Remodel in progress, how much to replace skimmer???

Dave95b · Apr 21, 2015

Hi All,

I'm having my pool remodeled. Tile, coping, and fiberglass overlay are all removed. The PB and I did a walk through and he's highly recommending replacing the skimmer. He says there are not structural cracks around the skimmer, but over the years water had leaked around the skimmer box and ate through the rebar and disintergrated the cement encasing. He's saying worst case would be $1,495.00. The pool deck is not part of the remodel; therefore, the pool deck is intact and will need to be cut into.

The gunite on the vertical sides of the skimmer is shot. He was able to easily remove dirt, corroded rebar, disintegrated gunite with a pocket knife. I'm thinking about doing myself to save some money by cutting into the kool deck to get access and dig out, tie in rebar into the bond beam, and pour cement to encase the skimmer box.

Has anyone done it themselves? Any advice, tips/tricks, or guidance is appreciated.

Thanks, Dave

jblizzle · Apr 21, 2015

I had a skimmer cut out and replaced ... ran me $1200 ... no dealing with rebar though.

Dave95b · Apr 21, 2015

It's not uploading my pic.

jblizzle · Apr 21, 2015

To post more/larger pictures, you either need to raise your storage allotment by Becoming a TFP Supporter or follow the How To Post Pictures tutorial.

JonnyB · Apr 21, 2015

I have just replaced both of my skimmers. Your going to need some tools demo hammer or jack hammer and hammer drill for those tight places. Circular saw with a diamond blade will cut the concrete around the skimmer box. I will post up some pictures and try to explain more in detail later

JonnyB · Apr 24, 2015

Ok I am going to try to do a step by step as best as I can with the little photos that I took. The only thing I can be thankful that my pool builder did do was put lueders on top of the skimmer boxes so the processes will be different for yourself

So first you need to do is just chip away at the deck

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I have had many leaks from this skimmer do to multiple reasons and when the skimmer was plumbed they did it 4" lower then the other skimmer. So I had one skimmer that had water over the mouth or one that was too low.

This is a 10" chisel bit

More digging you can also see the autofill was put in on a angle and compressed

More digging and autofill cut out

The skimmer set at the correct height

Now for the fun part...PLUMBING! In my case I had an equilzer line that goes out the the wall. The coping also got in the way so I took many measurements and installed a 2" pipe extender to the equalizer line and slid the new skimmer in.

Now as all plumbing is different I can't say what you will run into or how it will need to be routed. Just remember to use PVC cleaner, PVC primer and then PVC cement (if your using PVC skimmer and PVC pipe) REMEMBER TO PRESSURE TEST your plumbing. This can be done by using a DIY pool pressure stick

Now I did cut the corroded rebar out and spice in new rebar. I do not have any pictures of that done.

This was the last step first I build forms around the concrete deck with Styrofoam. This is very important because these will be removed later for the expansion joint.

Before the concrete paint gunite area around the skimmer throat with concrete bonding agent. Then take hydraulic cement and pack the throat with it. This will prevent the new concrete from seeping out. Now before you start pouring concrete use a concrete bonding agent on the existing gunite.

Now in my case the concrete doesn't go all the way to the top because a new piece of lueder will finsih it off.

Once poured cover with plastic and do a wetcure for 7 days.

rmm221 · Apr 24, 2015

I JUST had my skimmer replaced last week in Los Angeles area.. My pool guy charged $1600.. But he also included new dual drains... I then just had him run new PVC plumbing to replace my copper from the drains back to the skimmer for $350 more. So $1950 for new skimmer, new split drains and new plumbing from drains to skimmer. So that sounds about right... if a touch high.