Expansion joint - bad caulk job or bad customer?

[theseankelly]

I just had my expansion joint professionally re-caulked with gray sikaflex and a sand coating on top.

There was one spot with a sink-hole and the crew came back to patch it. The first patch was horribly sloppy and the crew came out to re-do it. It's a bit better than it was, but it sticks out like a sore thumb against the otherwise flawless caulk job:


Is this sort of sloppy patch expected on a job like this? Are there any ways to fix it more properly, e.g. grading out the new caulk against the old to try and hide the seams?

The contactor told me (after the fact) that sink spots are common and patches like this are to be expected. I paid around $2000 for this work and for that price I expected something closer to perfection -- however before I complain and make a big thing of it I wanted to get grounded as to whether my expectations are unreasonable.

Does this patch look reasonable or unreasonable to you all?

 

[wireform]

It's your pool your deck but to me that picture is reasonable and will blend soon enough. It's never possible or very difficult to be perfectly matched being applied at different times.

 

[proavia]

It may have looked less obvious if they had started/ended at one of the perpendicular grout joints.
Likely that you are one of the few people who will actually notice it though.

 

[ajw22]

Reasonable.

You can't feather and work the top of that material.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Was any foam backer rod used after the old expansion joint material was cleaned out? Typically with a joint that wide on an unknown/unsound base, you backfill with sand and then use a stiff foam backing rod to create an even and continuous channel. Then you add the the polyurethane caulk followed up with a sand coating. The fact that an area like that collapsed from a sink hole leads me to think that they did not use any backing material. It’s not required to use a backer rod but it sure does help to avoid voiding and sinkholes.

Other than that, the job is reasonable as it is. The more you poke at it, the worse it’s going to get. As others have said, you are likely the only one who will ever notice or care.

 

[JamesW]

Looks fine to me.

 

[theseankelly]

@JoyfulNoise yeah they used backing material and sand fill as far as I was aware, though I didn't micromanage the job while it was in progress so I don't know if they missed some spots.

Thanks everyone -- good to hear this to be expected with a new caulk job.