1/8" paneling under rebar - does this matter?

[tstex]

Hello to all,

They dug thursday, re-bared and did plumbing fri & sat. From one of the cut irrigation lines, residual water flowed back into the spa area and then in the lowest of the pool area. they placed mutiple pieces of 4' x 8' paneling board 3/8" thick on the dirt, then rebar'ed over them. Does this matter when they gunite?

Thanks and i'll try to get the pictures going.

Regards,
tstex

 

[gwegan]

No it probably doesn't matter. As long as there are no large voids under the paneling it should be ok.

 

[tstex]

Thanks...

 

[minimonster17]

I don't know, I've worked around paneling/plywood for a long time, and when masonite paneling gets wet, it tends to fall apart... You don't want settlement to create a void under the gunite shell... If possible, I would pull paneling (it should cut up with a knife pretty easily...) any loose dirt, and have the gunite shot a little thicker at that point to compensate.

 

[tstex]

I am not sure a knife would cut it...also, it would be the pool buildeers responsibility to remove the paneling correct? it also has some water over it as well from a rain on Sunday and we are in the midst of some more storms coming thru Houston later this evening.

On another note, what are pool builders supposed to do when you have a lot rain and water in the pool w the rebar before guniting? I am sure I am not the first w this problem.

Thank you

 

[tylerlisal]

Hi Tstex, my pool was just finished around a month ago. After the rebar was placed, it poured for several days and lots of dirt from the walls slid down into the pool. The day of gunite, the pool builder pumped out the muck and water and placed plywood behind the rebar on the walls. They then sprayed the gunite and backfilled behind the plywood.

My contract specified how thick the gunite would be, and when I measured that's how thick it was. I'm thinking it was less expensive for them to do plywood and backfill, rather than add to the thickness of the gunite - or else I would've ended up with thicker walls. And now that it's complete, you'd never know.

Hope this helps, good luck with the rest of your build!!

 

[minimonster17]

Hi Tstex, my pool was just finished around a month ago. After the rebar was placed, it poured for several days and lots of dirt from the walls slid down into the pool. The day of gunite, the pool builder pumped out the muck and water and placed plywood behind the rebar on the walls. They then sprayed the gunite and backfilled behind the plywood.

My contract specified how thick the gunite would be, and when I measured that's how thick it was. I'm thinking it was less expensive for them to do plywood and backfill, rather than add to the thickness of the gunite - or else I would've ended up with thicker walls. And now that it's complete, you'd never know.

Hope this helps, good luck with the rest of your build!!

The problem here is though, that he has masonite or plywood under the bottom of the rebar cage, under where the floor of the pool will be. Removal of the material will be impossible once the gunite is shot. Is it plywood or masonite? Masonite is brown, and entirely sawdust based. It will be relatively easy to cut up with a razor knife. Plywood on the other hand will be difficult to break apart and pull out with the cage on top of it. Either way, I would not want that stuff under the pool floor, regardless of whether or not it will pass pregunite inspection. I've yet to do my pool, but I've read up on a lot of builds, and looked at plenty of pregunite pics, and have yet to see ply/masonite board left under the rebar cage/future pool floor.

As the previous poster noted, in the event of a heavy rain, the builder has two choices: brace the walls up w/ plywood before the gunite, or spray it thicker to compensate for washout areas.