Loose Estimates

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meatyor

meatyor

Gold Supporter
Jun 27, 2024
103
Apex, NC
Pool Size
23000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I’m curious to know if any of you fine TFPers would be able to give a loose estimate on renovating the decking around my pool. It’s 16x38, and I would probably go with some type of tile. The concrete currently extends out about 5 feet from the pool.

Again, just a really loose estimate is all I’m after.
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Backstory for those interested:

We bought this house almost 2 months ago, and it came with a beautiful pool, which we loved until we got shocked. We have a bonding issue that endless amount of electricians (and money) have spent full days out here trying to diagnose and resolve the problem. Nothing they can do is deterring the stray voltage that is in this neighborhood. When I pitch the idea of rebuilding the grid they want nothing to do with it. They all either ghost me or wish me good luck. Other neighbors have safe pools, I know this one can be too.

Years ago I would have called a buddy and attempted to rebuild the grid myself somehow, but I have MS, and can’t work like that anymore. I’m hoping if I approach it as a renovation they’ll remove the concrete deck, exposing a bad bonding grid, and we’ll fix it before the new deck is laid.

It’s either that or fill with dirt and become a farmer, but I’d miss TFP too much to do that 😊
 
I'd guess to just replace the concrete is $20-25k job. You should consider a nice stain as the concrete appears in good condition.

@ajw22 helps a lot of folks with bonding issues. Do you have another thread re: that issue?
 
reggiehammond said:
I'd guess to just replace the concrete is $20-25k job. You should consider a nice stain as the concrete appears in good condition.

@ajw22 helps a lot of folks with bonding issues. Do you have another thread re: that issue?
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Need to fix the bonding issue first, wouldn’t mind saving a lot of money, but no one will fix this thing.

In the below thread I like the suggestion, but I can’t convince anyone to try it. And I’m not really in a position to do that work myself.

I have two theoretical solutions on hand:
-Bond the water through the skimmer, like in the below thread. One problem, the last electrician threw a metal plate in the water, and with a long #8 copper line ran it back to my bonding line at my equipment pad, and it did nothing.

-The pool liner was replaced in 2018, they covered non-operable fiber optic lights instead of replacing them. I wonder if the light niche was what bonded the water previously? Though that would be a shot in the dark. I guess it’s a cheaper attempt than going nuclear on the concrete pad 😂

Thread 'Added Defender but still not bonded'
Added Defender but still not bonded
 
Had the first of two different contractors out to give estimates. A detailed estimate and presentation of all design choices is coming soon. Currently, the loose estimate sits at ~30k for removal and adding back a simple concrete pad. We’re interested in some type of stamped concrete design, coloring/tinting, and adding bullnose coping. We’ll also entertain porcelain tile just to see how much it would be, but that seems to be the $40+/sqft option, we probably won’t want to spend that much 🤑
 
meatyor said:
The pool liner was replaced in 2018, they covered non-operable fiber optic lights instead of replacing them. I wonder if the light niche was what bonded the water previously? Though that would be a shot in the dark. I guess it’s a cheaper attempt than going nuclear on the concrete pad
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I guess the previous owner is going to claim "no problem when we were there'. So there's no way to know if the niche lighting is the issue. But yes, that's a good first approach. Tearing out the decking may or may not give you access to a bonding point (usually the rebar).
 
sktn77a said:
I guess the previous owner is going to claim "no problem when we were there'. So there's no way to know if the niche lighting is the issue. But yes, that's a good first approach. Tearing out the decking may or may not give you access to a bonding point (usually the rebar).
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Oh definitely “no issue for us”, and somehow passed inspection. Heck or high water, this thing is going to get a new bonding grid. If this doesn’t work for some reason though, it’ll be the nicest 18x38 garden anyone has ever seen. I’ll have to join Trouble Free Gardening just to show it off 😅
 
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sktn77a said:
I guess the previous owner is going to claim "no problem when we were there'. So there's no way to know if the niche lighting is the issue. But yes, that's a good first approach. Tearing out the decking may or may not give you access to a bonding point (usually the rebar).
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To your point about the lights, I found that they were fiber optic lights and from what the pros have said those weren’t bonding points, as they don’t carry electricity and were plastic, but apart from digging around online to fact check, idk 🤷
 
This is still going to be an experimental project so make sure the contractor knows that testing of the bonding problem and a solution to it will determine when or if the decking gets re-poured. That might mean you need a quote for demo and removal of the decking and a separate one for pouring new decking. The contractor needs to know this and that you aren't expecting them to hold to their quote 2-3 months down the road.
 
