Concrete Patching Question

[waste]

Welcome, both of you, to the forum!

As cbucner sagely suggested, hydrolic cement is the way to deal with this.

rtate, you are correct in thinking that the patch needs to be 'locked in' to fully seal. I'd use the chisel (who am I kidding, I'd use the hammer drill off the van ) to create a locking 'wedge' for the hydrolic cement. The cement itself is good for patching, and works, but you want to have it stay in place

If you need more info on this, please feel free to ask!

[rtate]

I found a product made by "Quickcrete"

hXXp://www.quikrete.com/ProductLines/HydraulicWaterStopCement.asp

It does say it can be used on swimming pools..

What do you think??

[cbucner]

Use a 4 1/2 inch grinder with a smooth diamond blade the chip free one.
Cut a shoulder about 1 inch deep all around. Make that round hole a square
cut some lines about 1 inch apart parallel with the edge of that square kinda like slicing the inside of that square in 1 inch slices.
Make sure that all these cuts are about the same depth
To do that you can spray paint your blade, the side that you see when you cut
and let it dry a bit and then when you make the first cut the paint will
be removed by the concrete and voila you have a depth marker.
Next time you cut you will see how deep you have to go with the grinder running.
After you done cutting hit the slices perpendicular with hammer and chisel
or a chipping hammer.
They will come out easy and will leave you a nice same depth hole
Then fill with hydraulic cement if wet or other pool rated cement if dry
hope this helps

[rtate]

Thanks cbucner, that is a great help!!
When I look at the instructions for Hydraulic cement they say:
"only mix what you can use in about 3 minutes"
Should I be able to fill a 12' x12" square 1"deep in 3 minutes??

Also Shoud I use a bonding agent between old and new?

In the past I have used the bonding agent instead of water to mix the cement...

[waste]

Depends on how fast you can mix the stuff and how well you trowel.

I'm a little pressed for time tonight, but will answer more fully tomorrow, if you need.

[rtate]

Thanks . any help/suggestions would be apreciated....

[waste]

See what time I'm logging on? - This time of year = LONG work days

I can mix the stuff in ~ 1 minute (experience allows me to know the water to dry ratio and I use a 'margin' trowel to mix - real time savers) so have ~ the full 3 minutes to apply and trowel the stuff smooth. Folks mixing for the first time tend to take a couple+ minutes to get the mix to the correct consistency, which means it's got to be troweled smooth more quickly.

If you need a primer on troweling techniques, ask - but it will take me a few days to be able to provide that sort of detailed info - but someone else may help in the meantime.

(had you asked this question in Feb, when I was laid off - I'd have spent hours giving the details - maybe you should open your pool earlier LOL)