curing
Placing shotcrete in hot weather can be a risky proposition if you don't follow basic guidelines. Success under these conditions, reports William Drakeley, calls for controlling concrete temperature and mix design while also managing details of the installation and curing processes.
Many times in the past 15 years, articles published by WaterShapes have referred to water as "the main ingredient" when it comes to pools, spas, fountains, ponds and all of the other forms of contained, controlled water. I'm willing to accept that assertion and have probably offered it myself a time or two. Here, however, I want to
In several of the articles I've prepared for WaterShapes, the point has been made that it's not a great idea to apply plaster as the interior finish of a swimming pool (or any other watershape, for that matter) in spells of hot, dry weather - and I thought it was time to dig in a bit deeper and explain the reasoning behind that assertion. Basically, when a layer
In the parlance of those who know best, it's time to discuss "mud" - the concrete material out of which most watershape shells are made. Mud enters the scene after the steel, plumbing, electrical conduits and forms have been placed and, in some jurisdictions, all work to that point has passed careful inspection. The concrete itself can take any of four forms: concrete block or poured-in-place concrete (neither of which is used very often), or gunite or shotcrete (far more commonly used). In my three decades of building watershapes, I've worked with all of these materials. If a very specific set of circumstances calls for the use of
In the parlance of those who know best, it's time to discuss "mud" - the concrete material out of which most watershape shells are made. Mud enters the scene after the steel, plumbing, electrical conduits and forms have been placed and, in some jurisdictions, all work to that point has passed careful inspection. The concrete itself can take any of four forms: concrete block or poured-in-place concrete (neither of which is used very often), or gunite or shotcrete (far more commonly used). In my three decades of building watershapes, I've worked with all of these materials. If a very specific set of circumstances calls for the use of
Next to the water itself, concrete is the most important and widespread of materials used in watershaping. Not only is it instrumental in creating the structures that contain water as well as the substructures that support them, concrete is also the stuff of which faux-rock panels, pre-cast or poured-in-place coping, pavers, all manner of stamped or textured decks and poured-in-place or block walls are made. Despite its omnipresence, however, concrete remains one of the most misunderstood of all watershaping materials in this sense: Because it is so durable in basic structural applications, there's a tendency to
As a former shotcrete builder myself, I believe you can't find a better method of building a pool, spa, pond or waterfeature of any type than by using pneumatically placed concrete, or "shotcrete." The method and the material offer the designer and builder great and often incredible design flexibility, and the resulting watershapes will last several lifetimes. Given that the vast majority of watershapers around the world depend on shotcrete as their primary construction material, it only makes sense that we should know as much as possible about putting this amazing product to its best possible use. Unfortunately, however, that's not always the case. There's little argument that the process of shotcrete construction is laborious and demanding, that it requires a major logistical and physical effort and that fairly precise timing is necessary. For all the focus it takes to apply it and shape it just so, however, I have observed a couple of critical steps many builders overlook in the press of getting the job done - the most important of them being the proper curing of the
