What gets removed or damaged during a pool refurbishment?

Valeriy — Application Specialist, Joint Seal Waterproofing — concrete pool refurbishments across the GTA and Miami

Five things come out or get broken on almost every pool refurbishment: the perimeter bonding wire, the pool lights, the handrails, the wall return jets, and — if nobody plugs the pipes — the filtration equipment. Four of those are predictable and should be in the scope. The fifth is avoidable and is the most expensive of the lot.

None of this is exotic. It is the part of a pool quote that gets left off, argued about in week three, and then paid for anyway.

Which items always have to come out?

The handrails, the pool lights and the wall return jets come out on every refurbishment, and they come out at different points in the schedule for different reasons.

Handrails come off at the very start and get set aside carefully. If they stay in place through demolition they end up smeared with adhesive, epoxy and cement, and cleaning them costs more than removing them would have. The metal anchor sockets stay in the deck — they are already dimensioned to the existing deck thickness, and this isn’t a new pool. Work around them, bond up to them, leave them alone.

If the handrails are in good condition, they go back. Do not replace them. That is the client’s money and there is nothing wrong with them.

Wall return jets are the opposite: they stay in place almost to the end, because they are not at risk during the rough work and they need replacing anyway. They get pulled immediately before the finish goes on and reinstalled immediately after. A jet set belongs in the price.

Pool lights are the ones that eat the time. The lens comes off carefully at the start and the fitting is masked and isolated. The finish runs up around the light, never over it — the fixture has a purpose-made niche already cast into the concrete and its own rubber gasket, which is what makes the water seal. There is no membrane behind the lamp; the gasket does that job.

The timing on lights is unforgiving. They go back in the moment the finish is complete, because the pool is filled the same day — otherwise you are diving and fitting lamps underwater.

Why does the bonding wire always get broken?

The copper equipotential bonding wire runs the full perimeter of the pool under the deck tile, and it will almost certainly be torn during demolition. Sometimes it is cast into the concrete, which makes it effectively impossible to save. Last time we saved it. The time before that we tore it.

It is a copper conductor that runs right around the pool, comes in at a point, and drops to a ground connection with a dedicated bolt. Lift the deck tile and you will find it.

The fix is straightforward: buy copper wire, re-run it through the existing purpose-made studs and clips, and run it around the perimeter back to the ground bolt. The bolts and fixings stay where they are.

What is not optional is showing it. Everyone asks to see it — they all say, show me that the wire is there. Treat it as an inspection item and photograph it before the deck goes back, because once the paving is down nobody can verify it without lifting the paving again.

What is the one thing that should never get damaged?

The filtration equipment — and the way it gets destroyed is debris going down an unplugged pipe. Once the tile and the grates come off, every drain and suction outlet gets a cut foam plug sealed into it before any chipping starts.

The reason is blunt. Debris and pebbles fall in, travel down the pipes, reach the filter, and the equipment is finished. And the equipment isn’t cheap.

Foam is the best plug. Backer rod works. Rags and bags work. Whatever it is, just remember it’s there — a plug left in at fill time is its own problem.

This is the highest-consequence, lowest-cost step in the entire job. Ten dollars of foam against a filter replacement.

The openings themselves stay open through the work. The waterproofing stops around the penetration rather than running into it, and the hole is never covered over.

What about the depth markers and the step nosings?

Photograph the existing depth markers before demolition so they go back in the same positions. They are ready-made ceramic tiles — “5 FT 6 IN” and so on — set around the perimeter on the coping and on the vertical face inside the pool so they can be read from the water. A square gets cut out with a grinder to seat each one. If nobody photographed the original layout, somebody is guessing at depths, and that is not a thing to guess at.

Step nosings are a safety item, not a design choice. Every step gets a contrast nosing tile — 3.25 inches on the tread, 2 inches down the riser — in a colour that contrasts with the surrounding surface. Light pool, dark blue or black nosing. Dark pool, white. It has to be visible.

All horizontal surfaces in the pool, steps included, get the anti-slip textured tile. Ordinary tile is fine on verticals.

What should be in the scope and usually isn’t?

Item	When it happens	In most quotes?
Handrail removal and reinstatement	Start and end	Sometimes
New wall return jet set	Immediately before and after the finish	Often missed
Pool light removal and reinstatement	Start, and same day as the finish	Sometimes
Perimeter bonding wire replacement	After demolition, before the deck closes	Usually missed
Drain and suction outlet plugging	After demolition, before chipping	Rarely stated
Depth marker reinstatement	With the finish	Often missed
Debris removal and haul	Throughout	Under-priced

That last one is worth a note. Debris comes out of a pool in bags, on somebody’s back. On one job the haul distance was long enough that we were running carts nearly half a kilometre to the dumpster. Access and haul distance is a real cost and it is not in anybody’s square-foot rate — it should be priced separately, and a property manager should expect to be asked where the bin can go.

What most people get wrong

Assuming these items are included because they are obviously necessary. They are necessary. They are frequently not in the number.

The bonding wire is the clearest example. Everybody wants to see it, almost nobody prices it, and it is the one thing that cannot be verified after the deck closes. Ask about it at tender, not at handover.

What to do about it

Before the pool closes, walk it with the contractor and photograph five things: the depth marker positions, the handrails in place, the light fittings, the deck tile at the point where the bonding wire enters, and the drains. That set of photographs is what the reinstatement gets checked against, and it takes ten minutes.

Then ask one question at tender: which of the items in the table above are in this price. The answers will differ between bidders, and that difference is usually most of the gap between their numbers.

Book an inspection and we will tell you what has to come out and go back before the price is set, rather than after.

More on swimming pool repair and waterproofing, concrete surface repair and utility and mechanical room waterproofing, or read what the schedule looks like week by week.

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