I'm located in the Bay Area (Orinda). The context is that from November to February there were many torrential rains. The rains extended through March and April, and even happened sporadically through May and June.
My house is on a hill, at an elevation of 728 ft. In March I noticed that the pool began to loose water and I called a pool specialist who detected a water leak in a crack in the wall of the pool.
The work of patching the crack and reinforcing with rebar happened in May; However, the pool lost water again and after inspecting all the systems, the pool builder found another crack adjacent to where he had fixed earlier. When removing the water from the pool a second time, more cracks were found in the pool wall.
One theory from the pool builder is that there is a gap between the base of the pool and the ground due to soil movement caused by rains.
Potential fixes from the problem:
1) Recommendation is redo the entire layer of plaster, which will help identify the parts where there are cracks and reinforce the base as needed.
2) Another is to create a retaining wall on the side bottom side of the slope (opposite side from the crack repair area) that will better support the pool and prevent movement of the subsoil under the pool.
3) Building a french drain in the area where there is more elevation (near the current crack repair area) could help prevent water from flowing down near the pool wall.
I am looking to try to understand where the origin of the problem is. What type of study would you recommend? Would a structural engineer tell me what work I need to do to prevent from future cracks and if these (all or one) will prevent future issues?
Does the crack need to be opened for an structural engineer to study the soil?
Should the pool builder have reinforced a larger area from the beginning?
here is a video and some pictures
thanks for any ideas !
My house is on a hill, at an elevation of 728 ft. In March I noticed that the pool began to loose water and I called a pool specialist who detected a water leak in a crack in the wall of the pool.
The work of patching the crack and reinforcing with rebar happened in May; However, the pool lost water again and after inspecting all the systems, the pool builder found another crack adjacent to where he had fixed earlier. When removing the water from the pool a second time, more cracks were found in the pool wall.
One theory from the pool builder is that there is a gap between the base of the pool and the ground due to soil movement caused by rains.
Potential fixes from the problem:
1) Recommendation is redo the entire layer of plaster, which will help identify the parts where there are cracks and reinforce the base as needed.
2) Another is to create a retaining wall on the side bottom side of the slope (opposite side from the crack repair area) that will better support the pool and prevent movement of the subsoil under the pool.
3) Building a french drain in the area where there is more elevation (near the current crack repair area) could help prevent water from flowing down near the pool wall.
I am looking to try to understand where the origin of the problem is. What type of study would you recommend? Would a structural engineer tell me what work I need to do to prevent from future cracks and if these (all or one) will prevent future issues?
Does the crack need to be opened for an structural engineer to study the soil?
Should the pool builder have reinforced a larger area from the beginning?
here is a video and some pictures
thanks for any ideas !