Exposed rebar and plumbing after gunite

[Edward98]

Let me start by saying that we had an issue which resulted in our spa being slightly rotated. This was most noticeable on the spillway. The PB jackhammered out the spillway and reconstructed it from rebar to plumbing. However, after gunite, there are areas of exposed rebar and plumbing. Upon further inspection of the whole pool, I'm seeing several areas where the bonding beam rebar is exposed. Looking back at an old photo before gunite, I can see that the rebar was set up against the forms. So it seems like no surprise that there's exposure. My understanding that all rebar should be encased by at least 3" of gunite. Any opinions?

Thanks in advance,
Edward

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Not a very good job between the builder and the gunite crew.

The exposed rebar needs to be cut out or hydraulic cement put on top of it to encase it.

What does your builder propose to do?

 

[Edward98]

The PB says there are materials that can waterproof the area. I'm concerned for a couple of reasons. In this area of the spa, it appears that I've got 6" of gunite inside the bond beam and 0" outside. I'm more concerned because the outermost band of the bond beam rebar is exposed around most of the pool. You can see how the bond beam rebar was laid out against the forms.

 

[ajw22]

I would want to know the details of exactly what materials would be used in the fix and the buildup of materials.

Did your pool plans have an engineer stamp on them? If so get the engineer involved.

What do your contract specifications say? If you have a substantial deviation from specifications get an engineer involved.

Don’t know where in TX you are but we have seen a lot of TX pools with cracks due to the soil conditions in some areas.

 

[Edward98]

I don't have an engineer stamp on my plans. Specs call for rebar size and spacing. What I think I'm seeing is deviations from building code requirements for steel reinforced concrete walls - namely inadequate coverage. When I look around the bond beam and see that the majority has exposed rebar - nowhere near the 1.5" cover requirement for concrete exposed to weather - I can't imagine how they'll fix it. More importantly, given this big an oversight, I have concerns over their adherence to the code for the rest of the shell.

One more thing, the PB actually fired the last supervisor recently due to customer complaints. We've been working with our new one for only a few weeks.

 

[PoolGate]

That is a sloppy job. Is the re-work the only area where the rebar is exposed? I would want it done again but I am not a concrete expert so maybe it can be fixed. I know you can do cold joints on gunite so maybe that is an option.

 

[ajw22]

I would declare a halt to all work, and get an engineer involved, until you have a detailed remediation plan.

 

[Edward98]

Thanks for the advice. I've talked to a couple of independent engineers and I do think there are problem. I'm waiting to meet with the PB engineer. But the more research I do, the more concerned I am. Looking at the last pic I posted, it seems that the plumbing around the pool was secured to the rebar grid. These seems like a bad practice where rebar won't be encased by gunite where it's in contact with plumbing. This is so frustrating.

 

[TexasEd]

We have something similar but hoping not as bad. This is shotcrete and we have some voids behind the plumbing. The walls are 12” thick so about 6” where these gaps are because of pipe. This is exterior facing. Interior is smooth and the rebar was covered by shotcrete. We also have a large bench on the inside that adds structure.

 

[Neto]

I dont think thats a big issue, they will probably fix it with a mortar mix... There is a product called "mortar mix" by Rapidset that is 6000 psi after 28 days, if it was me, then I would repair it with that.

 

[blakeusa]

The exposed areas on the exterior of the pool can be patched or repaired with concrete with a bonding agent and are not that big of a deal. The entire gaps need to be sealed. I would then request a waterproof agent by applied to those areas on the exterior. This will get backfilled so not a big deal.
On the interior of the pool this is a big deal as if its only thinly covered with additional concrete/ gunite or some type of patch it will be too close to the plaster finish and eventually - sooner rather than later... you will get rust marks from the steel bleeding into the plaster. If you do a pebble finish this will have a more aggressive top coat vs plain plaster and may not be as much as a problem. I personally would remove the bad interior section of the spa area and imbed new rebar with epoxy and then new concrete/ gunite to finish off the area. This is a pool builder problem and they screwed up. They need to fix it.

 

[needsajet]

Before it was shot, were there any underground areas where the rebar was touching the soil or rock around the pool?

I wouldn't worry about the plumbing being attached to the rebar. That's OK as long as well-placed gunite surrounds both plastic and rebar and buries it all inside concrete.

 

[Edward98]

The engineers I've spoken to indicated that it's not acceptable to have plumbing touching rebar as it needs at least 1.5" of coverage. Unfortunately, I don't know conclusively that the mat wasn't touching the soil. I do know, and you can see in the pic above, that no spacers were used on any of the walls - only the floor.

 

[Goromir]

As far as I know, there are several ways to install a plumbing. It all depends on your pool plan and the plumbing services that you use.