Over time, you may notice some cracks in the plaster leading you to wonder are cracks in pool plaster normal? The first thing to understand about pool cracks is that they are generally normal. Cracks can happen in your pool for several reasons. Many people think that because they notice cracks in their pool, their pool must be leaking. Determine whether your pool is leaking is going to depend on the type of crack.
Shrinkage cracks, or surface cracks as they can be called, are shallow and are part of the curing process that happens when gunite and shotcrete are first used in a pool. These are also pretty normal and can be repaired easily. Structural cracks can also occur but are more serious. When you have a structural crack, it usually means your pool is leaking or is going to leak.
They can be vertical, horizontal, or on the sides or bottom of the pool. The problem with structural cracks is that they run through more of the pool than the shrinkage cracks. Structural cracks run through the concrete as well as the plaster coating or any tile that may be over them. Repacking overspray during installation: Overspray is the excess concrete that spills over the edge of the form.
Knowledgeable builders know not to pack overspray back into the pool because it has lost its compressive strength. Improper plumbing installation: Some PVC pipes must run through the concrete shell to connect pool returns, but they should be minimized as much as possible.
Plumbing in the pool floor, or horizontal pipes in the walls, could create weak spots and increase the risk of cracking. Poorly installed rebar: Using reinforcement bars of different sizes, installing them at irregular intervals, or failing to install them in the center of the concrete can lead to symmetrical pool cracking. Poorly mixed and applied concrete: The strength of a concrete pool depends largely on the mixing and application process.
Concrete must have the proper water-to-cement ratio and the right amount and type of aggregate. Crumbling edges or rapidly deteriorating cracks can often be attributed to poor mixing and application.
In addition, during hot weather, a gunite or shotcrete pool should be half filled with water, and make use of sprinklers, foggers, misters or a spray nozzle to keep surfaces wet. Burlap or plastic can also be used to keep the concrete shell from drying out too rapidly during curing.
You can build a concrete pool in any shape that you wish, which is one of their largest selling points, however some shapes are less strong than others.
Steps and benches also sacrifice some strength. Round or oval pools without coves, spas and extensions are the most solid, structurally speaking.
An experienced builder adds more steel and greater wall thickness in corners and transitions, to avoid cracking. Most concrete pools are rimmed with a tile perimeter and capped with a bullnose coping stone or brick. Behind the coping stone and between the pool deck is an expansion joint that allows for the pool and the pool deck, to expand and contract with the change of seasons, without bumping into each other.
When it gets very warm, your pool and adjacent concrete pool deck both expand slightly. If the expansion joint is not true, or if the joint is not caulked to keep out debris and water, the pool deck can push into the pool, loosening coping stones, or breaking the beam, a horizontal crack running through the tile band.
Use pool caulking to keep your pool expansion joint protecting your pool from beam damage, as shown right. Pools can also crack when they are simply not built correctly, as shown in the list above. It should be noted that any type of pool can crack — not just concrete. Fiberglass and vinyl pools can have equivalent issues. If you are trying to determine the exact cause of your pool cracks, hire an engineering company near you to look at all the many factors at play, to pinpoint the source.
They assessed it and advised Read more. You chaps were prompt and guided me through the repair process with cost effective advice. We have been a customer of Blupool for the last 2 years, we are very impressed with their continued service and knowledge, Blupool have the most accommodating staff, they always go the extra mile, with Read more.
Cracked pool, what now? The remedial usually goes as follows: Investigate the crack and identify the cause Remedy the cause Do the finishing touches Hand over the pool A fundamental when building a swimming pool is to make sure you build it into suitable ground good founding material.
Investigate the crack and identify the cause On closer inspection of the pool, we discovered that the pool did not have a ring beam around the top of the shell, and the shell had also settled. Remedy the cause Our first activity was to drain the pool and uplift the paving around the swimming pool. Do the finishing touches Once we were happy that the pool was stable and strong enough to hold water, we re-tiled the scum line and plastered the pool with a good quality Marbelite marble plaster mix.
Hand over the pool A good, well-rounded pool company that is proficient in all areas of swimming pools building new swimming pools, renovating swimming pools, maintaining water balance in swimming pools will always balance the pool water after refilling the pool and before handing it back over to the pool owner.
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