What is better gunite or concrete?

Answer 1

This very subject has been debated for years. I can tell with full confidence, that gunite is much better than shotcrete. Both are good depending on the builder.. I can tell you with full confidence, having worked for more than thirty years with both gunite and shotcrete that shotcrete is far superior to gunite. Shotcrete will test out stronger, to much room for human error with gunite.

Answer 2

I have used both and both are very good. However what is most important is the design mix, water to cement ratio, steel placement and thickness also the applicator. You could have the best design and if the shell is not shot correctly, well then its no good. This is why it is important to start with an engineered shell for your perticular area and soils conditions and make sure you have an experienced nozzel men.

Answer 3

Gunite was first used in early 1900's and this process is mostly used for pneumatical application of mortar of less thickness.

Shotcrete is recent development on the similar principle of guniting for achieving greater thickness with small coarse aggregates.

Answer 4

Gunite is not a finish for a pool. Gunite is not waterproof, and is used as the structural shell when building a swimming pool-some contractors may choose shot-crete- but not as the interior finish.

Once the shell is in place you need a waterproof coating so that your swimming pool holds water. Tile would work if you set it over a waterproof bed (pool brite or something similar) The problem is that tile would be quite expensive, more difficult to maintain (with all the grout lines and such), and it would be nearly impossible to locate a leak if you ended up with one.

Most people are using a plaster or marcite product as their interior finish of the pool with tile only in a few areas (like waterline tile, and maybe some decorative tiles). There are numerous manufacturers of quarts aggregate and pebble finishes from companies like Krystal Krete and SGM.

This pool builders website shows some of the typical products used for pool interiors.

http://poolcaptain.com/68/interior-pool-spa-finish/

I hope this was helpful!

Every 100 pebble surfaces I remove only 1 goes back to pebble, the other 99 go with a smooth surface. Unless the quartz aggregate is mixed with a pozzolan modified cement it is subject to ASR...alkali silica reaction. Plenty of info on the web. Pebble and quartz surfaces have turned out NOT to be the panacea they were purported to be. I do pebbles, glass beads, quartz and plaster and I tell everyone the truth about each surface and what to expect.

Answer 5

Gunite is cement that anyone can make in their backyard. Concrete is manufactured at a plant to plus or minus 0.05% tolerance and delivered to the job site in a constantly turning concrete truck.

Concrete (aka shotcrete) is far superior to cement (gunite). -Bill

Answer 6

Gunite is cheaper However shotcrete is stronger

Answer 7

Gunite = Cement (shot from a gun)

Shotcrete = Concrete (shot from a gun)

Gunite is cheaper and easier to use. Concrete is more expensive and lasts much longer.