As winter approaches, it is time for you to drain your swimming pool in your backyard and lay it to rest until next summer. However, this is not where your worries should end. There is a chance your pool’s structure may develop cracks during the winter. These cracks usually appear on the surface of the pools’ body in the plaster coat and are often small in size. These small shrinkage cracks in the plaster can affect the overall swimming pool area. However, if the crack is thick enough for a dime to fit in, it can be a crack through the shell.
Therefore, knowing the reasons behind a cracked swimming pool and taking steps to avoid them becomes necessary to prevent costly repairs. A crack in your pool can happen for many reasons. This blog post highlights the reasons behind swimming pool cracks and how shotcrete technology can help.
Types Of Cracks In A Swimming Pool
Swimming pools usually face two types of cracks. These include structural cracks and surface cracks.
Structural cracks are those common in pools constructed using the shotcrete method and are usually too shallow to be dangerous. They are a common occurrence when the pool is first shot with shotcrete. Such types of cracks may appear in various locations. Structural cracks may be vertical or horizontal or on the sides or bottom of the pool. But, this doesn’t mean that they don’t need to be taken care of. If left unnoticed for a long time, they can eventually lead to water leakage, causing more trouble.
Surface cracks are found in the plaster and, for the most part, are not a leak issue as they don’t penetrate the body of the pool. They require more maintenance instead of repair.
Reasons For Swimming Pools Cracks
Improper Engineering
Poor engineering processes and lack of design details and analysis can lead to swimming pool cracks. Engineers must be able to identify whether the soil is suitable for the swimming pool or not. Poor design of the areas around the pool will also affect the overall swimming pool. Moreover, its proper design and methods should be identified to avoid any cracks in the future.
The soil must be tested, and its load-bearing capacity must be determined before building a swimming pool. Sometimes the soil can displace, thereby leading to big cracks in the pool.
Inexperienced Contractors
Quality workmanship is also important to consider in this case. Otherwise, you could put many lives at risk and waste your money on an inexperienced contractor. Failure to follow construction plans and taking shortcuts will result in a poor final result, and thus, your swimming pool will soon begin to develop large cracks. Such companies often neglect simple things like adding too much water. Therefore, you must hire the right shotcrete company to avoid any such issues as they will secure the rebar properly, pay attention to the curing process and will know the proper balance of water to shotcrete.
Problems With The Steel Structure
Inground concrete pools use a steel cage. It has steel rods that run in both directions to create a grid. Pool cracking is often related to rebar issues and causes cracks. The steel rebar should be of the same size throughout the pool.
Unobserved Concrete Mixing
Another common reason behind swimming pool cracks is inappropriate concrete application. The strength of the concrete depends on the mixing and application methods used. Any small problem with them can lead to cracks sooner than expected. The water to concrete ratio or hydration is one of the important factors you must consider in this case. Cracks that crumble or deteriorate around the edges are an example of a faulty concrete mix.
Other Reasons A Swimming Pool May Crack
- Hydrostatic pressure
- Improper plumbing installation
- Insufficient cure time
- Improperly applied expansion joint
- Hillside installation
- Poor forming during installation
- Overspraying concrete during installation
Why Choose SprayForce Concrete?
The shotcrete method can handle the situation better and bond to regular or flat surfaces such as plywood, fibreboard, existing smooth concrete, rigid insulation, sheet metal, and more if done by an experienced concrete contractor.
Call SprayForce Concrete to ease your construction process in all conditions. We offer professional shotcrete and swimming pool concrete repair services in Calgary, Airdrie, Banff, Canmore, Chestermere, Cochrane, the surrounding area, Edmonton, Lethbridge, and Saskatoon.