Simply put, the backfill is the material that is used under and around the pool shell. We use Clean, Crushed or Chipped Stone ONLY. This type of backfill is a must for a long and successful fiberglass pool life.
Sand is the traditional method of backfill and works well for locations with pure sandy soil. As the industry has evolved, sand has been replaced with stone to prevent the most common fiberglass issues caused by sand. When sand mixes with water, it liquifies. Think about being on the beach and digging a hole. The waves come in and the sand liquifies, sinks and shifts. Imagine this happening under your pool shell. This causes the pool shell to settle after install and pulls plumbing down which causes leaks and breakage. After experts replaced sand with crushed stone, these issues went away overnight.
Crushed stone drains better, doesn’t shift and keeps its properties when introduced to water.
Leaks can occur in ANY pool and can cost thousands to diagnose and repair. The majority of leaks in Fiberglass Pools occur in the return fittings.
Staycation FUZES the front and back of the return fittings together using pressure rated pipe to ensure a solid LOCK and ensure a long lasting connection.
Packing backfill under stairs and ledges has always been a challenge in itself. This is one of the hottest debates from any installer in the industry and clients often don’t understand this process and what they SHOULD look for. Often times, inexperienced installers will not support stairs, seats and tanning ledges correctly which can lead to costly repairs down the road. Other times, clients purchase a fiberglass brand that is “less expensive” and the manufacturer doesn’t add the required support to these areas and the customer ultimately pays a HIGHER PRICE than if they were to get a reputable brand to begin with.
At Staycation, we only use the highest quality manufacturers to ensure the pools have been engineered correctly to provide a lifetime of enjoyment to our clients.
All of our brands re-enforce the ledges and stairs which prevents any “conforming” or bowing of the stairs or tanning ledges. On top of this, Staycation creates a BLOCK/ BEAM SUPPORT under all of our stairs and tanning ledges for the ULTIMATE SUPPORT.
One area of concern for our clients is where the pool shell and the concrete meet. Staycation uses “Buffalo Bars” to prevent structural failure caused by ground shifting, settlement or movement. The Buffalo Bars are a 12” long composite rod which is inserted into the pool shell and encased in a concrete bond beam that is poured around the pool shell.
We often hear installers tell clients that they tie in rebar to the pool shell and that it does the same thing. While the concept is the same, the difference is that the composite Buffalo Bar is non corrosive and doesn’t break down causing failure like steel rebar. Buffalo Bars are also 1.5-2X stronger and don’t react with concrete aggregate like steel rebar which can cause the concrete to spall and rust.
To our knowledge, we are the only builder in San Antonio who uses Composite Rebar “Owens Corning Pink Bar.” We already know that the old school concrete guys will debate this all day but we love to be the INNOVATORS and set the BAR higher.
Pink Bar is a composite rebar which is 7X lighter but 2X stronger than conventional steel rebar and EXCEEDS Guaranteed Bond Strength in Concrete as tested per ASTM D7913. Traditional rebar corrodes and begins to break down which weakens its ability to strengthen concrete and leads to failure, larger cracks and rust stains on concrete surfaces. Maybe you have been to a community pool and seen rust on the pool deck or on concrete surfaces in general.
Pink Bar is… More Durable because it will NEVER rust and make concrete surfaces more durable especially in corrosive environments. (Great for pools which of course have tons of water and often use Salt Systems) Currently used in residential and commercial applications such as parking lots, warehouse floors and agricultural slabs to name a few. Doesn’t conduct electricity which is an extremely important safety feature around a swimming pool.
Whether you are doing a standard cantilever concrete deck or custom coping, your fiberglass pool requires concrete to be poured around the shell to stabilize it. Most installers pour a small lip to save money, however the Staycation way is to pour a 12” thick concrete bond beam which encases the Rhino Rod and LOCKS in the pool shell. This way you can ensure that your pool is structurally secure for years to come.
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This is one of the most overlooked but most useful pieces to an install. A sump pipe is an 8” pipe that extends past the deepest point of the pool to remove any ground water before service. A lot of installers will shrug these off as not important if you live in an area with little to no ground water but, did you know that most quality manufacturers REQUIRE this be installed or your warranty is void? What good is a lifetime warranty if your installer voids it from day 1? In the event that your pool needs to be drained for maintenance (consult a fiberglass pool professional before attempting to drain your pool), you must inspect and remove any ground water to prevent damage to the shell.
Read MoreFiberglass pool are one of the simplest to clean and maintain taking only 30 minutes a week on average. Your skimmer is located at the waterline and pulls in debris from the top of the water and your main drains, located in the deep end of your pool, pull suspended particles and dirt in and through your pool filter. Recently we have been on installs and seen builders leaving these off of pools claiming that they leak or that they are dangerous because you or a child could get suctioned to a drain and drown. This is a scary scenario even if you do not have kids but that also begs the question, why does every gunite pool have them and they are safe but a fiberglass pool is automatically dangerous?
Prior to 2007, pools only had one drain or flat grates that could cause death and injury if a person were to be suctioned onto it. With the VGB act of 2007, main drain design changed increasing safety and requiring two separate drains combined with a T fitting so if you were to block one, suction would shift to the second. All main drains Staycation uses are VGB compliant to ensure the highest level of safety and to ensure your pool functions correctly. Ensure your pool builder is following these specifications.
