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Below is a quick video of a crack on the wall of a plaster pool, I tested this without getting into the pool. You will notice that just inches below the waterline the crack shows leakage. You can do this yourself and test as far as your arm length allows. Not all cracks leak, I’ve seen very long cracks not leak and very short or small one that leak a ton. Most crack may only show dye pulling along one or two points, so you may see signs of leakage at one point and two inches away it may not show, or pull, at all.

You will need dye, I use the phenol red from pool test kits. I buy the single bottles from pool supply stores, even supermarkets have it in the hardware and pool section. Cost about $2.00. If you use the one from your test kit you’ll need to replace it before testing water chemistry levels.

Pool water conditions about 50˚ with medium particulate level.

This is the roughed out repair cavity. Double click to enlarge view, I added notes and points of interest.

This repair took about an hour and a half. I didn’t know before I got started if the rusting rebar was in a vertical or horizontal orientation, it really doesn’t matter but if you twisted my arm I would tell you that I would prefer it to be vertical.

Perhaps I would be more comfortable in ice skates.

Worry not! The forecast for the end of this week and into next is close to 80° daytime highs.

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I dye tested this in ground cement/plaster spa Christmas Eve, 2010. I was told it was losing water fast. It didn’t take me long to find out how and where it was leaking. The spa is just under two years old and I believe it may have been leaking since the day it was filled. How no one noticed the water loss or auto fill running is beyond me.

Leaks like these are not to uncommon but what is uncommon is to find four in one spa. Plaster, pebble and other finish materials can and do shrink as they cure. This can cause gaps around the plumbing lines which sometimes leak. All four of the tested area leak, some more than the others.

Watch this video and see if you can find the leaks.

I tested and repaired a pool for a local pool builder today. This pool was about twelve years old and had been replastered once, kudos to the builder for honoring their warranty. The pool had a crack about six feet long that started in the tile (bond beam) and ran down the wall and through two of the three entry steps. A very visible wet area around the cool deck and patio was noticeable as soon as I walked into the backyard. As I looked the pool over for more cracks or signs of trouble I could clearly see that this pool had been leaking for sometime.

Beside the little bit of water I left behind on the cool deck, after completing the repair, you can see the saturated soil and water stained concrete pavers. The soil was saturated all the way to the slab of the house. I believe this water may have been causing the deck to lift and move around as this house was in a highly expansive soil area.

Pool leaks, faulty irrigation and poor drainage in combination with expansive soil can cause lots of problems for the pool, decking and homes. This deck has moved so many times it has caused the tile to pop off. Now that the leaking crack has been repaired I expect the deck will settle into its normal position and the homeowner or pool builder can reset the tile with expectations of it staying put.

Here is a video of the simple dye test I did on this pool.

This pool had some missing tile on the floor and walls. The included before and after pictures and video (below) show the largest area of repair. In order to have a nice looking repair I removed all the remaining loose tile and squared up the hole. I then dug out all the subsurface so I could float out the hole with my patching material, this ended up being about 11x11in. and 1/2 inch deep. Luckily the homeowner was able to save some of the remaining tile from the original installation. Tile can be discontinued by the manufacture or be inconsistent in color and size from lot to lot, so always ask the builder or installer for the left over tile for later use. It came in handy on this one.

I wanted to ensure that I was able to embed the tile sheet in my patching material with time to work it in and about, so I floated it out early in the setting stage of my cement. This led to a bit more dust than I was hoping for and made video quality less than perfect. Not so perfect video equaled almost perfect repair. I am a little fat on one of my grout line and a little skinny on the opposite side. I went back to this job today to take the after picture. I am happy with the repair, it is level with the surrounding tile and my grout lines are unnoticeable from outside the pool.

I edited this video from two longer pieces of video. If you aren’t to distracted by how handsome I am in my new wetsuit you may notice the jumps in the video:-)