Pebble tec rust

[Dirk]

James beat me to it. Are you using the term "pebble tec" in a generic way, or is it actually a PebbleTec product? If the latter, it cannot be installed by other than a certified installer, and it comes with a warranty from PebbleTec. Stop picking at it, testing it, dosing it, or in any other way compromising the finish. Get your water perfectly balanced. Don't give them any excuse to blame you for a problem that they could use to invalidate your warranty. Notify your contractor or pebble installer immediately, in writing, that they have 48 hours to get a PebbleTec rep on site to evaluate the problem. If they don't respond, call PebbleTec directly and get them out to your pool.

If PebbleTec doesn't know who you are, or anything about your pool, then your warranty was not completely correctly, and/or your contractor/installer dropped the ball, or worse case lied to you about it actually being PebbleTec.

Now if it's not actually warranted PebbleTec, then, you know, proceed, as you were...

 

[JamesW]

Irregularly shaped iron particles can form naturally and maybe they were mixed in with the polymeric sand depending on where they got the sand.

Glad You Asked: What are Moqui marbles? - Utah Geological Survey

Moqui marbles are small, brownish-black balls composed of iron oxide and sandstone that formed underground when iron minerals precipitated from flowing groundwater.

geology.utah.gov

 

[JamesW]

Maybe a dead blow hammer with steel shot broke on site.

This seems like a good possibility.

Maybe they were installing the pavers and the dead blow hammer broke.

 

[SoCalD]

Thanks for all of your replies! Yes, at first I thought a piece of machinery broke and that’s why there were hundreds of tiny beads. I had the PC come out and take a look and he basically shrugged his shoulders. There was also some kind of black stuff on a few of the pavers which he replaced. But I had a hunch that was some kind of oil or something from the possible machinery breakdown.
Yes, Pebble tec is what I was told it was and from what I chose the color from. They stripped the plaster way before the pavers were done, so it wasn’t something they used for that. I’m thinking the stainless steel brush sounds plausible because it is rusting almost a year later. However the spots are only on one side of the pool, the same side we found all the rusted balls everywhere. PC is supposed to come out Monday. We’ll see if he actually does. If not, I will contact Pebble tec. Thanks for the advice!

 

[SoCalD]

Since you found them also embed in your paver lines, they might have ignorantly used steel shot blast bead when stripping old plaster, and these beads were later tracked and blown into the wet new plaster.

Second pic looks just like it!

View attachment 415449

These look just like them. Do they shot blast the old concrete just before they do the plaster? I just know that they used a jackhammer thing to get rid of the old plaster, right at the beginning and it was stripped down to the concrete. I’m wondering if they do some fine tuning with this just before they do the pebble tec. I so wish I was here that day but was on vacation. The pool was supposed to be done WAY before then of course.
I will bring this up with PC on Monday. This seems very plausible and those look exactly like them. Some were bigger, some were smaller.

 

[JamesW]

I think that the dead blow hammer is the most likely culprit.

The head of the dead blow hammer can be solid or hollow (often partially filled with loose steel shot), which distributes the energy of the strike over a longer period of time and reduces rebound.

If a filled hammer head breaks while in use, it is likely to scatter a spray of the loose filler particles in the vicinity.

Therefore, use of a traditional hollow dead blow hammer may be restricted in certain settings, such as a manufacturing clean room, where contamination by foreign material could occur.

Dead blow hammer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JamesW]

 

[JamesW]

The deadblow hammer is often used to set pavers.

 

[SoCalD]

Oh I see. The pavers were set about a month earlier. This happened right after the plastering. Like super noticeable. I would have noticed it if it would have happened when pavers were put in

 

[JamesW]

Maybe someone on the plaster crew was hitting something with a deadblow hammer?

I don't think that it is related to the plaster mix.

Some type of steel shot from something.

Most likely, someone on the plaster crew knows exactly what it is.

 

[SoCalD]

My PC finally came out and is going to have it fixed. They have no idea what it is but luckily I saved several of the pieces that were on the pool deck. They are going to drain the pool to fix it.
But now my question is shouldn’t they have to pay my water bill to refill the pool and supply the 7-8 bags of salt? They are saying “No.” But I think because this was THEIR mistake, they should pay for it. What are your thoughts?

 

[Dirk]

If it's not specified in a written contract, you might have a shot at recovering salt and water in a small claims case. What, about $100? And that's fine if you have the time. But pursuing it, even complaining about it to the contractor, might impact his willingness to ever fix your pool again. That's not fair, of course, by any stretch, but how often does fairness and reality collide? Just something to consider before you escalate.

That said, how many underwater spots are we talking (I cannot now remember the details of your thread). My rust spot was fixed without draining the pool at all.

 

[kimkats]

I have to say I DO agree with you. Their mistake should not cost you an extra dime for anything. Saying that not sure how to make it happen. This will take some tact and a careful choose of words.

 

[JamesW]

But now my question is shouldn’t they have to pay my water bill to refill the pool and supply the 7-8 bags of salt?

In my opinion, you have not established that it is indeed their fault.

In my opinion, you're lucky that they are agreeing to do anything.

 

[mnew]

Hi everyone. I’m new here. We redid the entire pool last year and had a contractor from heck. Nothing was done right. so now I’m noticing some rust spots in the pebble tec. Looking up close with goggles I see that it is the pebble itself that is rusting! We were on vacation when they shot the pool but when we got back there were a bunch of metallic beads everywhere. Almost like BBs or tiny ball bearings. I asked the contractor about it but he just shrugged and said he didn’t know. I had to get on my hands and knees and dig every one out of the polymeric sand between the pavers because of course they rusted. I’m wondering if these were a part of the pebble tec mix. But why would they use a “pebble” that would rust? Has anyone experienced this? If so, what can be done?

I have a couple of pebble tec pebbles rusting too

 

[Dirk]

I have a couple of pebble tec pebbles rusting too

Looks like this thread has died. Start your own and you'll get much better attention. Lots of us will join you in a new thread and will have lots of ideas for you. Welcome to TFP, by the way.