Purchasing gunite pool help

Jump to latest Follow Reply
V

Vwluv10338

0
Oct 20, 2018
20
Pasadena Maryland
Hello,
I am about to close on a house which has a gunite pool installed in the late 80 I believe. It's a short sale and the current people have been there for 10 years and hardly maintained it. I have been doing a bunch of reading and realized the pool was going to need a plaster job but after doing a better inspection it looks like it needs much more than that. There is a horizontal crack around the tile so it looks like there is a bond beam damage from what I can tell due to the expansion joint leaking behind the coping. The coping is in good shape so if it all have to be repaired maybe I can reuse those stones. Surprisingly it seems to be holding water and the neighbor said it was opened last summer. I guess at this point I need to get some quotes which kills me because I tend to do everything myself. I would love to fix this but I worry it would take me too long and we are close to the water and the sump pump runs a lot so I would be concerned the pool would lift before I could finish. The pool is kidney shaped with 17' and 19' and 32' long
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    99.6 KB · Views: 223
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    85.8 KB · Views: 221
Last edited:
Welcome and congrats on the new home and pool! Honestly if it were me though, like you I'm a DIYer, but I wouldn't rush this one. As you know temps are falling quickly, so I'd focus on trying to close it properly and use the off season doing my research. Come back next spring with a vengeance.
 
Texas Splash said:
Welcome and congrats on the new home and pool! Honestly if it were me though, like you I'm a DIYer, but I wouldn't rush this one. As you know temps are falling quickly, so I'd focus on trying to close it properly and use the off season doing my research. Come back next spring with a vengeance.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not doing anything this fall. I am doing a ton of work on my current house to get it ready to sell them I still have to move. This pool has been closed for a year but it probably wasn't even done correctly judging by the algae. I guess I should just clean off the cover and dose it with chlorine and shock for the winter? My old above ground pool that's all I pretty much did for winter and I never had a problem. Obviously this is going to have to be drained so I'm not sure doing anything is worth it.
 
Anything can be fixed. Looks like the previous owners did a crummy job with the silicone caulk! One problem might be getting new tile to match the old, otherwise you're looking at new tile all around.

As far as cleaning, I'd SLAM it and filter it for several days before it starts freezing and winterize once its clear.
 
So we closed on the house and I dug into the pool more. The beam is probably damaged more than I initially thought and almost all the coping is hollow sounding so it's loose. I had a company give an estimate and the numbers in my head were close but it still hurts.

White plaster $6100
new coping $4500
new tile $3400
caulk coping $965
bond beam 0-6" repair per foot $43
 
Well luckily for me I called my cousin's husband who was a landscape architect and then worked for a high end concrete company. I was just looking for names of subs to use and I thought he had started a company doing pool demo and removal but when I called him apparently he is building pools. He went over some pricing with me because he can use his subs and just charge me what they cost. He uses Pebble Tec which the top of the line would be $6k vs about $2700 for plain plaster. He said the quality of the stone in the plaster isn't what it used to be so modern plaster doesn't last as long as older pools did. He can do glass tile for $30/ft installed which includes around $6/ft tile cost. He can order the coping and he said his subs install it for $12/ln ft. Apparently Anthony Sylvan pools of my vintage had issues with the pipe ran from the skimmer to the drain so that will probably need to be addressed as well and he has been installing some cool stuff like pool heaters that tie into your house's heat pump and act like a geothermal heat pump while heating your pool. Cool stuff and an awesome connection for me to have.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply