.

IMG_2117.JPG
IMG_2119.JPG
IMG_2120r.jpeg

Last image is the sunning shelf. Every one of those bumps is "squishy", which given how thick plaster is supposed to be (from what all I'm reading) should be impossible.

This sucks really, really bad.

Edit: Thanks to the always-excellent posts from @onBalance , it appears this is actually plaster "spalling". All of the details line up in this thread:
  • "Crater" look, shallow
  • Extremely rough
  • On a long, flat, horizontal plane
  • Didn't flake off or cause issues until the pool was drained and the plaster become sufficiently dry.
So am I right to assume this isn't the end of the world? Just attack these spots by sanding and attempting to replaster with the E-Z Patch (ordered the gray non-FS 1 earlier this evening)? I'm fine with pushing the replaster to next year, I just want to make sure this isn't causing some catastrophic damage like letting water get down to the concrete shell or anything.

Also wow my plaster used to be a much different color.
 
Last edited:
I was going to say, those pictures look more like just the uppermost troweled layer came off, exposing the looser aggregate under it.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support