... First, the light blue epoxy is applied as a base coat. Then, the dark blue is added as a durable top layer.
On May 3, workers applied the dark blue coating across a rectangular section of the pool.
The next day, they applied the same coating to an adjacent area, producing a visible seam. This is one of the places where the coating failed.
More than a week later, on May 12, multiple sections had been sealed. The new coating failed in at least three places.
By May 15, several more sections were completed toward the east end of the pool. That coating failed in three more places.
In five of the spots, the dark blue Pipeliner 5000 coating had peeled off to reveal more of the same material. Experts said this appears consistent with an adhesion failure caused by an overlap of the dark blue over a dried layer of the same material at the seams. For any overlapping Pipeliner 5000 to adhere, the underlying layer would need to still be wet or, if not, steps would need to be taken to prepare the surface.
Pipeliner 5000 dries within four hours, according to technical documents, depending on temperature and humidity. The Post confirmed that in each of the five spots, five hours or more had elapsed between when adjacent sections were sprayed.
At a sixth spot The Post identified, the dark blue Pipeliner 5000 had peeled back to reveal the light blue Rhino 406 primer. The Pipeliner 5000 should be applied within 24 hours of the primer, according to technical specifications. Photos and a video of the renovation process showed that, at this location, it was applied more than 24 hours after the primer, which experts said made it less likely that the two materials bonded properly.
At the seventh spot, both the dark blue coating and light blue epoxy primer underneath had peeled away, leaving the concrete exposed. This was one of three failure points that occurred on top of visible expansion joints built across the concrete basin " which experts said would also strain the coating. The width of the perimeter expansion joint referenced by the Interior spokesperson is not clear from visuals, but at least one failure point appeared directly on the pool's edge.
When applying the product, the goal should be to have the coating be "as monolithic as possible" and to lay down as much material at one time as possible, said Vito Mariano, president of waterproofing company Basecrete Technologies. "Anytime you have a stop [and] go, you're going to open yourself up to a problem that might occur," he said. ...
