New blue colored plaster job has serious gray mottling

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Knollbrook

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Dec 28, 2012
7
Replastering took place on Sunday December 23, 2012. They finished the entire job by around 4:30pm that day.
When the workers were finished the plaster looked fantastic. Nice smooth finish and even coloring.
They placed the hose at the bottom with a rag taped to the end and a water bottle so it would float and turned the water on. Then they left. No followup instructions.
The next morning the plaster was covered with whitish areas (see attached pics). You can also tell from the pics that it rained that night. I immediately called the paster guy and he came over, then telling me to brush the pool twice a day for 2 weeks after filling with water. Would have been nice if he said that in the first place. Well, its been 5 days with no signs of the white areas getting much better and I've scrubbed my arms off. The pump has been running the entire time and I balanced the ph on day 1 (other things I found out by calling a pool maintenance guy). I have not added chlorine.
But the fact is the plaster looked bad before I could even fill the pool with water.

I have a call into my plaster guy to see if we can remedy this situation but any outside advise at this point would be much appreciated.

-Scott
 

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Here's a couple pics of how the job looked right after completion. They said it was dry so of course I thought it would stay this nice lookin.
 

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Have you been keeping the PH between 7.0 and 8.0? Allowing the PH to go up too high, which it is very prone to do on a new pool, can lead to calcium scaling, which this looks like. After a new plaster job you typically need to adjust the PH back into range daily for the first three or four weeks, and less often but regularly for up to a year.
 
This is not a "gray mottling" issue.

It appears that there are some different types of "streaking" involved with this pool. It is hard to tell what is what. If the pool was rained upon before completely filling, then some of the problem is due to rain water leaching or etching the color pigment out of the pool plaster. Some of the streaking discoloration doesn't appear to be from rain. However, I do not think it is a calcium scaling issue, unless some of the pictures were taken after the pool was filled and then partially drained.

It seems to me that the pool plaster guy should be willing to be responsible because he knew it was going to rain before the pool would be filled. He should have placed a tent over it while it was filling or held off until better weather.

I doubt an acid bath will work and only make it worse. A complete polishing or power sanding of the entire pool is probably the only way to make the color uniform again and restore the finish to a smooth surface.
 
But who could know something like this would happen? I would have paid them as well.

So we can all learn from this---when they left the pool was NOT full of water?
-It rained THAT night before it was full?

What has the fellow said to you about this?

HUGS!

Kim
 
You are rolling the dice when you plaster in questionable weather conditions. With todays forecasting it's something that should have been discussed. Having a big roll of plastic on the job is a good level of insurance. The plasterer and owner or contractor need to be prepared when in doubt. The unpredicted storm is bad luck.

At this point you can take it to zero alkalinity for a few days and brush it aggressively with the equipment off to minimize the streaking. OR you could drain the pool and have the plasterer acid wash it (he should be familiar with this process which will leave it rougher) OR the best way to mitigate the damage without making the plaster as rough would be to localize the acid application to the light colored (scaled) streaks with water in the pool. This can be done with a tool that delivers the acid through a tube. We have used other methods that are too hazardous to mention.
 
Thanks for all the great words of advise. I will be making contact again soon with the plasterer since Im now convinced that the twice-a-day brushing isn't doing the trick. I'll forward him this information and let you know what the game plan is. And I agree, this issue wasn't caused by just the rain and yes, he should have kept better track of pending wet weather. I feel so abused -lol. - Scott
 

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Ill check out that link. The plaster guys came over to evaluate the issue. They had their excuses but bottom line is that it rained after they finished before the pool was full of water causing streaking. They are telling me they can attempt sanding but the plaster has to cure for at least 6 months. Is this legit?
 
In my opinion, that is not legit. One month should be sufficient time for plaster to cure and hydrate properly. The pool can be drained for a two or three of days without harm. And six months from now, they should be too busy since it will be summer time. I believe sanding is really the only reasonable remedy short of re-plastering, which should be avoided if possible.

It appears that there are other blotchy discolorations in your pool besides what the rain caused. Wet troweling and adding too much calcium chloride to the mix are possible reasons for that, but without seeing the pool in person, I can't be positive. In any event the plasterer needs to make it right with you, and sanding can correct the blotchiness also, and remove possible scale if that is part of the problem also.
 
Thanks "On Balance". Yeah, 6 months from now who knows where they will be. He tried to blame this on me for stopping the water fill....which he never told and now I have a nice water line in the plaster. I told him I wouldn't have stopped the water if the side walls hadn't looked so poor. He thought twice about who to blame after I reminded him that it rained, evident in the pictures. Plus he never even put water in the hot tub until the next day after I called to complain about the plaster issues. I'm going to push for one month sanding. He says he can sand the side walls without removing the water. More BS or just trying to save the cost of having to refill my pool which costs hundreds of $.
 
It is Plasterers fault. As a Professional he shouldn't go ahead with plastering if at least following 2 days were rain free. I got my pool plastered 3 weeks ago and as well fill pool with garden hose and have no issues. The fact was when plasterer came on 18.December 2012 in morning and told me that it may rain that night and they will not put plaster on I was bit dissapointed cos we needed pool finish for my kids birthday party. But they come back 2 days later and done the job and next 3 days were rain free and pool fill up in 46 hours hassle free.

As far for new plaster start up I need to do following for 5 weeks:
1)Upon pool filling up put in Calcium stop chemical
2) Brush pool daily first week.Every second day 2nd and 3rd week. Every 3rd day 4th and 5th week. After once a fourth night next 5 months.
3) Ph 7.2-7.6 adjust daily first week.Check and adjust if necessary every 2nd day.3rd and 4th week check every 3rd day and 5th week twice a week. Never let PH stay over 7.8.
4) Adjust calcium level after week 5 to 250
5) Use only liquid chlorine for first 5 weeks
6) Do not use robotic cleaner or any other automatic cleaner for at least 6 weeks. Vacuum manually only.


Your plasterer made mistake and make sure he fixes problems properly
 
Thanks Niko. yes, I believe the rain was the biggest issue. And the fact that the plasterer never left me with any detailed instructions on how to care for the plaster. So not professional. Thank you for the detailed advice. -Scott
 
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