bperry’s pool renovation

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Update for today: all the staples are in, cracks are ground out and stuffed with hydraulic cement.
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And I have a new theory on why the crack started. When I was stapling this deep end transition under the waterfall, I was hitting dirt once I got down to the 4-ish inches deep drilling for the pins. Once the plaster was chipped out, I could see the transition from the floor to the vertical wall was really sharp instead of gradual like the rest of the pool. I suspect the gunite got a little thin over there and was weaker.
So rather than just covering the staples individually, I blended out that section with hydraulic mortar. Added at least a couple inches in that area.
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And I was right that the plaster contractor that came out has not responded with a bid. So I called one of the previous contractors (who I suspect might have built the pool) and told them I accepted their bid to ensure they know I’m not just kicking tires and was ready to write a check. I let them know I did some crack repair and they thought it best to come out and inspect it again before going ahead. So we’ll see what happens there in a week or so.
 
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Wow! That's a lot of hydraulic cement. That stuff must go off like a firecracker in your neck of the woods, but the end result looks really good! How much working time do you get? Or are you doing it a night when it's cooler? I had one day when it got up into the 80's and I could barely get the stuff mixed and carried over to the application area before it started to stiffen up. Excellent work.
 
In my opinion, staples probably won't do very much to prevent further cracks.

If the pool settles, it will crack.

If it does not settle, it probably won't crack more.

They might do some good if the stress is very small, so there is a tiny window where they might do some good.
 
Powderboy said:
Wow! That's a lot of hydraulic cement. That stuff must go off like a firecracker in your neck of the woods, but the end result looks really good! How much working time do you get? Or are you doing it a night when it's cooler? I had one day when it got up into the 80's and I could barely get the stuff mixed and carried over to the application area before it started to stiffen up. Excellent work.
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The leak stop hydraulic cement kicks off in a couple minutes so I can only mix about couple handfuls at a time. The bigger area I used hydraulic mortar mix which gives you about 15minutes which is much easier to work with.
 
JamesW said:
In my opinion, staples probably won't do very much to prevent further cracks.

If the pool settles, it will crack.

If it does not settle, it probably won't crack more.

They might do some good if the stress is very small, so there is a tiny window where they might do some good.
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I would tend to agree on the “further cracks”. If the shell is still settling it’ll just crack in a new spot. The staples are only designed to stabilize an existing crack and keep it from opening again.

I’ve had a skimmer leak, and a couple leaks near the steps and it’s been leaking for at least a couple years. My hope is that stopping both of those will prevent any further settling. I do find that the shallow end sits a bit lower than the other end, which would make sense for settling because the shallow end is built in built-up (back filled?) area of the yard.
 
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Some progress and odd developments.

I patched my last two suspected cracks. I say suspected because I could see a crack in the plaster before I chipped it away but couldn’t see much of anything in the gunite. But I installed a rebar staple on this two spots anyway, just to be safe.
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And as I sounded out some hollow spots in the plaster, I was able to dig this one out and find that water starts collecting in the depression within 10 minutes. It would seem there is water behind there. My only uncertainty is whether it’s coming from stored up leaks over the last few years or some other kind of phenomenon. I’m starting to lean towards chipping more plaster out and seeing what I find. Im assuming it’s stored up water from the leaks as there’s just no other source of water I can imagine.
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On a related note, I actually got two bids back from plaster contractors. The first was one of those “I don’t want the job but if you pay me enough I’ll do it” at $65k. 🤣 The other is a small business started a couple years ago but the guy says he has 30 years of experience and can start in 3 weeks and includes a really good price. He seemed to at least talk the talk enough to seem like he knew the business. My only concern about the second guy is that he does work in other states on kind of a “have trowel will travel” kind of website and I don’t know if he’ll just walk off with my deposit and never show up for work.

And so I’m checking one more local place that has a decent price but is really hard to get to come out for a final inspection before signing a contract. As a backup plan I’ve confirmed I can reach the bottom of the tile in the deep end with my pool trowel and found a place that’ll ship me diamondbrite. 😳 We’ll see what happens soon!
 
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Ugh, the place that gave me a quote a while back was supposed to be coming out this week to inspect it before signing on to do it. Now they act like they have no idea they were sending someone out this week and want another couple weeks and are all of a sudden super busy.
 
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My curiosity got the best of me. Weeping water has slowed but not stopped. Of course it starting to rain so I’ll give it a day or so and see if it dries up.
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I suppose it’s be wise to pressure test the plumbing (even though three leak detections didn’t find anything) since all of my pool pipes run through that area and someone planted a 50ft tree right next to them. That’s certainly a possibility for water behind the shell. I just don’t trust anyone’s competence anymore.

I also got a scolding from my favorite plaster contractor saying that the pool being empty is going to ruin the plaster. It’s funny because I’ve spoken to her three separate times and it’s like we never talked even though she promises me someone will come out “next week”. I tried to explain that all the water was gonna leak out anyway but…:rolleyes:
 
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Bperry said:
I also got a scolding from my favorite plaster contractor saying that the pool being empty is going to ruin the plaster.
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Ummm... I think the plaster is already ruined. Buncha holes in it all over!

I haven't seen you mention it, but are you going to do the chip out or are you letting the plaster company handle that?

--Jeff
 
Turbo1Ton said:
Ummm... I think the plaster is already ruined. Buncha holes in it all over!

I haven't seen you mention it, but are you going to do the chip out or are you letting the plaster company handle that?

--Jeff
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That’s one of those details I haven’t worked out yet but I’m leaning on chipping it myself. There are hollow spots every 6-8 inches and so I could spend days digging out hollow spots over 90% of the surface or just chip it out. I’m also looking at the hydroban cementitious membrane or basecrete makes a concrete “densifier” that I’m considering as well to make sure of the water seal on the gunite before plaster. I’ve been reading that plaster is not technically waterproof but not sold on that just yet.

Of course, the heat and humidity are now ramping up.
 

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