Auto Cover causing deck pitting

[ajw22]

I think freeze/thawing of moisture under the cover against the concrete could have contributed to eroding the sealer and pitting the concrete. There are a bunch of factors other then the salt going on.

Is water inexpensive and available to you?

If so I would keep your SWG for the coming season. Come the fall closing I would do a 50%-60% water exchange to reduce the salt level before winter arrives and the cover stays close. See how the concrete under the cover does next winter. I suspect you will still have problems.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Whatever fix you come up with, my suggestion going forward is that you uncover the pool more often and you don’t allow water to build up underneath it between the cover the and concrete. That might mean opening the pool cover up during rain or a snow/ice storm but you need to let the concrete dry out. It’s water infiltration that weakens concrete surfaces.

 

[linck]

The causes of concrete pitting are many -

Why Did My New Concrete Driveway Peel & Flake? | Homesteady

A properly prepared and poured concrete driveway should not degrade for many years. If a relatively new driveway shows peeling and flaking, the concrete mixture was wrong, or the installation was not properly done.

homesteady.com

My guess is that water was retained under the cover in those areas and there was probably inadequate sealing. This allowed water to infiltrate into the sealer/concrete and then freeze/thaw cycling caused the pits. You have stamped and colored concrete there. Depending on what concrete mix was specified, how and when it was stamped and allowed to setup and cure, and when the top coat color and sealer was applied, then all of those steps could easily lead to defects.

It may be possible to recolor and seal those pits and then they would blend into the surrounding deck. Right now it’s exposed concrete (grey) against a darker background and so the contrast looks horrible.

Thanks for the link, very informative. They do have the concrete guy coming back out to fix it the first of March. I am hoping for a fix that will not be an eye sore and will match the rest. They poured the inner part surrounding the pool on 4/9, outer deck was poured later after the cover tracks were in place, and it was all stained on 5/28.

Whatever fix you come up with, my suggestion going forward is that you uncover the pool more often and you don’t allow water to build up underneath it between the cover the and concrete. That might mean opening the pool cover up during rain or a snow/ice storm but you need to let the concrete dry out. It’s water infiltration that weakens concrete surfaces.

Thanks for the suggestion. That was the longest we had it covered at one time. In addition, in December we had freezing rain/sleet then 7 inches of snow and temps in the teens for a few of days which is not really typical for us. Wish I had opened the cover at least before that weather....

I think that we will probably try to leave the cover open more to be preventative for future issues.

 

[linck]

I think freeze/thawing of moisture under the cover against the concrete could have contributed to eroding the sealer and pitting the concrete. There are a bunch of factors other then the salt going on.

Is water inexpensive and available to you?

If so I would keep your SWG for the coming season. Come the fall closing I would do a 50%-60% water exchange to reduce the salt level before winter arrives and the cover stays close. See how the concrete under the cover does next winter. I suspect you will still have problems.

We are on a well so no charge for water. If the water was diluted and the concrete was sealed perhaps with a better salt resistant sealer, why would there still be problems, because there are problems now that will just keep getting worse? What would be the correct fix for this whole issue?

 

[linck]

I assume the cover is sitting on the concrete.

How would the pool water effect that? Specifically the salt in the pool water.

I suspect the cover sitting on top of the concrete traps moisture. That moisture draws out the minerals in the concrete, which is called effloresence. I suspect the sealant on the concrete is mostly worn away by the cover sitting on the concrete.

This has nothing to do with salt in your pool water. All pool water, unless chlorinated with chlorine gas or calcium hypochlorite, has salt in it.

Thanks for the reply. I think the cover on the concrete for those 2 months with a hard freeze for a few days straight was the culprit as well. We intended on sealing that part under the cover yearly but I had no idea we should have done it in the fall before winter when it was only 5 months old at that point. So disappointing to have spent so much money to have this kind of headache so early on.

 

[ajw22]

We are on a well so no charge for water. If the water was diluted and the concrete was sealed perhaps with a better salt resistant sealer, why would there still be problems, because there are problems now that will just keep getting worse? What would be the correct fix for this whole issue?

I suspect freeze/thaw of moisture trapped under the cover may be part of the problem.

As joyful suggested opening the cover during the winter will help.