Pool remodel in bay area CA

[Miguelc90]

Hi everyone!

Long story short my wife wanted to remodel our pool (we remodeled our kitchen and bathroom ourselves) she figured since we did those remodels a pool wouldnt be much harder.... we had the pool poorly painted that only lasted a couple of years before the paint started rubbing off the walls onto our skin and clothes and eventually flaking off, so now we are looking to replaster the pool.

We have the tiles removed and pressure washed the whole pool and we are going to do a acid wash this weekend.

Im hoping to get any recommendations for a contractor to repair/ replace the cantilever decking surrounding the pool. One contractor told me to avoid doing the concrete decking because I would have to replace all the plumbing and electrical and the whole project would run 80-100k. He recommended I leave the decking and just replace the broken skimmer basket housing and the floor drain to bring it up to code. To replace the skimmer, drain, tile and replaster would run around 25k. Doesn't seem that bad of a deal but doing the replaster and tile ourselves would save us 20k (5200.00 to repair the skimmer basket)


The second thing im hoping to get comments on is the product sider-crete. Ive watched videos and read threads but there is never a follow up after to see if the product holds up to the advertised 7-10 years.

Thanks for any and all advice, recommendations, and tips.

 

[MAPR-Austin]

To make anything stick you are going to need to remove 100% of the old paint at a minimum. Ideally you remove the old plaster down to the gunite shell. Acid washing won't touch the paint.

Plastering needs to be done in a day, and a pool like yours will usually take 4-5 skilled applicators to complete. Plaster is not something you can learn to do on the fly, it takes years of learning.

Replacing the deck doesn't necessarily mean you have to replace all of the plumbing. If you put the lines under pressure before demo, and keep them under pressure (and monitored) until the new deck is in then the plumbing is not a concern. You will need a contractor familiar with working around pools. I don't think you would be able to patch areas of the deck - that exposed aggregate style is almost impossible to match.

If you are looking to save money, you could do the tile yourselves (make sure you are using correct thin-set and grout, it needs to be suitable for immersion. You cannot use standard thin-set like you would in a house.

You could also rent/buy some chipping hammers and prep the pool out yourselves, but that is hard miserable work. I've seen chip-outs break even seasoned laborers. Maybe give it a shot and see what you think?

I would not try to plaster the pool on your own. It's not going to look right and it really is worth the money to have a professional company come in and do the work. There are tons of good companies in California.

 

[Miguelc90]

Thanks for that Austin, the YouTube videos of people plastering their pool seem to handle it just fine for learning on the fly lol. Kinda makes me want to do it more I like a challenge.

Watching some skimmer basket replacement videos I'm confident I can do that as well but the one thing I don't understand is when they attach rebar to the pool structure for strengthening the concrete. But isn't the deck supposed to move freely from the structure wouldnt this prevent that moment?

 

[MAPR-Austin]

Thanks for that Austin, the YouTube videos of people plastering their pool seem to handle it just fine for learning on the fly lol. Kinda makes me want to do it more I like a challenge.

Watching some skimmer basket replacement videos I'm confident I can do that as well but the one thing I don't understand is when they attach rebar to the pool structure for strengthening the concrete. But isn't the deck supposed to move freely from the structure wouldnt this prevent that moment?

Worst case, you have to have the plaster redone. If you want to try it, try it.

The deck that sits above the skimmer is often separated from the rest of the deck by an expansion joint.

 

[Miguelc90]

Bump, anybody have any feed back on sider-Crete brand plaster?

 

[MAPR-Austin]

Bump, anybody have any feed back on sider-Crete brand plaster?

I've never worked with it, but have only heard that it doesn't last in most cases. Looks like some kind of skim coat.

 

[Miguelc90]

I've never worked with it, but have only heard that it doesn't last in most cases. Looks like some kind of skim coat.

What brand would you recommend that a home owner can purchase?

 

[MAPR-Austin]

What brand would you recommend that a home owner can purchase?

SGM, Wet Edge, Finest Finish...any of the major brands. The sider-crete looks like it goes on extremely thin, you want something with a 3/8"-1/2" thickness.