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haddock121

New Pool - Gunite questions

Haddock121
10 years ago

We just had our rebar put in, and the guys came in and shot the Gunite on 10/23. Have a couple of questions - just trying to understand what I should be discussing with our PB:

(1) We have a couple of areas on the top of the outside 'walls' where there are chunks missing in the gunite, maybe a couple of inches wide and a half inch deep. The thickness of the wall is about 11-12", but it's almost like they missed a patch or two. When I watered the next day a punch of sand / debris just flowed out exposing the hole.

(2) For our spa, one of the plumbing PVC pipes is sticking a 1/4 inch out of the gunite. Seems a little sloppy and not sure that when you tile you meant to have this thick of a mortar to get this repaired.

(3) There is a crack on an outside where the pool runs up against the wooden boarding, it's almost like the missing chunk except its not a gaping hole. Once again, on the outside of the 11-12" wall.

(4) They wanted to tile and cope 10/28, i.e. 5 days after shooting. While I don't want drag out the build, everything I read seems to recommend 7-10 days of curing. Seems strange that they pushing to go so quickly if it impacts quality.

I'm just trying to figure out how 'smooth' the gunite should be after it's shot and if the above is at all normal, or if it's something we should be pushing on our PB to correct.

Comments (9)

  • womanowned
    10 years ago

    Rest assured, what you are seeing is very normal. It won't be noticeable when the pool is plastered. As far as the PVC pipe sticking out, it is not clear where you are talking about but it again sounds normal. Everything you describe is cosmetic, not structural, and won't be there when the pool is finished. Five days is fine to start tile and coping. Your gunite does not stop curing because you start decorating it. It will continue to cure for a good 30 days.
    Everything seems cool to me!

  • PRO
    Aqua-Link Pools and Spas
    10 years ago

    Tile should not be applied until the shell has gotten to the desired compressive strentgh at 28 days. Most tile manufactures and the TCA recommend this amount of time for a substrate(your Shotcrete) to set before applying tile. Also allowing your browncoat for the tile to set for a week helps your tile to set better. Your brown coat is like any other type of cement. Let it reach the initial cure before applying tile.

    Having a bunch of sand and debrie coming out of a hole is not ideal. Almost sounds like you have a sand lens. They should chip it out and repair.

  • Haddock121
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the responses.

    (1) For the PVC pipe, there is a right angle where the PVC piping runs up from the ground then around the Spa. At one of the right angles it leans out from the Gunite (on the outside of the Spa), i.e. it's not fully enclosed along it's path. It's about a 1/4 inch out, what I'm a little confused about is that this will require a lot of mortar to fill the entire side of the Spa for tiling.

    (2) For the sand lens, what should the repair be done with? I assume Gunite, or is there an alternative? It's on the outside of the top of the wall (i.e. it will be covered with coping), not on the interior pool wall where it will be plastered over.

    (3) A new question - we just had some heavy rains and I'm seeing some large calcium build ups - streaks, one large patch, all on the interior of the pool. I assume this is normal.

    This post was edited by Haddock121 on Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 13:44

  • PRO
    Aqua-Link Pools and Spas
    10 years ago

    Pictures would be helpful.

  • Haddock121
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is a picture of the PVC. This is side on, with the left of the image the outside of the Spa. As you can see, the piping is exposed.

    http://postimg.org/image/semmf69s7/

    Here is a picture of the hole, its about 2 inches in length, 1.5 in width, and about an inch deep. The wood is the outside of the wall, i.e. the outside of the coping area.

    http://postimg.org/image/semmf69s7/

    Here is a picture of the white deposit, which I assume is calcium. We have a few of these on the inside of the pool, several as streaks, which appeared after a hard rain (about 5 days after the gunite was shot.

    http://postimg.org/image/8mkgfvy87/

    Thanks for taking a look, I am just making sure there is nothing to take to the PB with concerns.

    This post was edited by Haddock121 on Mon, Oct 28, 13 at 19:52

  • Haddock121
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    PVC pipe

  • Haddock121
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    What I assume is Calcium deposits

  • Haddock121
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hole in the Gunite

  • PRO
    Aqua-Link Pools and Spas
    10 years ago

    I would chip out the bad Shotcrete and replace with a 4,500 sack mix concrete. That should stabilize that area.