Pool Renovations - Quartzscapes Tahoe Blue - Pool builder just gave up on me

[casastevo]

We went with the Tahoe Blue Quartzscapes after our pool company praised it. My fear was a bad renovation costing me $6k, and now my fears have been realized. They want to force the rest of the contract due and I'm certainly not happy.

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There is one circular dark area you may notice. This is where they had to dig up some rebar, treat it, and I thought you'd never notice it but here we are with the obvious location on the new plaster to where it was located.

Long streaks, areas that are not uniform. Is that normal?

This is 3 weeks later. We've already did an acid wash, they then drained the pool and had someone come out and redo something...he refinished it somehow (didn't get the details, I should have)...you should of seen it before! It was terrible, long marks that looks as if someone took a shovel to mark it up. You can't see that now, thankfully.

Am I being too critical? I don't know what my options are. They know I'm not happy and are going to come out and look with me, but what can they possibly do for me at this point?

If I sold this house tomorrow, the new owner would certainly have concerns. I know I would.

 

[onBalance]

From the photos, it does look like there were some plastering problems. Streaks are not normal. White spots are not normal. Neither will simply go away.
Since they did an acid wash, and also drained the pool and did some kind of treatment, you might look close and/or feel the sides of the pool for any etching.
If they are a reputable company, they should make it all good for you.
I think the only way of remedy now (short of a re-plaster) is to drain and sand and buff the entire surface.

 

[casastevo]

From the photos, it does look like there were some plastering problems. Streaks are not normal. White spots are not normal. Neither will simply go away.
Since they did an acid wash, and also drained the pool and did some kind of treatment, you might look close and/or feel the sides of the pool for any etching.
If they are a reputable company, they should make it all good for you.
I think the only way of remedy now (short of a re-plaster) is to drain and sand and buff the entire surface.

Thank you for chiming in. I'm relieved to hear that I'm not crazy. They wanted me to accept and pay the final, and even said I had a 10 year warranty. I'm embarrassed to show it off as it is...at least prior to this I had a legitimate excuse (pool plaster was at least 12 years old).

I'll keep this thread updated...he texted me this morning and said he's getting with the plaster company to come out again and look.

I honestly think they should just start over.

 

[GregInClaremont]

I'm not an expert by any means and really just have my own pool to go from (and a few others I saw that my pool builder had constructed before I signed) but I noticed some trowel marks were noticeable is some areas of each pool and some of that may just be the nature of it as it's applicated and worked by hand.

I also noticed in each of the pools, that the concentration of the pebble color mixtures can vary in certain areas, and particularly I noticed it in corners or curved locations like step edges and floor drain locations, it appears more gets exposed than in other spots. My builder let me know upfront that this is pretty common if you look closely but that some color choices will be more pronounced than others.

Not sure if that helps at all or if your issue is something different all together.

 

[casastevo]

I'm not an expert by any means and really just have my own pool to go from (and a few others I saw that my pool builder had constructed before I signed) but I noticed some trowel marks were noticeable is some areas of each pool and some of that may just be the nature of it as it's applicated and worked by hand.

I also noticed in each of the pools, that the concentration of the pebble color mixtures can vary in certain areas, and particularly I noticed it in corners or curved locations like step edges and floor drain locations, it appears more gets exposed than in other spots. My builder let me know upfront that this is pretty common if you look closely but that some color choices will be more pronounced than others.

Not sure if that helps at all or if your issue is something different all together.

Thanks - some minor discoloration I expected with this darker color. That's not a big deal. It's the long streaks and the circular pattern around the spot that they treated for rebar that's getting me. Plus the stairs have these white "scrapes" that really don't look normal.

 

[borjis]

As far as I know there shouldn't be any trowel marks or impressions in the plaster anywhere when it's redone properly.

I will say one thing, If I ever end up owning a home with a plaster pool again, it will be re-plastered with plain
regular white plaster. I can't count the number of times I've read here on the site about these blue colored finishes turning out mottled looking
and uneven.

 

[casastevo]

As far as I know there shouldn't be any trowel marks or impressions in the plaster anywhere when it's redone properly.

I will say one thing, If I ever end up owning a home with a plaster pool again, it will be re-plastered with plain
regular white plaster. I can't count the number of times I've read here on the site about these blue colored finishes turning out mottled looking
and uneven.

Same here...I was just looking for something nice, and not Pebbletec for this house since we are unsure how long we'll be here. A white plaster would of been fine and the darker blue won't get me anything in addition to value...in fact it's only given me stress so far.