Hi – First, so happy I found this site….I have learned so much about pool construction, etc.!
I am stumped on partial bond beam cracking and tile around pool perimeter.
The pool was fully renovated 3 years ago (May 2015) – Renovated meaning, all new concrete decking, plaster, tile and coping. The whole shabang!
This spring when the pool was opened, we discovered tile line cracking – yes, the horizontal tile cracking that usually means the bond beam is cracked. When the tile was removed, we did find the bond beam was cracked. However, there were some tiles cracked where the bond beam had not cracked. What we discovered were:
1. The bond beam cracking does not extend around the perimeter of the pool – mostly on the longest sides of the pool – but some cracking on the each short end too.
2. It was verified that expansion joint between the deck and coping were true expansion joints and did go the full depth down to the ground.
3. It was verified there is a mechanical separation between the deck and coping/beam.
4. Very poor workmanship with installing the tile – I did go around pool and have all hollow sounding tiles removed. Poor tile installation is an understatement!
5. There NO cracking in the pool structure or issues. We did get a little cracking of the plaster on a corner – It looks like it followed the path of the crack from the pool beam.
6. – There are not really any cracking of the concrete decking.
7. Do have cracking that goes into all the skimmers.
8. Had issues all summer with keeping pool level up – I know it is b/c of the cracking -just wanted to confirm we did have water level issues all summer.
9. It does appear there are some coping bricks that are hollow- but have not removed those to inspect.
10. There is a “cold joint” between the bond bean and coping – but the cracking is lower than the cold joint.
Pool was built in 1960 and we have never had this issue until the renovation 3 years ago. Why would the crack not be all the way around pool? Why only in “patches” and why would this happen if the coping/beam were properly separated from the deck? The company making the repairs just wanted to fill the crack with epoxy and then put a waterproof membrane over bond beam. I told them to do nothing until we figured out the cause of the cracking and how they were purposing to fix the crack was just a short lived band-aid!
One other thought……Is it possible to look at a crack and tell the age? Maybe this was an existing bond beam crack that was not repaired when the renovation was completed 3 years ago. Thoughts?
Lastly, the company that did the renovation work (3 years ago) say the reason for the crack is because of the bad winter we had. That is true…..it was an abnormally cold winter and temperatures were in the negative digits for weeks……which is unusual for the NC Piedmont region. My argument there is “then why have a mechanical separation in the expansion joint, if it is not going to serve its purpose?” They feel that water under the concrete froze and expanded the deck and pushed out on the bond beam. Thoughts?
Any advice or opinions are great appreciated! Just not sure what caused the cracking!!Any advice or opinions are great appreciated! Just not sure what caused the cracking!!