I just bought a house with a pool and would like to get it ready for
summer. I drained it for painting and am now concerned about several
eight inch patches of concrete where the plaster is worn completely
away.

Can I get away with just painting over the concrete or do I need to
patch these areas? If I need to patch them, does anyone have any
pointers or links to pages with instructions? Does the pool need acid
washing if it's free of alge and other scumminess?

Also, I am not concerned with having a perfect looking pool and, since
we just bought the house and are a bit short on cash, I would like to
avoid any unnecessary expenses. However, I am interested in properly
maintaining is so that I minimize future problems.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I would guess that the plaster will just continue to wear away if you
don't fix it. You'll have plaster chips floating around. You'll have
to repair the plaster at some point - I seem to remember hearing that
plaster needs to be redone every three years or so, and continually
needs to be brushed.

Now, I have worked at a facility that opted to not even put plaster on.
I think it's just asthetic. Could you get rid of all the plaster and
paint all the concrete?

EdS writes:

Can I get away with just painting over the concrete or do I need to
patch these areas?

Painting is not cost-effective because of a very short lifetime.

I did it myself, and also came up with a workable patching technique:

http://www.truetex.com/pool.htm

But from your description, it doesn't sound like patching would be cost-
effective, either; you need a complete replaster.

At about $1000/year in amortized maintenance alone, now you know why
residential pools are an extravagant luxury. Divide by the number of
annual swim sessions to get a cost per swim, and things start to look
exorbitant.

Thanks for the advice. I have decided to wait for the replaster until
next year. I agree that Richard's pool work is inspiring, but I have a
habit of taking on projects in which the first half is done with
patience, but the second half brings on impatience and a race to the
finish. I admire the act of bravery and patience that this must have
taken!

So the pool is full, it lost a half inch in the first day that it was
full with the pump running, so I will do a leak test with a bucket.
But if all that is wrong this summer is a that I have to add a bit of
water here and there I will be happy.

"EdS" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the advice. I have decided to wait for the replaster until
next year. I agree that Richard's pool work is inspiring, but I have a
habit of taking on projects in which the first half is done with
patience, but the second half brings on impatience and a race to the
finish. I admire the act of bravery and patience that this must have
taken!

So the pool is full, it lost a half inch in the first day that it was
full with the pump running, so I will do a leak test with a bucket.
But if all that is wrong this summer is a that I have to add a bit of
water here and there I will be happy.


FWIW, I had my pool replastered a couple of years ago. I have a friend in
the pool business, and he came and looked at it. He said painting would be
like burning up money, as would patching. The plaster had to come off down
to the concrete, and new plaster put on.

7AM, a crew of about 15 men speaking a foreign language came and started
chipping out the old with about ten air chisels. They were cleaned up and
gone by noon. I have a 35,000 gallon 25 year old pool. Two guys stayed
and did some small daubing patches. They left about 3. The next morning,
about 15 more showed up. They were spraying at 7:15. They finished up
about 10, and two guys stayed again to finish the small spots. At 1:30, I
was filling up the pool. So, about 36 hours start to finish. I had what I
would rate at zero to clean up. They swept and picked up every piece of
bagging.

For anyone who is considering this, I highly suggest going with a pro. My
friend had me call a specific plasterer. The one I had gotten a bid from
was a joke, but I didn't know it at that time. The one who did the job was
a pure D pro. So ask around and check references. Ask for completed jobs
and talk to the homeowners, not the salesmen.

It is beautiful and worth every penny. If it lasts another 25 years, I just
hope I do to.

Steve

"SteveB" wrote in message
news:4pQae.64427$A31.60995@fed1read03...

FWIW, I had my pool replastered a couple of years ago. I have a friend in
the pool business, and he came and looked at it. He said painting would
be like burning up money, as would patching. The plaster had to come off
down to the concrete, and new plaster put on.

7AM, a crew of about 15 men speaking a foreign language came and started
chipping out the old with about ten air chisels. They were cleaned up and
gone by noon. I have a 35,000 gallon 25 year old pool. Two guys stayed
and did some small daubing patches. They left about 3. The next morning,
about 15 more showed up. They were spraying at 7:15. They finished up
about 10, and two guys stayed again to finish the small spots. At 1:30, I
was filling up the pool. So, about 36 hours start to finish. I had what
I would rate at zero to clean up. They swept and picked up every piece of
bagging.

For anyone who is considering this, I highly suggest going with a pro. My
friend had me call a specific plasterer. The one I had gotten a bid from
was a joke, but I didn't know it at that time. The one who did the job
was a pure D pro. So ask around and check references. Ask for completed
jobs and talk to the homeowners, not the salesmen.

It is beautiful and worth every penny. If it lasts another 25 years, I
just hope I do to.

Steve
In my estimation, you put water in it too soon. I too have an equally aged
pool and had the same job done, not plaster, DiamondBrite :-) I had to wait
two days before filling with water to let the DiamondBrite cure, otherwise
it would have broken down. You may start noticing that with brushing as you
see white cloudy water around your broom. Your installer may have
recommended something different but I have never seen a concrete/gunnite
pool filled the same day it was finished.. My pool is 42,000 gallon and it
took the better part of a day and then some to fill, plus the water had to
be treated along the way as that much water coming from the city supply
eventually hits the bacteria stage and your pool will turn green in a matter
of hours. You have to be extremely careful with liquid chlorine on a newly
finished pool. I also opted to double the capacity of the filtering system
and put in a new larger D.E. filter, and a stronger motor. My pool
enjoyment has been all the better for the investment. My pool finish job,
start to finish was $3,200.00 add $600.00 for a new filter and another
$185.00 for a new pump/motor. I did all the electrical and installation
plumbing myself, took me about an hour to get it all in. A savings over the
pool joint that wanted a thousand dollars to install it. I also bought the
filter and pump over the internet and saved over 60% than buying retail
locally.

As to the original poster - two years ago we painted this pool with pool
paint from National. We had to drain the pool, power wash, and the paint,
after rolling on, had to cure for four full days before adding water again.
It did indeed last the two years, gave me time to save up for the real job
and the paint cost a total of $425.00 including shipping (ordered over the
net), my labor to put it on, and the cost of re-filling the pool from city
water supply, about 50 bucks. Two of us painted the pool in about 3 hours.
The labor was cleaning and patching where needed. When they drained the
pool to start the resurfacing job, the painted surface looked almost like
the day we put it on.