Its time... Pool resurface and deck updates

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The walls are a mixed bag of trouble!! Something about being vertical has them listed a problem in my book!! I may get one-more-day of work on the pool this week... Wife is going out-of-town and leaving me to be Mr Mom for 5 days... She goes off to Vegas with her girlfriends and I change diapers!!

The cupped-concrete-wheel was a waste of $50 for the walls - they dont call it 'a chipout' for nothing...
 
Hmmm, a deposit for materials :roll: Aren't they in business? Don't they have "materials"?

I always hate hearing that :evil: We never take a deposit, as we have not done any work at that point. Progress payments are expected and defined, but I think it is my responsibility (if I am in business) to have materials to get a job started. I shouldn't have to ask you to "front" me the money.

If they demand a deposit, I would keep it to a minimum. There are laws stating how much a company can take up front. Don't give more than you have to (or can afford to lose)!
 
Thanks Bruce! I kinda worded that wrong and I was short typing on my cell phone... He said that if I wanted to give a deposit, then he would get my materials with the order being placed on Thursday - if not the next order would be in two weeks. I may have implied that he needed my $ to buy supplies, but that wasnt directly expressed to me....

So as a dumb consumer - I may have let you down!!

I've never done BUSINESS with this guy and he goes to our church and done pools for years and I've visited a few pools that he has contracted :blah:

I dont want to be up all night worried so I'll just wait until I get ripped-off to worry... What I did pay was HALF. I dont think I'll regret it, but only time will tell... I'll need the time to finish my chipout and I've got the kids and I work... I'm gonna push them to start 11/11-11/12. In my mind, half upfront and the rest when completed sounded 'okay' on a job that is time sensitive - i just dont feel like this is gonna get out of hand. Not to mention, I feel like they are gonna say everything was perfect, fill it with water and I'll never know the difference...

One question I did have about the method he mentioned was to Bondkote the pool as is chipped, then fill/smooth any voids in the crete from the chipout with leftover XXX or portland cement and then rebond bondkoat again and then apply the final Diamondbrite surface. He left the impression that was cost cutting rather than using more DB to fill the voids. I have no idea how much more DB is needed since the chipout. The pool is huge/deep no doubt. Not to mention he felt in general that more DB would be needed then when he saw the pool full.

Also, I wanted 'all white', not the blue aggregate... I selected the lightest blue and he made mention that they could add/blend/cut "???" to make it lighter in color. Would this cheapen my finish? I said that I thought that it would be inconsistent - he said they would mix each batch alike and have no color issues... Is this acceptable/ common or a concern?
 
I'm just trying to help, not cause trouble!

You do have to trust those you hire, at least to some extent. I'm sure things will work out fine (sounds like you kinda know the guy) and I'm just being overly cautious!

Bondkote is often used on pools that get "abraded" and not chipped, when the surface is bonded well enough to plaster over. It allows for a surface that the plaster can bond well to. Here, it is cheaper to chip and re-plaster than to chip, Bondkote and re-plaster, so we would not be saving any money (or time) Bondkoting.

The roughness of the chipping (assuming you didn't get a lot of it real deep!) is a plus, and should work fine for re-plaster. I don't think he would need to fill the voids unless he has some other concerns (like the depression is too deep for the DB to truly handle. Some products, like P-Tec, for example, is "engineered for about a 3/4" maximum thickness and does not really like to be built up much more than that) that would make him want to fill it.

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to get all "white". It is available (we use on commercial pools all the time) so I'm not sure what the problem is there. The problem with varying (cutting) from a standard batch mix is that if you have a repair issue down the road it will be tough(er) to match (it will never match perfect, but it can be closer than not!). I'd double check on white if that is really what you want (it sure looks like you should be able to get pretty close here: http://www.sgm.cc/html/swim/pool_finishes.html)!
 
All very true..! I'm finding in my area they dont wanna chip and bondkote is the savior... I dont I went wild on the chipout, but its much rougher that the old plaster finish. Might take 2-3 80lbs bags to fill the voids IMO - but again, they don't want to layer on the DB in areas. I went to the DB site (thank you) and the colors are the same - I just dont the workers to thin the aggregate to the point were its inconsistent / spotty. I'm pretty sure they are stopping by with 24hrs to take another look. I think I'm gonna ask that they not change the DB mix ratio... More to follow!!

Thanks so much for getting me this far!!!
 
