Hi I m a newbie and whilst I spent my youth in residential construction I was never involved with pools. I now find myself with a 34’ x 18’ pool on the island of Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos Islands, (just below the Bahama’s). The pool was very poorly finished and they had cast a concrete copping which was about as straight as a donkey’s hind leg and the wire reinforcement they had placed in it was too close to the edge causing rust stains. The pool is built on limestone and the bottom is comfortably above the high water mark of the adjacent canal. The Diamond Brite was also in a pretty bad way so I have jack hammered it all off along with the coping. The coping to be replaced by 2" x 24" Travertive in Ivory well sealed before installation.The pool is cast concrete with a sand and cement base coat. Whilst the pool did not appear to leak the sand and cement sounded hollow in a couple of places so that has all been jack hammered out as well to get me back to the cast concrete. I then pressure washed the walls a floor. It looks as if the original sand and cement was applied to standard blue cement bonding which I cannot think is much good for a pool. I was pointed towards Acryl 60 as a suitable additive for the sand and cement base coat is this the best to use? At what stages should the concrete be etched with muriatic acid?
I have discovered that the two pool plastic drain covers have degraded probably due to the effects of chlorine and year round UV exposure. I am wondering whether to bite the bullet and rip out the main drains at this time. I guess I do not want to create leaks where there are no leaks. I am not on island and have not been able to inspect the main bodies. When patching the pool floor is it a good idea to keep the base concrete a little low allowing for a covering of hydraulic cement before Bond Kote and Diamond Brite? What is the best way to pressure test the main drain piping before committing to concrete?
I am also going to fit an automated pool filler in. I was going to cut the wall hole large enough to allow high strength cement to be used to back up the pipe and hydraulic to grout the face to below the Diamond Brite depth.
Any any advice right now would be much appreciated along with any pointers to previous threads that you would think helpful.
I have discovered that the two pool plastic drain covers have degraded probably due to the effects of chlorine and year round UV exposure. I am wondering whether to bite the bullet and rip out the main drains at this time. I guess I do not want to create leaks where there are no leaks. I am not on island and have not been able to inspect the main bodies. When patching the pool floor is it a good idea to keep the base concrete a little low allowing for a covering of hydraulic cement before Bond Kote and Diamond Brite? What is the best way to pressure test the main drain piping before committing to concrete?
I am also going to fit an automated pool filler in. I was going to cut the wall hole large enough to allow high strength cement to be used to back up the pipe and hydraulic to grout the face to below the Diamond Brite depth.
Any any advice right now would be much appreciated along with any pointers to previous threads that you would think helpful.
In regards to pressure testing, you need to plug the main drains, possibly the skimmer(s) if they are tied in on the same line and then the pipe leading into the pump. That would seal off the suction system. Some of those might have screw in connections in the PVC near the termination that you can screw a cap onto or you would need to get plugs. Then get a pressure gauge plumbed into the system and pump it up to 20psi and see if it holds. You'll find many construction threads on here of builders pressure testing a new build that should give you ideas on the gauge and connections for the testing.