Frustration and Anxiety are getting to me

[webfeet]

here is a link to some pictures. (I hope) Thanks to everyone for their support. At this time, I have not mentioned the poolforum to the attorney. What I need now are quotes for applying something like sundek or another suitable coating, but I am having problems finding contractors in our area.

http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r237/kjt89/

[CarlD]

I couldn't see where the concrete is separating. If I were you that would be my BIG point. The liner having a few wrinkles, well, that's hard to avoid. The wrong liner? That's either his cost replacement or a big discount.

The stains on the concrete may well fade--they almost look like red clay. It's possible a chlorine wash may clear them, but I don't recommend it at this point.

Concrete separation says to me that a) the ground wasn't prep'ed correctly and will get worse b) the re-bar or wire wasn't done correctly c) the concrete was too wet or too dry and not properly floated in to get out all the air or d) the concrete had the wrong formula. Or all of the above. The concrete specialist was a great idea.

As for tearing out your pool and putting a lien on your house, that's a threat. He CAN put a lien on it but if you've documented everything, and, more importantly, have started the legal process, it won't stand.

Also, if you have decided that he is NOT competent to continue, then you can forbid him to step on your property . Then if he tries to tear out the pool it may be trespassing or even criminal trespassing.

I HATE a contractor who screws up and tries to slime his way out of responsibility. I've had it with a kitchen designer/installer--I held back the last payment, but I had it SO well documented that I was within my contractual rights that I never heard from him. I also had it with a roofer whose brand new install leaked. After a while they wouldn't take my calls.

I'm sorry you are going through this...when a dream becomes a nightmare.

[webfeet]

I hope several of you view the pictures, and let me know what you think. The stains do not show up as well on the computer screen as they do in real life. It does kind of look like red clay, but no clay here, just sand. We've tried power washing, and several concrete cleaners to no avail.
I am sorry if I gave the impression that the concrete is seperating and/or that I have the wrong liner or wrinkles. I do have a few hair line cracks-but everyone seems to think that they are just surface cracks.
On the other hand, I have a stained deck, and an a slightly unlevel pool, just enough to cause part of the liner border on the deep end to be under water, while the same section is above water on the shallow end. At first inspection,it looks like there is a flaw in the border. Upon close inspection, ( see waterline in the closeup pictures of the border) you can see that part of the border is submerged.

I also received a topmount instead of a sidemount filter,which costs quite a bit more than the sidemount..

[Katybug92]

I paid for a color to be added to mine and didn't get it to show. They did add the color, and it looked great when pouring. But the temperature was to be very cold that night and they put heated tarps on it. This was to prevent it from drying and freezing to quickly. What happened was that the heated tarps drawed all the calcium in the concrete to the top. It is very white now. No power washing or scrubbing has helped. We did try a small area of diluted Muratic acid on it to remove the calcium. It worked too good. The area has a peachy color now. The PB refunded my concrete money.

Time has helped somewhat. There are a few places in the high traffic areas that the color is starting to show better.

Yours looks very similiar to what mine does on most of the decking. Did they goof and add some color?

[Tishabiondy@natlmail.com]

I think the red streaks look kind of cool, but if you don't like it you shouldn't have to pay for it.

tisha

[CanuckPool]

Could it be that your liner has stretched in the deep end, thats what happened to ours, to make sure, measure from the top of the water to the deck in the deep end and and compare that to shallow end measurement. If they are the same then your pool is level. It may just be the weight of the water in the deep end has stretched your liner so it looks like its more underwater than the shallow end. You can also measure the border of the liner Shallow vs. deeper to see it the pattern has stretched.

[CarlD]

You can use a laser level or even a water level to ascertain if and how much the pool is out of level--which it should not be. A water level is easy to make--a long piece of clear plastic tubing--3/8" to 1/2" will do fine. Just fill it with water and with a helper, hold the water level in the tube even with the measuring point at the end you think is high, and see how much it measures off at the end you think is low. 1/2" should be the maximum.

If they are simple surface cracks, well, I guess that's probably normal.

[webfeet]

We have used the laser level, and yes the pool is about 3/4 inch out of level, varies a little based on where you shoot the pool level. What the pictures show is:
there is about 3/4 to 1 inch difference in where the water level crosses the border from end to end. If you could see the pool, you would see a gradual decline in the border from about the middle of the pool to the deep end. The border just starts to disappear.
The stains look like rust or red clay. No, there was not any dye in the mix. You wouldn't like it, if you saw it in person. The deck looks dirty.
I'm not ready to consider just a refund on the concrete, because to have it fixed correctly will probably cost more than the concrete did.

Thanks for the input. I need all that I can get..

[webfeet]

Katybug, I saw some pictures of your pool on another thread. Yours is more blotchy looking, and mine tends to have more streaks.
I like the way your concrete comes up over the edge of the steps and and it looks like it serves as coping, too. I wonder if I could have another layer of concrete poured on top of my deck and made to look like yours? Does anybody know?

[divnkd101]

Web,

My folks had a similar issue with PB/ contractor. IG gunite pool was 1 to 1-1/2" out of whack (level). Furthermore, they also poured the deck wrong. Long story short... They had everything well documented as it appears you do as well. They obtained several quotations to complete the process from other contractors. A formal letter was written to the PB explaining all of the problems including all domcumentation they had and what was expected of the PB to complete the job he was hired to do. Notice was given to the PB that if demands were not met that the next form of communication would be in front of a judge in small claims court. My folks ended up with a level pool and a nice looking deck from the original PB. Not sure if you have reached that breaking point yet but put the stress back on your PB. The build is not correct and you are not satisfied with the outcome. Good luck and keep us posted.