Cuscaden Pool

With the temperature increasing rapidly and school coming to an end, pool season was officially back in session and luckily the Cuscaden Park Pool was open and ready for business. Built in 1937, the pool has been the focal point of every summer with its cast-in place concrete structure and a brick masonry infill surrounding the perimeter. With a 7,800 square foot pool area and a Headhouse with two story, load bearing brick exterior walls, the concrete structure was holding a lot together.

There had been many issues with the pool that needed to be addressed in order for the facility to be up and running for the summer. With Tampa averaging 50 inches of rain per year (compared to the US average at 39 inches), the roof, pool deck and windows had visibly been worn over the years. The water intrusion had an impact on the interior as well with damaged finishes, leaks and flooding issues and pool water possibly contributing to other problems inside the facility.

During the inspection process, areas were tested by flooding suspected problem areas, deck penetrations, deck fracturing, expansion joints and pressure testing existing pipes. The roof installation was problematic as well with expansion joints on the pool's deck failing and the existing deck drain wasn't sized to allow rapid drainage of heavy rain. Electrical and plumbing penetrations were inadequately sealed and the pool itself had expansion joints that were leaking. The biggest contributing factor to the deterioration of the pool stemmed from rain water intrusion.

After the project began, they found cracking in the pool deck and exposed rebar in the filter tanks as well as beneath the children's play area. Repair methods that were used for the Cuscaden Park Pool project consisted of the removal of the entire pool shell by chipping hammers, then waterproofing and a new finish was applied. The pool's expansion joints were removed and replaced while waterstop systems were installed. The pool deck needed to be shot blasted and grinded to a CSP 6 and an overlay applied over the entire deck with a fast setting mortar.

One of the Sika products used during this project was Sikalastic® 624 WP Waterproofing System because it is UV resistant without protection board which makes it suitable for direct exposure waterproofing applications. Sealants used consisted of Sikaflex® 1a, Sikaflex® 2c NS EZ Mix, Sikaflex®-11FC and SikaHyflex®-150 LM to seal around door frames, roof tiles, expansion joints and much more. Sikadur® 22 Lo Mod, Sikadur® 31 Hi Mod and Sikadur® 35 are all used for bonding concrete to concrete whether it be old or new, crack injections and for water protection. Sikadur® 42 Grout-Pak was used on the pool edge to set the coping so there was no need to have to anchor it through the RoofPro system. Sika® Armatec 110 was also used as rebar protection. SikaQuick® 1000 is specially suited for hot weather applications and for some minor sloping issues so this rapid hardening repair epoxy mortar was the best option for this project. And lastly Sikacrete® 211 SCC+ is best used to fill voids and for other structural repairs.