Here are a few things that may help anyone who wants to replace a skimmer. its really not that hard. If I had a whole day (I didn't) I would have been done in one day easy. But I have done quite a number of different things as far as construction so experience varies. Most of these things will probably sound a little "goes with out saying" to man people but just in case your newer to do it your self projects.....
first: obviously drain the water a few inches below the skimmer and you'll need to remove some tile on either side of the skimmer. REMEMBER ceramic tile will be sharp as glass. tiny chips will stick in your feet and cut you so the pool will need to be vacuumed thoroughly
2: your gonna need to make a plug (I showed more in an earlier picture) for the form. that way there is an opening in the wall. so take some measurements and angles before you demo. so you can build it a little easier.
the third: thing I would recommend is to Cut the concrete in place of hammering it. You would probably be fine with a jack hammer but cutting is much more gentle. You can rent a concrete saw just like a jack hammer. get a combination blade that will cut rebar and concrete. I had my own with a diamond blade which does cut rebar . Rental places may not let you have a diamond blade and metal dulls them more quickly.
You will still need an angle grinder with a diamond blade , a heavy hammer and a chisel. You will have to do some hammering by hand once you cut as much as you can with the concrete saw (it only goes so deep). cut as deep as you can with the angle grinder on each side (inside pool and outside pool) and then put the chisel to it. with the cuts the concrete will pop right off and not stress the pool wall.
4: Make the opening like a trapezoid with the smaller end on top. makes it like a key that cant pop up from the bottom. you may want to expose some of the rebar. little nubs about 3/4 of an inch will help a lot. when your making the opening you'll want to be able to fit 3" or more of concrete on all sides. thin concrete cracks easy. I added some stainless hex head concrete screws in a few areas. the more the concrete has to grab the better. If you do that make sure they screw in and don't get forced in to tight. to tight and the screw is more like a wedge that can split concrete.
5: dry fit the plumbing several times before assembly. I had to remove extra old plumbing because mine wasn't done properly when the pool was made. if the skimmer is off level a little it can be forced (only a little. if its way off something might crack in the future) into level with a brace and it will stay that way after you pour the concrete. get it all put in place and make your forms. I used some clamps and my brush pole to hold the forms in place. some dirt can help fill in the bottom of the form when your ready to place the concrete. but don't be to hasty
6: this is pretty important. to make sure there were no gaps in the bottom I took the outside form /plug off and shoved the concrete under the bottom of the skimmer by hand. I even pried it back a little bit to get plenty under there and pressed the skimmer down into the concrete using a wood block to fix it level. then put the front form back on and packed the rest up by hand. an 80b bag will be more than enough.
a few other things that might help.
I like to take precautions. some of these things may not really be necessary but may also help avoid problems in the future
you want new concrete to bond to old concrete. especially if you don't want leaks. I mentions stainless steel screws for the concrete to grab to as well as exposing rebar. one other thing I did is I used a bonder/ fortifier in the concrete. I not only mixed it in but made a slurry (think super thick paint) and brushed it on the whole area. you need to get the rest of the concrete poured in before the slurry mixture completely sets to be of the most effect.
You also don't want concrete to crack. fortifier helps. not letting it be to thin also helps. In addition I took some fiberglass cloth and pulled off a bunch of fiber glass. its pretty easy to do. you want the strands, not just clumps of cloth. I mixed my concrete by hand (wearing gloves) and put in small amounts of fiber glass strands a little at a time so there were no clumps of fiber glass. the fibers make certain your not going to have any leaks. a few fluffy hand full goes a long way. just don't show it in all at once or you'll just have a wad of fiberglass doing more harm than good.
there are probably a lot of other things I could tell you but they are just common construction tips. if you can safely demo, measure, plumb, and work concrete most everything else is common knowledge
hope this helped you out.
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& how are you actually tying it to the wall?? The throat set in the wall is inadequate. Skimmers move when pump is turned on & off. You have to anchor it to the pool. Best ray
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GOOD point. If you read what I was writing while you typed that you'll see what I did. I've done a lot of concrete and I am very positive mine it not going any where.
