old pool.dont know what to do.but i need to fix it.help!

[vodka]

Going to drain my pool again for the third time since i bought my house. I want to redo the bottom because of all the chips and stuff in it, i was told it was gunite but i also read somewhere that almost any pool made back in the 70's and 80's was called gunite. The pool hasnt been taken care of much before we moved in and now i can see why. We drained it last year and cleaned it ourself but after a hard rain we couldnt get it clean again. So now i want to drain it and maybe redo the bottom, not as it break it up with a jackhammer and put a new surface down, but just a new layer to it. Also we want to paint it with the blue paint to make it look nice. We tried keeping it clean and we were buying the chlorine powder that was like 85-90 chlorine and that still wasnt helping and it was costing us a ton, like 90 bucks a bucket i think. The bottom if i recall correctly is rough feeling. So what i was wondering is how much would it cost to resurface the bottom? can i do it myself? what would that entail? should i buy a new filter for the sand because we did replace the pump when we first moved in and maybe the big round filter thing isnt working correctly. the wife wants to buy some very expensive resurfacing stuff that i dont even think will help except for leaks from sani-tred webpage. so any advice on how to fix my pool and how much it would cost and can i do it myself and what yall think i need to do. pictures of the pool when we first moved in and drained it. if you need others i can ask the wife to take more.
thanks
jamie
ps i also live in southern louisiana next to the mississippi river.

 

[vodka]

just read up on Olympic Zeron Epoxy Pool Coating. Do yall think this will work instead of hiring professionals?

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

While Zeron is as good as paint gets, it's still paint and a short term patch that will cost you a lot more in the long run. When I say more, I mean two to four times as much over a proper replastering job for the same period of time, say 10 years.

Paint, even Zeron, only lasts, at best, a few years. That means it needs to get done again. Drain, dry, repaint, refill. It's roughly, depending on the paint type used, has an initial cost of about $2.50 per square foot an recurring cost every few years of about $1.50 per square foot and you have to use the same type of paint. After several recoats, the old paint must be blasted off. Epoxies are not easy to remove, even with a sand blaster powered by the same compressor used for a jack hammer. Been there, done that.

You mentioned you have chipped plaster. If the chips are to the gunite, chances are they were blisters that formed when the plaster lost it's adhesion to the concrete. This gets progressively worse. Any trapped moisture will cause the delaminating areas in the old plaster to expand. Eventually, chips become chunks. This requires an entire chip out.

When a pool is replastered, it may or may not require a complete chip out but will be checked for any blisters and these will be removed. Then a bond coat and finish are applied. Finish costs will vary some by region with white plaster being the least expensive and Pebble-Tec brands being the most expensive. Plaster is the softest material and will last the shortest, typically 10 years or so depending on variables such as proper chem balance, weather, and the skill of the applicator crew. I have never heard of a Pebble-Tec finish wearing out and it's been around for over 20 years.

Painting is a repetitive PITA. I strongly discourage my clients from choosing that path.

Scott

 

[JasonLion]

There is only so much I can tell from your photos, but from what I can see the plaster appears to be in fairly good condition. You may just need to get all the muck out and pressure wash everything. If there are plaster problems larger than a few isolated spots, then, as PoolGuyNJ suggested, a complete re-plastering is by far the best solution. If you post close up pictures of spots with problems we can give you more specific advice.

In any case, once the surface is dealt with and the pool refilled, the crucial thing is to stay on top of the water chemistry. A couple of minutes of prevention will save you hours and hours of problem solving later on. By spending just a couple of minutes every day you will be able to maintain perfect sparkling water and never need to drain and clean the pool again. When you have a moment you should do some reading at Pool School, see the large button near the top right of each page of this site.

 

[vodka]

ok thats what i was leaning towards was replastering. i am looking for a long term solution and defintely not a short term one. So there are different kinds of plastering and just a plain white plastering will cost the least but last the shortest time, which is 10-12 years, and a pebble kind which will last alot longer? how much in yalls area would it cost to do these two kinds of replastering? as for more pictures i cant get them for you right now the pool is full and these pictures are two years old but from what i remember the chipping aint bad just kind of an eye sore. lets also say i have plumbing problems, not sure i do but when my pool is clean i lose water pretty quickly, of course its southern louisiana where i dont know if yall heard but sometimes it can reach above 85 a few times . But it never got low to where theres only water in the deep end and like i said it only starts losing water when the pool has been clean so im gonna go out on a limb here and say its when i turn my pump on. Is there anyway i can check this or maybe something i can add to the water that might stop the leak?

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Your a little over 20,000 gallons.

Shop the job. Check references.

View pools they have done. View pools with different finishes. Different times of the day will cause differences in pool color. Take your time. visiting the same pool at different times of the day may help.

 

[vodka]

ummm k thanks. Im currently looking around at pool remodelers and what not ,but its hard because of the small town i live in, to find anyone close to me.