Pool Problem

[TravelGal]

We're having overdue repairs done around the house. The pool has not been replastered in decades. It's rough with quite a number of circular holes in the plaster but the gunnite is okay. The fellow doing this work, and quite a bit else, plunked, plunked, around the coping, called us over, and had us listen as he did it again. He said at one corner of the pool, the straps that hold it had broken. NB that tiles at that point are all cracked horizontally. None of the others are. That and the sound were persuasive even though we had no clue that there even were braces to hold the thing together. Also he's been working here for two weeks so far, has done fantastic work, and even turned down some things he doesn't do. There is no reason for him to blow smoke.

He said if we don't fix it, it will create problems down the line. We plan to stay in the house for several more years. My question is, what sort of problems is he talking about? It's a 27,000 gallon pool. More than 30 years old. Might it crack? It's not leaking now but we sure don't want it to. That is major money! Thanks.

[Gnam]

I know nothing about pool construction, but I always assumed it was made of concrete and rebar. Not sure where the straps fit in.

https://s2.postimg.org/q7anf2ixl/Pool_Construction.gif

You said the fix was expensive. How much more would it be to rip out everything and build a 100% new pool?

[TravelGal]

Thank you for the diagram! Super! I wonder if he meant rebar. Maybe he didn't think we would know what that meant. :gomer: He called in someone else for consultation. We'll probably find out the price on Monday. Then we can compare but a new pool would mean changing the shape from a dog leg to a rectangle (TravelGuy would insist because winter covering the one we have now is nightmare) so then you're into backhoes and grading and, and, and. I'd be surprised if that option made sense but we'll find out. PS, we've also considered just filling it in but then you've still got a **** load of soil to move in and that ain't cheap either.

[Gnam]

sunken garden?

https://s30.postimg.org/mgmpxj0w1/3d254701d3825c8ca34a3b3e9019dead.png

[TravelGal]

sunken garden?

Absolutely exactly what I had in mind. Emptying the pool overnight. Slow process with a garden hose. :laugh: Guess we'll know fairly soon whether the lack of support because of the loose whatevers will cause it to crack. Based on your diagram, I think we'll be ok. Fingers crossed.

[TravelGal]

Now into hour 74 of emptying the pool. Only a few more hours to go. If we ever do this again, I'm renting a larger hose! No cracks yet so, so far, so good. :thumbup:

[nrc]

I can relate to the pool emptying process but ours is a vinyl liner so the whole concrete thing is a mystery to me.