TinFoilHat said:
This is still going to be an experimental project so make sure the contractor knows that testing of the bonding problem and a solution to it will determine when or if the decking gets re-poured. That might mean you need a quote for demo and removal of the decking and a separate one for pouring new decking. The contractor needs to know this and that you aren't expecting them to hold to their quote 2-3 months down the road.
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Both contractors are already fully aware of the whole situation, and both are having their electricians coming out to evaluate as well.

When you say experimental, is there reason to believe that ripping up and rebuilding the bonding grid wouldn’t result in a fully bonded pool that won’t shock my family?

I ask because the biggest reason for going this far with it is to cut out all the experimental work and just start fresh.
 
I'm not an expert by any means, I just wanted to point out that the problem might still be difficult to find since it's been difficult so far. With the pool equipment far away you still have that distance that might need to be excavated too. This could end up being a pipe somewhere that has a wire caught inside a connection for all we know. Weird things happen. Hopefully you'll find the answer under the decking though, fingers crossed.
 
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TinFoilHat said:
I'm not an expert by any means, I just wanted to point out that the problem might still be difficult to find since it's been difficult so far. With the pool equipment far away you still have that distance that might need to be excavated too. This could end up being a pipe somewhere that has a wire caught inside a connection for all we know. Weird things happen. Hopefully you'll find the answer under the decking though, fingers crossed.
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Oof, yea, fingers are cramped in the crossed position at this point. Really getting tired of it all 😪
 
The official bids are in, and between multiple bids, we are looking at ~39k for concrete, ~62k for porcelain tile. We’re not sure which way to go.

We could more comfortably do the 39k and have a beautiful deck until it eventually cracks, because concrete. Or, we bite off 20k more than we initially wanted to spend for the high-end tile, which will stay more pristine for much longer, cooler on the feet, and easier to spot fix and repair, because tile. I think we are still leaning toward the concrete, but haven’t fully decided. Any thoughts are appreciated!

First-world pool problems are tough 🤔
 
I'm not sure I'd do the tile as you said fingers crossed that the issue is going to be resolved so doing tile is going out on a limb even more. But as you said it may turn into TFG then you'll need to keep the soil low enough so the beautiful tile will be visible.
 
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wireform said:
I'm not sure I'd do the tile as you said fingers crossed that the issue is going to be resolved so doing tile is going out on a limb even more. But as you said it may turn into TFG then you'll need to keep the soil low enough so the beautiful tile will be visible.
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Let’s hope we’re not right about TFG!

But yea, we are leaning much more towards the savings.
 
I would not commit to the way you redo the deck until you fix the bonding issue and know you have no shocks.

Remove the deck and fix the bonding through whatever combination of water bonding, handrail bonding, and pool structure bonding it takes. Do not lay down a new deck until that is fixed.

Then do a proper perimeter bonding using wire mesh on the ground and confirm there are no tingles.

Only then lay down the new concrete or tile deck.
 
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ajw22 said:
I would not commit to the way you redo the deck until you fix the bonding issue and know you have no shocks.

Remove the deck and fix the bonding through whatever combination of water bonding, handrail bonding, and pool structure bonding it takes. Do not lay down a new deck until that is fixed.

Then do a proper perimeter bonding using wire mesh on the ground and confirm there are no tingles.

Only then lay down the new concrete or tile deck.
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Yes sir, that’s the plan! Estimates include line items for full rebuild of the bonding grid.

But it’s a good point to make that there must be zero tingles! I’ll be sure to emphasize that point.
 
We got our final estimate the other day and put down our first payment! We’re super excited and decided to go with travertine tile over concrete. We can’t wait to get it started, and finished!
 
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