Okay... Back at it today... Question: Do I take this down to the gunite? Seems as if the tiles are out much further than the plaster, the plaster is super-thick towards the top. A) the wall were much thicker at one point.. B) this is the way it should be...

Please let me know - I don't want to remove all the plaster if I should only be going 3/4" or other dept behind the tile. THANKYOU!!

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If you can, saw cut under the tile so that you can save the tile but chip tight up to it. Chip down until you get to sound material that you feel will allow for the plaster to bond well. Plaster thickness should be about 1/2". If you can get to a solid base at around that thickness, then I would stop and call it good. If it is still loose or flaky, keep going until you get to the good stuff!
 
simicrintz said:
If you can, saw cut under the tile so that you can save the tile but chip tight up to it. Chip down until you get to sound material that you feel will allow for the plaster to bond well. Plaster thickness should be about 1/2". If you can get to a solid base at around that thickness, then I would stop and call it good. If it is still loose or flaky, keep going until you get to the good stuff!
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Perfect!! I should have asked that sooner...!! "I'll do just that...!! I've busted 'good' plaster down to the gunite simply because that was my charter... The 'good' stuff is tougher than crete to get through... While I'm working away I'm wondering why I'm taking up so much tough plaster to reach the gunite.

I must say that while I didnt bite off more than I can chew - I did take on an element of the resurface that was bigger than I expected... To do over, I'd hire this job out... I spent the better part of last Sat/Sun and today in the pool, plus tracking down tools and getting first-timers Q&A... BONUS: I found an area - oh 4X5' of 'dead' plaster that fell off the wall... 1/8" of plaster was still on the gunite wall, but the other 99% came fell off!!! This is in addition to all the other dead spots. Had a dead spot on the floor about 2X2'. This tells me that chipping was the right way to go, albeit the hard-way, it was the right way. Only (1) wall left to go and I'm dare I say D-O-N-E!!

Lots more Qs floating around my head... Funny that I've truly spent more time in the pool when its been empty that with water - I hope that changes for me soon :goodjob:
Thank you!!!
 

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HOMEOWNER STEP AWAY FROM THE POOL!! I'm done working - now its time to write some checks... Any soon have a NEW surface. They say I did a 'good job' - more than I needed to... I'm thrilled we are moving forward!!
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look real close - thats NOT ME doing the work :lol:
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Glad to see them using 'bond kote' SGM brand - I've read some guys use other(s) and call it bond kote as a generic term... One bag did the pool. Now I have a brown pool shell... My daughter asked 'why did daddy make the pool brown?' If I recall, Thursday tile then Friday or Saturday for the finish..
YEAH!!! :cheers:
 
DBfan187 said:
How do your hands feel?
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It was a workout... I cant lie - at times my back and hands were telling me to stop :rant:

Right now the tile is going up and on Friday they will be done. Its hard for me to sit-back and watch...

I've learned that pool tile is an easy task... I could have it - glad I didn't... They are sighting the grout lines rather than using tabs etc... I guess that comes with years of pool work...

Had them rework a few areas and once the grout was added, it all came together!!
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EDIT: They are awaiting 53 bags of fun to get started on Friday!
 
So...... Happy Friday!! No Materials, No Workers, No Pool.... Got a call that said the shipment will arrive this afternoon at my house...

How long does it take to do a pool? My guess is one more round of clean-up and get going on it... Few ours? Or More to apply the diamond brite...?
 
dmanb2b said:
Awesome progress!!

Wanna-be...I'm digging the background behind that tractor/trailer...if that's the view from your home then :party: :whoot: :cheers:
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Thanks A LOT!!! Yes, that is the front - mother nature has made it easy to sit on the porch almost year round. Its the backyard that is a mess with the cracked kool-deck, wall and dead landscaping. The pool resurface, deck and light scape updates should make the backyard usable.
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simicrintz said:
Looking good :goodjob: :goodjob:

Where's the pump? You can't be serious that these guys are mixing the whole pool and bringing it out in wheelbarrows, can you :shock: :hammer:
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:hammer: Yup!! No 'pump'... The gate on the side of my house is 8' - the 3-wheeler was 9'... The delivery guy dropped the flat of diamond brite in the walk way. The mixer was brought in as close as possible... The wheelbarrow path was about 15' from the deck.

They just took turns with lunch and most if them are down to socks... I installed a new light cover, gasket, and screws along with the BONUS main drain grate I got from these guys... Nothing special, just wanted fresh white plastic on the returns, the light, and main drain. More to follow...
 

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