Buying A House With A Concrete Pool, No Expansion Joints Around Coping - Need advice

[grakk]

Thanks for the response. I guess my last question would be (please keep in mind I don't know anything about pool construction) but if they did not put an expansion joint on the coping, could the flexing of the deck cause problems with the shell? I know that water going down the cracks to earth surrounding the soil could cause problems.

Its just a big purchase for me and the pool guys seem to think that this was "old school" construction and no one leaves out the expansion joint anymore in this area. So then I'm worried about any other possible pitfalls.

[PoolDoc]

Again, your LOCAL inspectors are going to know better than we do what sort of shell construction typically leads to problems in YOUR area.

Appropriate pool chemistry is universal; good pool construction is -- at least partly -- local.

Evaluating construction problems is VERY local; you're asking hypothetical questions that can't be answered with a high degree of accuracy, even locally. The answers you can get HERE, where none of us have seen your pool, are simply not going to be worth a whole lot.

Buying a house with an in-ground pool is ALWAYS a riskier and more uncertain process than buying a house without one. Just as it's always prudent to budget for unanticipated repairs on new house, it's a good idea to do so with a pool, too. This is especially true with an in-ground pool that is located in such a way you can't easily cover and ignore it if stuff goes wrong.

There's nothing we can do here to eliminate that uncertainty.

Usually, older shells that don't have cracks and problems, aren't on the verge of getting cracks and problems. But that's only a probability, not a certainty. You CAN get a better idea about the quality of the shell, when they do the coping repairs, since that will likely expose the top of the shell itself. But, again, no guarantees.

Here what's probably the bottom line for you: if your seller won't warrant the pool against major repairs for the next year, and you absolutely cannot afford the risk of $5,000 - $7,000 of unexpected pool repairs, you might want to look for another house. It sounds like you already have evidence that your risks -- apart from the deck / coping issue -- are low, but they are not zero.

Hope that helps with your decision.

PoolDoc

[grakk]

Thanks for all the help - you are exactly right I wasn't looking for definite answers just probability from people more knowledgeable than I am.

We could afford some of the repair costs, but with us buying a 18 year old house with original AC we are planning on having other costly repairs pretty early on.

As for the bottom line - we are planning on adding an amendment for the contract asking that they either 1. pay for the repairs or 2. give us an allowance vs the estimate amount.

If they don't do either - we will walk - doesn't seem right to accept a house with a 5k+ repair right off the bat for the market value of the house with no problems.

[PoolDoc]

Glad it helped.

Ben