Rebar Exposed

[Mct567]

Hi there - we’re about to buy a house but it had two things wrong with the pool.

6-8inch crack in the step into the pool in the PebbleTec

Exposed ribar on the edge of the concrete deck on the pool side

Any ideas on the severity of these? Easy fixes or not? Signs of anything else to come?

Thanks in advance

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Do you have any pics of the problem areas?

It is impossible to comment based on words.

 

[BDY]

Honestly in addition to the home inspection I would get a pool specific inspection from a qualified pool service/inspector. It’s money worth the piece of mind if you are buying and the pool condition is a deal-maker for the house overall.

 

[Bperry]

Hi there - we’re about to buy a house but it had two things wrong with the pool.

6-8inch crack in the step into the pool in the PebbleTec

Exposed ribar on the edge of the concrete deck on the pool side

Any ideas on the severity of these? Easy fixes or not? Signs of anything else to come?

Thanks in advance

Exposed rebar and a large crack are serious damage. Is assume there is a water leak and possibly some other landscaping/soil issues that caused the crack. You should probably budget a decent amount of cash to fix it or skip that house (my advice).

 

[Mct567]

Photos attached…

 

[Bperry]

Photos attached…View attachment 527156

The rebar is exposed because there’s no expansion joint from the decking to the pool shell, or it was cracked and repaired previously by someone who didn’t know what they were doing.

Run far away from that house if you haven’t bought it already, unless you have some $$,$$$ to fix that pool.

 

[Newdude]

unless you have some $$,$$$ to fix that pool.

Ooooooooh. GREAT idea. In homage the late/great Bob Barker, let's all guess what each symbol may be, without going over, of course. Maybe they like the house to still make it worth it, and all pools need refinishing at some point anyway. For some mild structural work and a replaster I'll go with :

$19,741.

 

[Bperry]

Ooooooooh. GREAT idea. In homage the late Bob Barker, let's all guess what each symbol may be, without going over, of course. Maybe they like the house to still make it worth it, and all pools need refinishing at some point anyway. For some mild structural work and a replaster I'll go with :

$19,741.

If there’s only two of us bidding, mine would be $19,742. but since it’s CA I’d add another 30% so $25,664, but even that feels light.

 

[Newdude]

Still so many questions. What's the housing market like ? Will the house sit a while or is someone going to snatch it up in a week ? Does the asking price reflect the possible repair bill, or at least some of it ?

Where is your budget in regards to the asking price ? Did you have wiggle room left or were you already reaching?

 

[Mct567]

Well aren’t you all a lot of fun!

Pool inspection being done this week

Yes we have wiggle room
Yes we like the house
Just a first venture into a house with a pool!

 

[Bperry]

Well aren’t you all a lot of fun!

Pool inspection being done this week

Yes we have wiggle room
Yes we like the house
Just a first venture into a house with a pool!

If you can be there for the pool inspection, I can say that will help a lot. Being able to ask the inspector questions can sometimes get you more info than the report will include.

 

[Newdude]

They may not want to commit to a repair cost on the report, with the full scope of the issues not known utill the questionable areas have been chipped out or exposed, but in person you might get an off the record gut feeling from the inspector of the possible high/low range.

 

[ajw22]

This is pool bond beam deterioration and cracking.

This pool is lacking waterline tile.

The gunite pool structure and the deck structure are two different structures which should not be coupled together. They need to be able to move independently or they develop cracks like you see.

Study the designs in Expansion Joints and Coping - Further Reading and you will see three different ways pools and decks can be constructed. In all cases there is an expansion joint between the two allowing for independent movement.

If your Pool Inspector is knowledgeable he/she should tell you what type of deck style you have and how it should have been constructed. If he does not dig into that then I question what he is bringing to you.

That pool looks like either low budget construction or repair that cheaped out on proper deck construction, coping, and waterline tile.

What would need to be done is remove the deck and strip at least the bond beam area of the pool. Repair and rebuild the bond beam as necessary, install waterline tile, then install either a cantilevered deck over the bond beam or coping on the bond beam with an expansion joint separating a new deck.

Your challenge will be finding a contractor in the area to take on that project unless you are good at DIY that type of work.

It is all repairable. Just costs money to do it right.

 

[Bperry]

This is pool bond beam deterioration and cracking.

This pool is lacking waterline tile.

The gunite pool structure and the deck structure are two different structures which should not be coupled together. They need to be able to move independently or they develop cracks like you see.

Study the designs in Expansion Joints and Coping - Further Reading and you will see three different ways pools and decks can be constructed. In all cases there is an expansion joint between the two allowing for independent movement.

If your Pool Inspector is knowledgeable he/she should tell you what type of deck style you have and how it should have been constructed. If he does not dig into that then I question what he is bringing to you.

That pool likes like either low budget construction or repair that cheaped out on proper deck construction and waterline tile.

What would need to be done is remove the deck and strip at least the bond beam area of the pool. Repair and rebuild the bond beam as necessary, install waterline tile, then install either a cantilevered deck over the bond beam or coping on the bond beam with an expansion joint separating a new deck.

Your challenge will be finding a contractor in the area to take on that project unless you are good at DIY that type of work.

It is all repairable. Just costs money to do it right.

@Newdude I’ll let you increase your bid just this once.