Hi Folks

We have a large overflow style swimming pool at our condominium.

The concrete formed gutter surrounding the pool has signs of cracking and we believe has become porous as we are losing a fair amount of water.

Can anyone recommend an appropriate action of repair.?

I am thinking we get any visible cracks filled and then paint the entire gutter with a suitable ''epoxy'' sealant.

Any comments would be appreciated and any recommendations ie type/make of sealant to use.

Thanks...

Leaking overflow gutter: a common problem. Consider Crocodile Flex Shield waterproofing cement - search for it on the Internet. On sale at most larger builders' supplies stores such as Thai Watsadu, HomeMarkt, GlobalHouse, Home Hub, etc. Expensive, but it does what it says on the bag.

You can confirm whether leaking or not, easily. Simply shut off the tank valve, and circulate water only via the main drain. If you continue to lose water, the problem is not in the gutter (which rarely leaks).

Any good standard concrete mix combined with a sealant (e.g., Sika) properly troweled will also be fine. The technique in Thai to use is called "cut man" which means to trowel the concrete into a paste and remove any porous holes.

Gil

If the concrete gutter is like mine then maybe it attracts algae (particularly along the bottom and inside upright) and needs regular clearouts. Perhaps consider tiling the bottom and the inside upright - more expensive, but fix two problems at once. Have no idea what the pool professionals here would think about that! One of them previously commented that maybe my problem was not the channels, but the reserve tank - didn't quite understand that response, as the green was in the channels not the tank and I always suck-sweep the tank to waste to get a clean reserve tank bottom before backflushing every ouple of months.

[if you did go for it you would have to be careful to make sure your now-narrowed gutter still had enough flow room to evacuate the water - ie inspect the current flow when the pool is in operation. My flow runs quite high in the longer side of the channel so I only bottom-half-tiled the inside edge].