Half poured pond

[Tbirkey]

Concrete does not dry for a period time. The Hover dam for instance is said to have finaly cured only 10 years ago. There are many reasons why it may take longer in particular area over an other. Out door temperatures, Winds, due points, thickness to start.

Very few applications specifically state for the sealer to be installed while the concrete is still Green/ drying. Bubbling to me says the concrete may have been to green to apply a paint or coating.

I talked to the guy a couple days ago, and I convinced him to just have a contractor come out and spray gun at your shotcrete or something and do their own kind of rebar thing. But he wanted me to coat.

I got a couple handouts from a supply house about what to use but I'm curious what you guys think especially after hearing the bubbling paint story. What do I need to know about coding this thing and maybe how long do I have to wait or anything else that I have to consider.

He wants me to add some plants around it and make it look cool with the rocks which I can totally do, really any idiot could kind of do it. So he's just going to have me do the lining and decorate it

 

[GBBUDD]

your at the wrong site you will have better luck at koipen though the site can be slow to respond . 90 % here use liners epdm and or hdrpe

 

[GBBUDD]

All I can tell you is there's many products out there today that could do the job from epoxy paints, rubber paints , polyurethane coating, plaster , fiberglass, we even have had spray on bed liner CLAIM TO HAVE WORKED. i suggested you go to you tube I even pointed out a concrete pond with concrete rocks yet no questions from there. All i can say is take manufacturer's claims with a grain of salt they often over exaggerate

 

[zeuspaul]

I built my concrete pond with cement block. To seal the surface I troweled on Rapid Set Mortar mix available at HD or Lowes. It is similar to portland cement mixtures but stronger, water proof and little or no shrinkage. It has been over ten years and the pond still holds water and is in good shape.

 

[Lisak1]

He wants me to add some plants around it and make it look cool with the rocks which I can totally do, really any idiot could kind of do it.

Don't be so sure... that's really the art of the pond. I've seen lots of ponds that aren't necessarily works of art ni the finishing... There are still ways to do it to make it look natural vs manmade, even with a concrete pond.

 

[GBBUDD]

The whole picture is in design , layout, and application.
Just digging a hole putting concrete or even rubber in, is just the start. The plumbing, the shelves for rock edging and plant pockets. if you do a baldy just all concrete and a contemporary flair then that's another story

 

[GBBUDD]

The whole picture is in design , layout, and aplication.
Just digging a hole putting concrete or even rubber in, is just the start. The plumbing,the shelves for rock edging and plant pockets are as important as another step

 

[Tbirkey]

Here's an update on this. Homeowner had a couple guys finish the rest. There are some weird areas, but I ended up doing his irrigation elsewhere on his property and said I'll coat the pond, but I won't garauntee anything since that is on the concrete guys. He said no problem. I'm struggling a bit with my landscaping biz(just started) and am working hourly for this guy, so this is one of the tasks I get to learn on hands on without really having any liability in anything. Here's a pic of the pond( and some problem areas ( middle hump with questionable valley area)which I will fill with sikaflex(plus compatable primer) and I will also use stichboard fabric with my first coat of mulasticoat.

Below are pics of the pond and my step by step list I wrote with the help of Alfonzo at Mulasticoat.

Question- are the hairline cracks a problem? I am going to use the fabric embedded into the first coat of mulasticoat aswell here too.

 

[Tbirkey]

Here's my instructions on what to use and how to use it

 

[combatwombat]

Good luck! Will be interested to see how it turns out. Hard to know if the cracks will present a problem. Probably depends on climate and freeze/thaw cycle. Adhering a mesh product over it before coating will likely help.

 

[Tbirkey]

Good luck! Will be interested to see how it turns out. Hard to know if the cracks will present a problem. Probably depends on climate and freeze/thaw cycle. Adhering a mesh product over it before coating will likely help.

I went down to the supply house and they immediately said no, don't use a polyurethane caulk to the bad area, because the mulasticoat won't adhere to it...which is the opposite advice from that the mulasticoat rep, but that also came from an experienced concrete guy. We switched to Masterseal 581 and using repair mortar to the bad areas. I'm going to call their rep with questions tomorrow and see what the new plan is.

 

[GBBUDD]

THERE ARE HAIR LINE STRESS AND EXPANSION CRACKS AND THEN THERE ARE " damn caps" what is referred to as alagatoring. that's a thermal shock and only the surface slurry of the concrete generally cracks "for now" if and when that does fail its usually only surface layer and not all the way through. If you buy the materials the manufacturer sells you and it fails you have at least a chance of getting restitution. Using what the mason yard sugests your on your own . However pollyurethane caulk is not the best of materials to get other materials to stick to it. much like painting over a stained door and having the paint peel.
What your showing is stress or expansion and termination cracks you'll want to cut those open and patch but if the concrete is less than 2 or 3 inches you have bigger problems. since you seem to have found a cash cow . i would try and find a company that does a spray on liner one that only needs a surface to stick to but is primarily strong enough to hold the water even if there stress cracks within reason. i saw such a product on you tube with the American grotto pool king. though I'm not a fan of his work the material I saw was impressive it made like a 1/8 coating.

if its cracking already in a months time that not what you want

 

[Tbirkey]

I also asked the owner if he had been watering the concrete because I was snooping around to figure out why the cracks were forming. He said yes, for the first two days... Which is what they said. I thought you have to water it for 10 days or so. How long should you be watering it, and is there any reason to we ater longer or shorter?

 

[GBBUDD]

The longer it takes concrete to dry and yes that includes being kept wet the better the concrete will be. Now occasionally putting a hose to it certainly won't hurt. However it should be kept constantly wet for at least 4 days WITH BURLAP or any cloth and a layer of plastic. for a minimum for best results.

 

[Tbirkey]

The longer it takes concrete to dry and yes that includes being kept wet the better the concrete will be. Now occasionally putting a hose to it certainly won't hurt. However it should be kept constantly wet for at least 4 days WITH BURLAP or any cloth and a layer of plastic. for a minimum for best results.

I ended using some repair mortar on the cracks, and I should have ground them out. Some of them hardened well and others seemed like they were made of compacted dust. I scrubbed everything with a wire brush an got as much loose repair mortar off as possible.

Then when went to put on the master seal the instructions said to put it on dry concrete then a tech told me that that was wrong so there is a huge communication breakdown and I wasted some material. Then when I went back and applied the master seal while the surface of the concrete was wet I noticed that it flowed so much better. But I was also curious if it was normal for the water to seep into the concrete so quickly, it's not super hot outside and it was a little windy but it seemed like after I would miss the concrete it would be totally soaked in and dry again within just a minute or two, is this normal?

I did my first coat today and I'll be going back tomorrow to do the second,. The places where there is repair mortar that I had to brush out I just really slapped the master seal in there. There's a couple spots that are probably a little too liquidy from where I over missed it and there are definitely a couple spots where it wasn't really missed it at all. I don't know how f***** I am on this thing but we're going to see