Pool Deck Caulk

[rck26186]

I need to caulk the joint between my pool deck and the pool coping. I'm leaning towards using Vulkem 45 but can't decide which so buy -- semi self leveling or self leveling. Does anyone have experience with either form? Does the semi self leveling really self level or do I need to work it smooth with a putty knife?

[Watermom]

Sorry I can't answer your question, but just wanted to say hi and welcome you to the Pool Forum! Hopefully someone will be along shortly who will be able to offer a recommendation for you.

[Tomcat]

Wonder what you went with. I need to redo mine.

When first built, I used deck o seal, but I'm not happy with the longevity. After five years or so, it needed repairing. I used a polyurethane caulk (not self leveling) to fill the separation points, but now's it's separated quite a bit more all around the pool.

I just started filling in my decking control joints because they've cracked and separated in some places. The sikaflex SL worked great, was truly self leveling (very fluid), but doesn't come in white unless you buy the two part and mix it. Likewise, I've also used the quickcrete SL and it was fluid, but didn't seem to flow as well as the sikaflex and in fact buckled up as it cured. The sikaflex joint is concave, but the quickcrete joint is convex. Weird. Now I'm going to redo around my coping (over 130 linear ft, yikes!) and am looking at the Vulkem, but it is only semi-self leveling, so I'd like to know how it goes on and cures.

[Tomcat]

Here's some more data for gun ready polyurethane.

I used Loctite self leveling polyurethane the other day for some more control joints and it did the same thing as the Quickcrete - as it cured, it formed a convex ridge. Also, it was harder to work with because it kept flowing quite rapidly even after I had released all pressure from the caulk gun.

Color wise, I liked the Locktite the best - it was the lightest gray, but is the hardest to work with. Next darker was the Sikaflex SL and it was very easy to work with and cured level to slight concave. Darkest of the three was the Quickcrete and it cured convex. Recommend the Sikaflex SL for gray gun ready polyurethane.

I've ordered a 1.5 gallon can of Sikaflex to redo my joint around the coping, so I'll report on it's performance after I complete the job. It's a chemical curing poly, unlike the gun ready tubes, and you need to use your own applicator. Should be fun (not)!

[rck26186]

Well I finished the caulking and used 17 - 29oz tubes of the Vulkem 45 SSL in white ( I had 300 feet to caulk). The longest part was all the prep work -- removing the open cell spacer foam between the coping and the deck, cleaning out the space and the stuffing in the backing rod. That took a whole day to accomplish.

Working with the Vulkem 45 SSL was generally easy. The flow is controllable so that you don't need to mask the edges. I filled the voids up to 1/16" from the edge and in cases where I needed to go back over an area to bring up the height, the caulk smoothed over without any problems. There were a few times where I had to pop trapped air bubbles but that didn't create any problems. 95% of my caulk job is completely smooth and flat; however, there are a few places where there are slight waves in the caulk. They aren't really noticable (at least not in the white), but be aware that it probably takes a lot of practice to get a perfect job. I was quoted $3200 to $4000 just to caulk my deck. I paid $460 for the tubes and took two days to do the job. Even though I got a little sunburned, I happy with the job and ecstatic that I saved over $2700 by doing it myself. Maybe SL caulk would have given my the perfect job, but since this was my first time doing this, I used the SSL and it came out pretty decent.

I can't comment on longevity since I did the job in mid August. Time will only tell. Hopefully, it will be a long time before I have to do this again.

[aylad]

Please come back sometime next season and let us know how well it's holding up--you never know when someone else will come along and benefit from what you did!

[Tomcat]

Finished redoing my expansion joint caulking last weekend. My prep work included digging out the old caulk. My total prep time (dig out caulk, vacuum mess, installing backer rod, go around in more detail cleaning old joint caulk remnants, clean entire joint with solvent to improve new caulk adherence, vacuum again, block off control joints, prefill specific gaps, etc..) ran about 16 hours over many days. Definitely more than I bargained for! I'm very particular and wanted to do the best I could to get a good joint that will last longer this time. Add another 4 to 5 hours to do the actual application and it was quite a job.

Used two, 1.5 gallon cans of sikaflex self leveling (2C SL). It looks pretty good to me, but I also had tons of air bubbles I had to make sure to pop. There's got to be a better way then pouring it from the mixing can in to a squeeze bottle - I think that's where I got my air entrapment.

Will let you know how it holds up after the winter - I usually get a lot of deck heave.

[rck26186]

I'm opening my pool up next week and did a quick inspection of all the joints. After going through the winter here in Northern Virginia all of the joints are fine. No shrinkage anywhere. The Vulkem 45 SSL is now very firm -- not very pliable. My neighbor's pool joints have a sealer that is very soft to the touch. You can push down on it and leave a finger nail impression in it that takes about 30 seconds to completely disappear. I'm not sure what they used on their pool but I like the feel of the Vulkem better. I used the white Vulkem and it is still very clean looking; however, I don't have any trees around my pool area that I have to worry about.

Bottom line eights months after applying the Vulkem -- I'm happy.