Fly in the mix

Bad Agg. A new issue, recently recognized, is a problem with potential “bad aggregate” being added unintentionally, to concrete mix in Central Texas. Materials being mined in our area from any local quarry, can unknowingly get into the concrete mix for house slabs, high rises, commercial jobs and yes, backyard swimming pools. The concrete disease is referred to as ASR, which stands for Alkali Silica Reaction. A quarry can dig into an area of highly reactive aggregate, when the reactive agg is mixed up and used in concrete (and no preventative measures taken) If no prevention is taken, ASR can begin to rip the structure apart due to the chemical reaction.

Although ASR proceeds from a well-known chemical reaction, your chances of getting ASR can seem like your chances of getting cancer- just a piece of terrible bad luck. Your exposure to the severe problem is relative to the quality of materials delivered to your site and placed into your pool. The bad ag material can literally crack your gunite structure end to end.

There have been several good pool builders in the Central Texas Region that have gone out of business due to having multiple shell failures in very recent years. The only way to fix the problem is to tear out the entire site and start over from scratch. This equates to a fast death of a quality pool company attempting to replace a dozen pools, very sad.

The vaccine for the ASR cancer nightmare is very simple. For years FLY ASH has been recognized an additive for prevention to the ASR issue. When the concrete cures, it leaves small voids, and the FLY ASH goes in and occupies those voids and grows small crystals to fill that space so water can’t enter. FLY ASH also helps lower total alkalinity that helps as well.

FIELDER CUSTOM POOLS DEMANDS FLY ASH TO BE ADDED TO ALL OF OUR CONCRETE. SHOTCRETE, DECKING, FOOTINGS, RETAINING WALLS ETC.
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There will never be a 100% guarantee that a deck won’t crack, or a pool could have an issue as well on occasion. But rest assured, we at FIELDER CUSTOM POOLS are delivering ONLY the highest quality pool available in our industry, to you, right here in the Texas hill country. We build it right or we won’t build it at all.
This is simply info for you to ponder as you decide on who builds your backyard dream pool
HAPPY SWIMMING
DICKIE AND KAMIE FIELDER
FIELDER CUSTOM POOLS
FIELDERPOOLS.COM
Info credit to: Aqua Magazine April 2023 Issue