Crack in fiberglass sairs

[Smehltrett]

Hey All,

So as my first summer with a pool is drawing to a close I noticed a nice crack in my pool stairs. Its about 4 inches and on the third tread below waterline. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this and might be able to guide me in the right direction. We just bought the house so I need to fix this as economically as possible but I also want to find a permanent fix. I have done some searching and seen some folks recommend DIY kits from poolstepspecialists.com. I contacted them but rather than responding with the DIY kit they said they have a tech in my area who could do the repair for about $1000. They didn't offer any information on the process or how he would carry out the repair. Can anyone dump some knowledge on me here I really don't have a clue as to what I am looking at. Is this something I can fix my self? Is this an expensive problem(I assume it is)? Any advice would be appreciated.







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*Note they said that the $1000 includes proper re supporting and repair of the stair tread.

 

[kimkats]

Here are a couple of threads about the same thing. Read over these and see what you think.

Crack in step

Crack in steps

Once you have read these let me know what you are thinking and we can go from there.

Kim

 

[Smehltrett]

Thanks looked both of those over. It does seem like repacking under the tread is the way to go for a lasting fix. My issue now is it's $1000 to have the tech do it. I am wondering how difficult it would be to tackle on my own to save some money. Though I suppose if I do it myself and fail then I am totally screwed.

 

[Mo23871]

Thanks looked both of those over. It does seem like repacking under the tread is the way to go for a lasting fix. My issue now is it's $1000 to have the tech do it. I am wondering how difficult it would be to tackle on my own to save some money. Though I suppose if I do it myself and fail then I am totally screwed.

Any update on this? Having a very similar issue and interested to hear what you decided to do.

 

[Smehltrett]

I decided to do it my self. I got a kit from pool step specialist. I am in the process of doing the repair now actually. Unfortunately draining the water took longer than I thought and I ran out of daylight. I cutt the stair tread open and repacked it with paver base it was basically completely hollow I'm there! I have already patched it back up just need to apply the final gel coating

 

[vertcnc]

I wonder if drilling a few holes and a spray type expanding foam to fill void would work?

 

[Smehltrett]

I wonder if drilling a few holes and a spray type expanding foam to fill void would work?

Maybe if you only had a small void. But even then it's probably a temporary fix. I repacked this sucker with paver base and put a few bricks for the tread to sit on. It's really solid now.

 

[kimkats]

Well done! I bet that is what your face looked like when you say the big, empty space!

Kim

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I'd like to see a pic of the repaired tread. Well done!

Maddie

 

[Smehltrett]

Sorry for the lack of an update. Here are some pictures of the finished stair. I was pretty sloppy with the Bondo so it took a lot of working sanding. Then I took my dremel with a grinding head to fit the diamond pattern. It's still not perfect you can see it's been repaired on some spots but with the water in the pool you really wouldn't know unless you are looking for it. It's been like two weeks now since I filled the pool back up and I no longer have a problem with water disappearing so I'm going to call this repair a success.

 

[kimkats]

You have to look real close to even think you see it! Great job! Love that you used a dremel the make the diamond pattern! Quite a finishing touch!

Kim

 

[Mo23871]

Sorry for the lack of an update. Here are some pictures of the finished stair. I was pretty sloppy with the Bondo so it took a lot of working sanding. Then I took my dremel with a grinding head to fit the diamond pattern. It's still not perfect you can see it's been repaired on some spots but with the water in the pool you really wouldn't know unless you are looking for it. It's been like two weeks now since I filled the pool back up and I no longer have a problem with water disappearing so I'm going to call this repair a success.

Wow that looks great! Was there any type of support beam running under the tread? If so did you have to remove it to pack it? When you packed the void did you put the bricks in first?Any pics? About how long did this take once you had the pool drained and how long did you let it sit before refill? Last, what materials were included in the kit from pool step specialists and it was $250 for the kit? Thanks for letting us interigate you, the crack I have is very similar and this is very helpful!! Really appreciate it!

 

[Catanzaro]

Looks Good!

I wonder if the method that they use to raise concrete would have worked on this one. I did not believe it until my friend told me about it.

Raising Concrete Slabs | Alternative to Mudjacking | PolyLevel® by Foundation Supportworks. - YouTube

This would have been a small project and one would have to be extremely careful not to fill in too much. Kind of like the foam that expands.

I know when my pool was being built, I had so much empty space, that I actually removed all the soil by hand, then went back in by hand and packed it all back in. It took almost a week as this was one of my main concerns. The steps, although had a lot of supports, which then were embedded with rebars and concrete.





The fiberglass steps also have support beams under each step, which I assume is also something the industry has improved over the years.

 

[Smehltrett]

Wow that looks great! Was there any type of support beam running under the tread? If so did you have to remove it to pack it? When you packed the void did you put the bricks in first?Any pics? About how long did this take once you had the pool drained and how long did you let it sit before refill? Last, what materials were included in the kit from pool step specialists and it was $250 for the kit? Thanks for letting us interigate you, the crack I have is very similar and this is very helpful!! Really appreciate it!

There was a support beam under the tread. However it was only partially attached it was flapping around. I cutt it out and pulled it out since it was useless at that point. The void was massive I used 3 1/2 20lbs bags of paver base to pack it. I put the bricks at the top so the tread would sit onto of them and packed all around them and a little coat on top to level it off. I don't have any pics of the packed stair my hands were extremely messy so didn't want to touch the phone.

Draining the pool took all day! I didn't anticipate this and didn't get to start until Sunday evening. So it took me 3 evenings after work maybe like 4 or so hours total split up over 3 days. I would come home and work until it got too dark. Once I was finished I let it sit for 48 hours to fully cure before the refill.

The kit only comes with the step gel which is like a white paint coating, some measuring cups, gloves, a brush, a roller, piece of fiberglass cloth, and of course the DVD. I had to buy the Bondo fiberglass filler, the fiberglass resin, sand paper, and the packing material. Honestly I am not sure what the step gel is but if you could obtain that you wouldn't really need the kit at all. I did have enough of the white step gel so I repainted the entire stair case that was above water it looks brand new I love it.

It really wasn't too difficult of a job the hardest part was working with the Bondo fiberglass filler it sets so fast and I had no experience with it. So I kind of globbed it on and then I had to bust my butt sanding off all the extra. All the pool stores in the area more or less said I had to replace the stairs. Glad I did it my self and saved a few grand