Pool Finish Question

[Dinamight]

Aloha,

We are refinishing our pool and I've been told to stay away from plaster in this acidic environment (lower HPP). The cost to tile the pool is over out budget and I am not a big fan of the look of little tiles.

Our pool man says the plaster will lose its color in a few years. I wonder if there is anything new on the market that will last longer, and keep its color? He says the lighter the color, the longer it will last, but I figure then you can see the algae and dirt etc build up. I have seen both, a light pool with green shades on the walls(algae??) and a dark pool that lost its color and ended up looking like dark grey concrete (very ugly).

I would like to stay away from a rough finish (just read the 2011 post by Kapohocat and the pebble tec, so definitely don't want that).

Does anyone have any recent experience with redoing a pool or building a new one and found a good finish for this area? Any recommendations of who to call to do the work?

Thank you!

[HPPGuy]

I don't know if they do this here on the Big Island but when we lived in Florida we had our pool fiberglassed. It was cheaper than plaster (gunnite), looked great and MUCH easier to keep clean. But again, it would all depend on being able to find someone here who knows how to do it.

[Wao nahele kane]

There are several types of Epoxy finishes - some textured, some roll and some spray. I hope what ever you decide that it holds up for you.
- Urethane will outlast most other pool paints.
From weakest to strongest - Acrylic - Epoxy - Urethane.
No matter what you decide for the surface shell (Fiberglass, Stucco, etc - obviously for an aggregate surface the clear paint is desirable) they should all be protected with a pool paint.

[Dinamight]

HPPguy, I will look into the fiberglass idea, I've never heard of it.

Wao nahele kane - my pool man says that paint here leaches out right away and his customers with painted pools come out of the pool tracking paint all over the deck. This was epoxy paint, but perhaps the urethane works better. I will look into this too.

Thank you both!

[Wao nahele kane]

If you're not experiencing delamination of 1/4"-1/2" thickness or severe cracks... you may only need to re paint it.
I wouldn't recommend anything short of epoxy around here and would lean more towards urethane myself.
Acrylic will be eaten up by the UV out here and chalk up and it will end up everywhere.
Just make sure it has a high UV resistance rating or it will chalk up.

[Wao nahele kane]

Fiberglass absolutely needs paint otherwise it looks like fiberglass
Gelcoat (polyester) is a standard paint/finish for fiberglass and will not hold up out here... so that only leaves a high UV resistant Urethane or Epoxy.

[Seeb]

Black Marcite (plaster) does fine in mildly acidic water
with any of the paints or epoxys if it goes bad you have to sandblast the thing down to gunite to fix it

[Seeb]

But finding good trowel guys is hard. That's a professional skill.

[Dinamight]

Yes, that's what I'm wondering about, it is not something I would attempt! Would anyone be able to recommend a good plaster team, or company?

[john the architect]

Here is a roll-on finish I read about in a specialty trade publication: www.sider-crete.com

Sider-Crete. This is a roll-on finish so you do not need plastering skills. The copy says it can work with water cistern applications as well. The company is in Georgia, so the freight wil be substantial but if this does the job then it could be worth it.

John Maloney
310.562.0362
johnmaloney3@me.com
Hawaii Architect AR8082
www.jmagreenbuilding.com