I always determine the location of the leak prior to any demo work. I'll pressure test the suspect pipe first, if it passes I'll drain the spa and see if I can see the leak in reverse. If you have a leak by a wall fitting or a drain frame it'll typically come back out from where it was leaking into the gunite shell because the water level has dropped below the leak. For pool leaks I use a syringe and dye to make the wall fitting test. I also peek inside to make sure that the pipe is cut cleanly and glued into the fitting well. Don't worry about how much material you have to chip out, it can be replaced no matter how much you remove. I typically make my own material for the patch with torpedo sand and portland cement and use pool patch for the plaster. If it was a large demo area I'll replaster the entire spa with white portland and pool mix. This isn't rocket science, with good observation skills you can find the leak, and with a little mechanical aptitude you can make a good repair. See ya, Kelly

skanman, Well, I did preface my comments by apologizing first but I indeed could not resist challenging an argument that, by its own merits, contradicted itself at every point, turn and conclusion. I certainly did not mean to offend bob but merely wanted to point out that just because Waterlox mixes tung oil with solvents and other chemicals to create a finish does not mean it no longer has tung oil in it as bobÂs argument implies. Similarly, just because bread is not flour does not mean bread no longer has flour in it. It is a line of logic truly in its simplest and most basic form. And, for the record, Waterlox is a very good product. Bob goes further to illustrate his point by referencing that the Waterlox MSDS data sheet does not even include tung oil as an ingredient concluding that his statement must then in fact be true. I believe the MSDS data sheet is more technically referred to as the Material Safety Data Sheet which is required disclosure under applicable labor and product safety laws to list the contents of products, certain contents of which are considered hazardous, and for which safe handling procedures are required. I must admit that I found it interesting on the surface that the Waterlox MSDS sheet in fact does not list tung oil at all. However, not withstanding my ignorance and all, I added the components as listed on the Waterlox Original product MSDS. According to both hands and feet and my trusty abacus, I came up with 75.06% (wouldnÂt Jethro Clampett be so proud!) which does not account for 100% of the material. Since tung oil in its purest form is not considered a toxic substance, could it be that the remaining 23.96% is TUNG OIL that is not required to be listed because it is NON-TOXIC and approved for use in food preparation areas? I merely speculate this to be the case but have called the Waterlox technical line to confirm (since wikipedia did not know the answer to this mystery). But skanmanÂdude! I mean really dude! Seriously though dude!!! DUDE??? Just exactly what was that in your post that started with "WHOA" ? Sorry but I could not follow it or its point past "WHOA!". I mean DUDE, really, get some ventilation in that high VOC paint room of yours. You say "sticking to your vegitarian analogy think of boca burgers containing 15-40 percent beef. youd be hard pressed to find a true pure tung oil, the only one I know of can be bought through the "real milk paint company,Â" HUH? REALLY DUDE! You need to ventilate that room of yours. BTW, your milk company has 100% pure light tung oil for $16.95 and dark for $20, not $40. OH, and wikipedia defines tannins, which I am very familiar with, but neither wikipedia nor I are familiar with tannin oils. Anyway, before you advise well wishers go to wikipedia before flexing their ignorance, maybe you should oxygenate and practice the same.

How thick is your planking, true hardwood or a thin veneer? Priming Bare Wood (linked to article) If you are deciding to paint bare wood, you should seal all knots (spot prime) with a shellac based primer. Shellac based primers are great for sealing wood knots and sap streaks. They do carry a pungent odour, but dry very quickly and will not let the knot bleed through the top (finish) coat. If you are looking to stain your bare wood, you don’t not have to seal the knots with a primer, heavily saturating the knots with stain will do. Removing all dried up and oozing sap is a must, especially when dealing with woods such as fir or pine. After removing the sap build up, use an appropriate primer/sealer to seal in the sap affected areas.

Lyndee Lee: Thank you. Good to know. I am going to try to get the odor out of this bedroom by lightly rinsing the floor with water, sopping it up with paper towels, continued airing out of the room via open windows, and probably priming the walls. If all this doesn't work, I may try sealing the floor with Sealcoat or something like that before putting down LVP. I am reconsidering use of Zinsser Bin for the walls and ceiling, as it seems like it would be unnecessary overkill if the odor is just Pine Sol on the floors and not from the old carpet/carpet padding. I have read that shellac primer could pose a problem especially to interior walls that are exterior on the other side, due to shellac's effectiveness in sealing. Might not be good to seal in moisture into sheetrock wall, but, I am not a professional painter and wouldn't know the particulars of this. Plus, I am not wild about the idea of putting shellac on every surface of a bedroom's walls. So, I am looking into other odor trapping primers for the walls that are water based and low VOC. Feels like I am spinning my wheels.