Fully tiling fiberglass pool

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Iguanod

New member
Aug 29, 2021
4
Spain
Hello everyone,

Last year I bought a house with a fiberglass pool in pretty bad shape, it is chipped, stained, has bubbles, and the gelcoat has failed (comes out when rubbing and the water gets very milky when heavily used).

I had thought about having it refinished, the usual sanding, reapply fiberglass and gelcoat. However the professionals in my area have advised against it saying it's pretty hard and the result can be a bit hit or miss.

Instead they recommend tiling the whole pool, but I have barely been able to find any examples of tiling a fiberglass pool other than just the waterline. So I wanted to know if anyone here has had experience with this procedure or thinks it is an appropriate solution.

My other concern is that water in my area is extremely soft, as in CH of 50, so I'm worried that maintaining the 250 or 350 minimum CH recommended level for tile might be a nightmare.

Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome to TFP! :wave: I would be skeptical about attempting to tile the entire shell simply due to tough application on curves and the potential for the shell to shift or give in some places. That would seem to be an easy point of failure, but honestly that's a bit beyond my scope.
 
I think a fiberglass pool shell flexes too much to be a solid base for tile.
 
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Full tile pools are quite common in the Med but not on top of an unstable fiberglass shell ("chipped, stained, has bubbles, and the gelcoat has failed"). Don't do it. If you cant get the pool re-glassed and gelcoated, rip it out and start fresh.
 
Thanks all for the feedback.
It is not that I cannot get it resurfaced, the first company that suggested tiling actually do the resurfacing (just don't recommend it). And I contacted a different one who again have told me I should tile, as allegedly the gelcoat can just not stick properly without them being able to guarantee it won't, and they also say if any amount of rain happens at all in the two weeks after the resurface the gelcoat will be ruined.
I don't know what to think anymore, is resurfacing really that unreliable? Reading around here I was under the impression that it was a common and safe solution. And I don't feel these companies are just trying to scare me to earn more, as I have been quoted around 3k for the resurfacing and 5.5k for the tiling, and I think the difference is probably fair given the extra cost is materials?
 
Ask for references. Find out how many fiberglass gelcoats they have done.

I think the issue may be they do very few and don;t have a lot of good experience with them.

Contractors tend to recommend what they know and bad mouth what they don't know.

You need to see if you can find someone who has the experience to gelcoat your FG pool correctly.
 
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Ok so I have managed to find another contractor who specializes in FG pools and has definitely recommended resurfacing with fiberglass and gelcoat (or rather topcoat, as according to him gelcoat is only technically ever used when first making the pool).

There's just a detail that is bothering me. I have always read that gelcoat is akin to a resin, in contrast with paint. But he said that I must be confused and the resin is used to attach the new fiberglass, and gelcoat is definitely a kind of paint, simply that it differs from other cheaper, less apt for pool paints (like polyurethane or chlorinated rubber) in that gelcoat will fade with time but (in well maintained pools) never dissolve, while other paints will in a few years leach and give the milky appearance when rubbed or agitated.

The guy seems pretty knowledgeable and professional, so I would be happy to go with him, but I would appreciate if someone of you being more experienced could tell if something of what he has said seems odd.

Many thanks.
 
Iguanod said:
the resin is used to attach the new fiberglass, and gelcoat is definitely a kind of paint, simply that it differs from other cheaper, less apt for pool paints (like polyurethane or chlorinated rubber) in that gelcoat will fade with time but (in well maintained pools) never dissolve, while other paints will in a few years leach and give the milky appearance when rubbed or agitated.
Click to expand...

That is all correct and is a better way to try and give a few years of life to the pool.
 

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