Ever heard of concrete cancer???

[pb4uski]

Was talking with DS and DBIL the other day. The had an expensive new pool put in a few years ago. They have been getting hairline cracks in the cement and it loses water a little at a time. The problem is widespread in central Texas. I guess that the cause of the problem is that insufficient fly ash was included in the concrete/gunnite materials mix. Big problem.

Can't be fixed. The only solution is to totally replace the pool. In their case they were alredy planning to move and under contract for a new house so they will just remove it and replace it with lawn but big $$$ loss between initial cost of pool and cost of removal and replacing with lawn.

Anybody ever heard of this?

 

[Jerry1]

Never heard of it but I'd recommend you go engage the folks at trouble free pool. They are very knowledgable and a very well run forum.

https://www.troublefreepool.com/forums/

 

[Morgan22]

I've heard of people just filling in the old inground pool with dirt and planting grass over it. Much cheaper then ripping it out first.

That's what I would do unless the local laws prevented that of course.

 

[GaryInCO]

The ancient Romans had this all figured out. They've recently discovered that Roman concrete was self-repairing -- cracks "heal" on their own. As a result, 2000+ year old Roman concrete is in better shape than 20-30 yr old modern concrete. They're only just now figuring out how the Romans did it.

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-why-ancient-roman-concrete-stood-the-test-of-time

 

[Tetto]

The ancient Romans had this all figured out. They've recently discovered that Roman concrete was self-repairing -- cracks "heal" on their own. As a result, 2000+ year old Roman concrete is in better shape than 20-30 yr old modern concrete. They're only just now figuring out how the Romans did it.

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-why-ancient-roman-concrete-stood-the-test-of-time

I saw this too! Amazing and I wonder what they will discover next that the ancients knew all about…

 

[audreyh1]

It was called the Dark Ages for a reason!

 

[Jerry1]

Here's a thread from TFP on the subject of concrete cancer in Texas.

https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/asr-concrete-cancer-austin-tx.270886/

 

[Sunset]

Wow.... what an education about concrete !!

I deleted my previous post as it wouldn't apply, this issue is new to me. Thank goodness it's restricted to local areas.

Incredible about the side effect / unintended consequences of reducing the use of pollution causing coal fired electrical plants (lack of fly ash)

 

[yakers]

Had an issue with 'reactive aggregate' in construction. Mix would be made locally and not turn out as expected despite some standard tests for material. Those tests had to be revised to look for additional properties.

 

[dixonge]

there's a version of this here in Mexico - I've heard more than one mason refer to it as 'cancer' - officially it is 'salitre' - aka, saltpeter. If the sand they use isn't properly sourced you end up with patchy, flaky spots that shed white powder during the rainy season.