Gunite Pool Damage

[RonRD]

This past winter here in CT was brutal and damaged my pool spa. Part of the Spa wall collapsed. The gunite cement just gave way. No contractor would come out to repair it. The coat would be over 10k easy. My question is how do you repair it? I'm not a mason so I do not know how to go about repairing it. An advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Ron

[PoolDoc]

Gunite doesn't "just give way" unless something is wrong with it. If it was saturated and froze, the odds are that the part that collapsed is the tip of the iceberg.

I'm going to put your post in the correct section, but I'm also going to tell you that what you need to do is wait till this fall (maybe late summer) and talk to a contractor, once they are no longer so swamped with repairs. You need someone knowledgeable who can actually look at and inspect the pool.

Unfortunately, you're probably right: it won't be cheap.

If you DO want advice from here I have 2 suggestions:
1. Take most advice you might get with a grain of salt: people here are pool owners, not pool builders.
2. Post pictures. You can put them on Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket, and link to them using the http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/images/editor/insertimage.png button.

Good luck!

[RonRD]

Thank you for responding Ben. The portion that collapsed was the top part of the Spa - my main pool is fine. It just the spa. Looking how to repair it myself. No contractors available as you said too busy. Any suggestions? Such what materials I need and also what I would need to frame it? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[PoolDoc]

If you're determined to do it yourself, you could chisel out the bad stuff, and enough good stuff to be able to wire in new rebar (if the old is missing or damaged), and the trowel in something like this:
http://www.sakrete.com/products/detail.cfm/prod_alias/Crack-Resistant-Concrete

If you have plaster (marble dust + white cement) you'd have to get a bag or two of that to work with to finish. I'm not sure where you could buy that, but possibly a wholesaler might be willing to sell you two bags. I know where else to buy it locally, but it's not a chain. You may have to poke around your area to see where it could be purchased.

[RonRD]

Thank you for the quick response but I decided to wait and have a pro look at it. Thank you again and have a great weekend.

[PoolDoc]

As noted, I think that's the right decision.

Good luck!