Repairing waterfall and decking cracks

patplh

0
LifeTime Supporter
Jul 29, 2009
221
Massachusetts
Pool Size
25000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Hi, I have a 3 tier waterfall and have gone through a few leak repairs.
- Crack in the base was repaired with quikrete and then painted over w/ pond shield. The pond shield started peeling off 2 years later, but the quikrete lasted.
- Two foot length crack in the wall of the bottom pool was fixed using quikrete also, but that only lasted two years.
- We also have chunks/layers chipping away from the top pool that I assume will eventually create a huge issue.

We aren't in a place to get this fixed professionally, but we are pretty handy.
I'm tempted to just lay down an entire new layer of plaster/concrete on top of the old but making sure no water gets in-between the old and new is probably hard.
Any suggestions on how to tackle this waterfall project?

Also, our concrete deck has a long crack that runs the width of the deck (12ft) and it's also rough from the salt water and general age of the entire build (built by previous owners in 2002). What do folks put down to protect the deck from degrading further?
Thanks so much for any advice you have.
I've attached pictures.
 

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Your waterfall and deck are cracking from ground movement or winter freeze-thaw cycles. Plaster or concrete will develop cracks in a few years, so expect a constant maintenance cycle in those areas.

Show us wider pictures of the concrete deck. The crack may have been from the lack of an expansion joint.
 
Your waterfall and deck are cracking from ground movement or winter freeze-thaw cycles. Plaster or concrete will develop cracks in a few years, so expect a constant maintenance cycle in those areas.

Show us wider pictures of the concrete deck. The crack may have been from the lack of an expansion joint.
Thanks so much for the quick reply. Attached are new pics. First pic is the entire length of the hairline crack. Second picture shows more of the deck. The purple paths are deep trenches in the concrete that extend from the pool edge to the mulch. I clean them out each summer. They are not cut through to the dirt/sand layer, the base of the trench is still concrete. I googled explanation joint and we don't have anything like that in the concrete.

For the waterfall... Makes sense with thaw/freeze. Do you know of any methods for filling the cracks that will last longer than two years?
Thanks again
 

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