Why Is My Pool Deck Cracking?
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If you have cracks in your concrete pool deck this indicates that a failure has happened or is happening. Concrete requires tensile support to provide additional strength. This is the steel component embedded within concrete. Additionally the concrete needs adequate support from the substrate, whether compacted ground and gravel the concrete is sitting on, or often vertical columns of concrete called sono tubes. When you have cracking in your concrete pool deck you likely have a problem with the supporting substrate for your concrete, or a problem (potential lack of) adequate steel embedded within the concrete. There could be other problems or compounding issues like expansion and contraction problems, or concrete which was poured too thin or too weak, however the lack of steel and the eventual lack of substrate support are responsible for the majority of pool deck cracking issues.
When a pool deck cracks this is generally going to take some significant effort or expense to resolve. With that being said one of the main problems with cracks in a pool deck is that you will now have water getting into areas where it should not be allowed to go. This will further erode the substrate under the concrete deck and very quickly you will have a much worse problem on your hands. If you can patch your pool deck or seam together cracks with a flexible concrete urethane product like Vulkem 116 polyurethane then you can limit the amount of water damage and erosion. This will not solve the original problem about why your pool deck is cracking but it will definitely help to slow the rate of deterioration. Sometimes this alone is enough to get years more serive life from your pool deck before you have to commit to a major overhaul of the pool and surrounding area...which is definitely an eventuality for all swimming pools.
When you build a pool you overdig the size such that you can facilitate building forms, running pipes etc. inside of the "overdig". When you backfill this area you can not use compaction equipment like you would normally do with any other construction process. This is because the pipes are located in this area, plus the pool walls themselves could bow or become damaged from the close proximity of heavy equipment or ground tampers. This is why you can not rely on the area around the pool to support a concrete deck. This overdig WILL settle over time and if your concrete pool deck is sitting on it then your deck will settle also...and likely crack in the process. Knowing this any concrete pool deck should be supported from the pool walls or from sono tubes depending on the type of pool you are building.
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