Freestone (pebble tec) or Quartz (Marquis)?

[HurricaneFrench]

Hey all!

Our concern and question is, should we use Freestone or Quartz to refinish our pool? Does anyone have a freestone pool finish? Does it cut your feet or bust them up bad?

My husband and I are looking to resurface and retile our pool. Surprisingly, Freestone (pebble tec kind of finish) is cheaper than quartz because if we were to do a quartz finish, we would retile whereas if we use a Freestone finish, we wouldn't have to have tile around the pool (which I love the idea of a more natural looking pool sans the tile).

Back in the day, vintage pebble tec would cut your feet or make your toes bleed really bad if your toe hit or stubbed the pool in the wrong way. That's our huge major concern as our boys are 3 and 4 and will be using the pool a ton! Has it gotten better over the years? Is freestone any better than pebble tec? Any experience with this?

 

[HurricaneFrench]

Does anyone have experience with maybe not freestone but pebble etc or another brand of pebble finish?

 

[pooldv]

We've had pebblesheen, smaller pebbles than pebbletec, for 5 summers now and we get a little turf toe occasionally when we are in the pool all weekend and are really rambunctious. Maybe once or twice a summer. We swim at least 3 or 4 times per week and often spend the entire weekend lounging in the pool with no issues the vast majority of the time. Friends have younger kids (8-12is) who come over and run around like monkeys and don't complain about sore feet much. Our kids are older teens now and too cool for that.

What color are you thinking? I'd be inclined toward a gray quartz over a pebble these days. But, what I really want is Aquabright.

If you really want a smooth pool with no turf toe see if there is an Aquabright installer in your area.
More here,
ecoFINISH aquaBRIGHT longterm review
Plaster and Aquabright Comparison
AquaBright Ecofinish--Alternative to Acid Washing

 

[Mothershipp]

Our pool is barely a month old but our kids are in it constantly. All of us love the Pebble Tec finish as it doesn't finely cut their feet up like marcite. (Neighborhood pool and other pools we visit have older marcite and the kids end up with bleeding toes.). The kids have stubbed their toes but that could be more from their shenanigans than the product...LOL.

See and and feel as many pools as you can to determine which product you want to live with for many years. (No pressure, huh???). We saw three pools with our finish and one with our color. One of our neighbors has a black Quartz pool that is really pretty and feels very smooth. Very nice product Cant wait to see this turn out for you