- Aug 7, 2011
- 36
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool Universal40
This is a long story so bear with me…
We moved into our “new†house about 6 months ago. It has a nice size pool with a spillover hot tub into the pool. When we were looking at the house before we bought it we noticed that there was a big chunk of the surface of the hot tub coming off. It was probably 18†and still partially attached. It was raised a ½†or so. After living there for a month or so we noticed the pool was losing water pretty quickly. At this time we had the hot tub and pool both cycling through the pump/filter. So I figured the leak was probably in the hot tub since the plaster was coming up. I isolated the pump to just circulate the pool and left the hot tub to sit so I could monitor it. After that the pool stopped losing water and the hot tub was losing about an inch a day.
When just letting it sit it drained past the return jets, past the light and all the way down till it only had an inch or two left in the bottom. Figuring the leak was probably in the finish I got out my hammer and broke off all of the loose finish. This actually ended up being the whole seat of the hot tub and the whole vertical surface your calves would rest against if you were sitting in it. This entire surface broke off pretty easily. Underneath the surface I broke off was another layer of plaster. The layer of plaster underneath looks to be the same as the top surface. It’s almost like the original plaster was leaking so they added a 2nd layer to it.
Wondering if the leak was in one of the drains I filled it back up, got my scuba gear on, and did a leak test on the two drains. No luck. So that leads me back to the water leaking through the original plaster finish. The original plaster actually looks like it’s in decent shape and if I don’t have to spend the money on getting it redone I’d prefer not to for now. I’m kinda going back and forth between two decisions. Option 1, trying to get the leak stopped and dealing with the not perfect finish until the pool needs to be redone too. Option 2, just refinishing the hot tub for now and then the pool later.
Option 1: Before I had someone out to look at it I was doing some demo on it and tore off probably more than I needed to. Some of the gunite is exposed in a few areas. It was leaking prior to the demo work so that’s not the root of my leak. If I can get the leak sealed I’m willing to deal with the couple spots that are a little torn up so I don’t have to get it redone right now.
Option 2: If I get it redone I want to do a different (darker) color than what is originally there right now and then match the pool to the hot tub when it needs to be done. In doing so I’d want to change out the tile as well. So I would have the costs of redoing the tile in the hot tub and also the cost of refinishing it. Then I have to deal with the hot tub not matching the pool for the time being.
Assuming the plaster in the hot tub is leaking, is there something I can apply to the finish to prevent it from leaking so I don’t have to redo it now? Any ideas as to what might be leaking?
We moved into our “new†house about 6 months ago. It has a nice size pool with a spillover hot tub into the pool. When we were looking at the house before we bought it we noticed that there was a big chunk of the surface of the hot tub coming off. It was probably 18†and still partially attached. It was raised a ½†or so. After living there for a month or so we noticed the pool was losing water pretty quickly. At this time we had the hot tub and pool both cycling through the pump/filter. So I figured the leak was probably in the hot tub since the plaster was coming up. I isolated the pump to just circulate the pool and left the hot tub to sit so I could monitor it. After that the pool stopped losing water and the hot tub was losing about an inch a day.
When just letting it sit it drained past the return jets, past the light and all the way down till it only had an inch or two left in the bottom. Figuring the leak was probably in the finish I got out my hammer and broke off all of the loose finish. This actually ended up being the whole seat of the hot tub and the whole vertical surface your calves would rest against if you were sitting in it. This entire surface broke off pretty easily. Underneath the surface I broke off was another layer of plaster. The layer of plaster underneath looks to be the same as the top surface. It’s almost like the original plaster was leaking so they added a 2nd layer to it.
Wondering if the leak was in one of the drains I filled it back up, got my scuba gear on, and did a leak test on the two drains. No luck. So that leads me back to the water leaking through the original plaster finish. The original plaster actually looks like it’s in decent shape and if I don’t have to spend the money on getting it redone I’d prefer not to for now. I’m kinda going back and forth between two decisions. Option 1, trying to get the leak stopped and dealing with the not perfect finish until the pool needs to be redone too. Option 2, just refinishing the hot tub for now and then the pool later.
Option 1: Before I had someone out to look at it I was doing some demo on it and tore off probably more than I needed to. Some of the gunite is exposed in a few areas. It was leaking prior to the demo work so that’s not the root of my leak. If I can get the leak sealed I’m willing to deal with the couple spots that are a little torn up so I don’t have to get it redone right now.
Option 2: If I get it redone I want to do a different (darker) color than what is originally there right now and then match the pool to the hot tub when it needs to be done. In doing so I’d want to change out the tile as well. So I would have the costs of redoing the tile in the hot tub and also the cost of refinishing it. Then I have to deal with the hot tub not matching the pool for the time being.
Assuming the plaster in the hot tub is leaking, is there something I can apply to the finish to prevent it from leaking so I don’t have to redo it now? Any ideas as to what might be leaking?