Deck Drainage Issues

[amattas]

I have drainage issues with one of my slabs tilting back into a corner of a retaining wall, unfortunately its also the slab where my free standing hot tub is.

The original owner appears to have drilled a 6" diameter hole into the pool deck which they filled with rock, and that seems to help sum, but this year that completely plugged up as well.

The liner I have in the pool right now is 15 years old, so I anticipate I'll have to replace it one of these upcoming years, and at that time will have the liberty of doing some work with the pool deck (I have a couple slabs that have settled that I want to repair, the diving board jig rusted out - it's been reattached with Epcon epoxy with new 16" threaded stainless rods, but I'd rather have a full jig) so I need some suggestions on how to handle this. I thought about a channel drain, but it might not be effective running under the hot tub, another option would be to turn that 6" hole into a true French drain.

I'd love to get some thoughts.

 

[JohnT]

Always tough to figure such things out. When you start doing concrete work you end up having a hard time knowing where to stop.

Pictures of what you are dealing with would be a help.

 

[amattas]

Alright, here's a few pictures of the problem areas and also some general pool area pictures to describe what I'm thinking right now.

First the picture with the deck box shows the slabs that have sunk slightly, these have bent the coping and actually punctured the lining (fortunately stabilized by the skimmer basket cover).

Around the hot tub you can see the standing water, water runs that direction from about where the patio furniture is back and the diving board over everything seems to have settled that way. You can see the "French drain" back there that I cleaned out this spring, but its really only about a 20" deep hole with rock in it, and doesn't go anywhere except into clay.

My thought is to have a channel drain installed the whole length where the picnic table is and intersect into where the hot tub is, and then repair the sunk slabs, the diving board slab, and the hot tub slab to fix the various problems (new board jig, leveling, etc).

Also potentially considering repairing the pad the ladder is in to change the anchors to something that will be more friendly with salt-water (pool guy made a comment that he's seen the kind I have corrode with salt water, but I think that may be FUD as well).

At that point does it make more sense to just report the whole thing though (and if I do that does it make sense to keep the kind of coping I have or change to pour to the edge coping).

I figure the liner replacement is about $5K itself, (25,650 Grecian Lazy-L with 8' Deep End).

 

[JohnT]

On my phone pouring a sidewalk today. I’ll try to look closer tonight

 

[bmoreswim]

Here's what I would do. I'd cut about 1' of concrete out nearest the wall. (Hopefully the wall is about two blocks below grade). Then dig that out, line it with landscape fabric, then drop in a sleeved/ventilated drain pipe. Cover it with river rock up to the original level. Take it all the way around and daylight it somewhere away from the pool. That's stage 1.

For stage 2, when you do more concrete work (or at the same time), if you want you can install riser pipes to a 4" channel drain which then has concrete poured around it.

Even the stone will look nice for the long term, but it you want a more finished/concrete look then do stage 2.

That was a very poor setup originally regarding lack of drainage for a nice looking wall and pool area.

John may have a different or better way to approach it. There are often several ways to address this type of issue.

 

[amattas]

From the drawings it appears/states that wall is on a poureredfooter, not sure how far down it’s poured though.

 

[amattas]

Bump

 

[jimmythegreek]

I agree that was poor planning during the build. First thing you do when planning a space is addressing where the water will go. The fact you have retaining walls tells me you most likely cannot gravity drain anywhere. If that's the case a seepage pit could work somewhere away from the pool area or an exterior sump pit with pump. If you are in a freeze zone I highly doubt that wall is on a footing. They are designed to be set on a compacted gravel base to allow for slight movement. Regardless you want water to flow away from pool and off deck. Channel drains work well and they dont really require any pitch until the exit piping starts

 

[amattas]

Knowing that I have to eventually re-pour some slabs, is there any benefit in doing the channel drain sooner than later - or can I get away with waiting?