VINYL LINER INGROUND POOL DECKS NEED EXPANSION JOINTS:

If you already own an inground vinyl liner pool, maybe you have seen white plastic strips placed in the concrete deck. These strips, usually called “Arrowhead” expansion joints, were placed into the wet concrete when the pool deck was installed around your vinyl liner inground pool.

They allow for expansion of the concrete and any potential movement through settling over the years. In a residential application, such as an inground vinyl liner pool, these white expansion joints are used because of the cosmetic appeal, over just a cut in the concrete, and conformity to the concrete finished edge.

These strips are a half-inch wide, 1-1/2 inches deep, and 10 feet long. They are then cut in accordance with the deck lengths and widths. They are partially tapped in with a trowel, leaving one-eight to one-quarter inch above the concrete, which allows the final deck surface to be flush with the expansion joint.

Placement of the strips is usually done based on the shape of the inground vinyl liner pool. Symmetrical-style inground vinyl liner pools, where corners and angular walls are more frequent, require more control strips in those areas. While free-form inground vinyl liner pools allow for random placement of the joints.

Most often, the strips are placed no greater than 5 to 6 feet apart in the deck, and they run from the water’s edge to the edge of the deck.

Will the use of expansion joints prevent cracking in the pool deck?  The answer is still no! Settling and movement of the soil under the concrete deck is a fact of nature, in South Jersey.

Questions call Rich at: 609-313-0300