What is under an old pool deck in Redding

Most people treat a pool deck like a driveway and start swinging a breaker, and redding demolition evrnyc sets the order of work deliberately for that reason: the surface concrete is the least interesting thing under a deck. Pool demolition in Redding, CA means lines, steel and fill the surface never shows.

The coping and the bond beam

The edge of the pool is capped with coping, and under it runs a bond beam, a reinforced concrete collar that ties the shell together. The deck was poured against it, often with a flexible joint. That joint is cut with a saw first, so a breaker working on the deck does not pound the shell or crack the plaster and shotcrete near it.

Plumbing and electrical

Skimmer lines, return lines, a main drain and a bonding wire for the equipment all run under or through the deck. Many Shasta County pools also carry a light conduit. Pipe is located and capped before heavy tools come in. A mini excavator bucket through a pressurized line is a bad afternoon and a wet yard.

How deep the fill goes

Around Redding, clay and decomposed granite show up in the same yard, and a deck might sit on a few inches of base or on three feet of imported fill. Probing with a steel rod tells which. Deep fill that was never compacted settles, and the settled deck tilts toward the house or the shell.

Breaking the deck itself

Pool decks run thicker than patios, often five inches or more, with rebar or mesh in the pour. A demo hammer on a mini excavator or a skid steer does the field. A jackhammer works near the pool edge, the foundation of the house and any wall. Pieces are lifted out, not dropped, so they do not land on the coping or on buried pipe.

Shotcrete and plaster dust is the other hazard. Old pool shells were often sprayed with a mix that contains silica, so a wet-down while breaking is standard. Tile on the coping may sit in a mortar bed with lath behind it, and that comes off by hand before the deck work begins.

What to do with the hole

An old pool deck leaves a wide, flat area of disturbed ground. Fill is compacted in lifts, and the grade is set so water drains away from the house. If the pool itself is coming out, that is a separate sequence involving holes punched in the floor, a drained shell and engineered backfill.