ecoFINISH aquaBRIGHT longterm review

[PoolguyinCT]

What? That is rude and very unprofessional! I wonder what the owner of the company would have to say about his sells person not even trying to sell the procedure that he paid quite a bit of money, time, and effort to get!!!!

Kim

I know more than a few, who bought the dealership & mothballed the rigs.

 

[kimkats]

Ray why would they do that? (this is a real question..........why pay all of that money and not use it?)

 

[JoyfulNoise]

It takes 2 days (if you’re lucky) to apply an AquaBright coating to a pool. That’s on top of the base plaster layer that you have to apply to a new build or all the patch work you have to do to a remodel. That’s a huge built-in labor cost that drives up the installation price well into the “premium finish” level.

By contrast, a standard plaster pool or aggregate finish can be banged out in a few hours by a crew of 6 guys. The pool can be filled a few hours after that and startup processing can commence. Depending on the type of finish, people can be swimming in that pool within a few days.

There’s simply too little profit and a lot of potential loss and customer dissatisfaction that can occur with an A/B installation.

Sadly, while A/B is a great surface from a chemical standpoint, it’s a loss-leader for any plaster company offering it. It is highly unlikely it will ever become as profitable or widespread as standard plaster installation.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

Ray why would they do that? (this is a real question..........why pay all of that money and not use it?)

they both shot a couple water parks & parked it.
They made more than plenty of money in the isolated projects..

See joyfuls remarks - he gets it.

 

[bdavis466]

they both shot a couple water parks & parked it.
They made more than plenty of money in the isolated projects..

See joyfuls remarks - he gets it.

I sold mine early this year. I still feel it's a great product but it's not installer friendly.

Too expensive to be competitive and too slow to be efficient

 

[kimkats]

I just had a thought.............what happens if you want to remove it?? Can that be done?

 

[bdavis466]

I just had a thought.............what happens if you want to remove it?? Can that be done?

Chip out the plaster

 

[STLPool2017]

I just had a thought.............what happens if you want to remove it?? Can that be done?

I am trying to get some bids on how to remove the ecoFinish right now. The pool spraying over both the plaster floor and the fiberglass walls was a disaster. Some of your readers have read my ordeal that started in Nov 2016 and is still not done right after 3 pool drains and repairs. What I learned (too late) is NEVER EVER put ecoFinish over fiberglass and also make sure you are dealing directly with the ecoFinish installer. I have some other pool companies coming over to see if they can sandblast that plastic ecoFinish off the fiberglass walls and the plaster floor or it may have to have a grinder put to it to have it taken off. Either way its going to tear up the walls and floor and a lot of re-work will have to be done. If I had to do it over again I would have stuck with the tried and true method of just re-plastering the concrete floor and left the fiberglass walls alone. Both the main pool contractor and the ecoFinish sub-contractor made major installation errors and now say they will never do another fiberglass sided pool.
Oh, did I say that the ecoFinish installer has given up and won't do any more work on my pool? HE told the main contractor to sue him if he did't like it even through they both are still partners in doing other plaster pools.

 

[dgknight3]

Thanks to everyone for your insight and input. We are in the process of choosing a pool company to install a new pool and one of the companies offers Aqua Bright. We are intrigued, but weary. From what I can tell, the product is great, but there can be problems if the installation isn't done correctly. How do I ensure that my builder is qualified to install it properly? How do I protect myself from builder error if the Aqua Bright warranty doesn't cover that?

Thanks in advance.

courtneyg, we used Puryear and AquaBright just last year for our build. Haven't regretted it at all. With SWCG , very little chemical maintenance needed so far.
They are good PBs.

 

[eric99gt]

So for anyone that has had ecofinish installed. I'm about 4 months in and I'm still getting flakes of the product in my robot after cleaning. Should I be concerned?

 

[xyz]

I have had it for 2 years now, and I still get a small amount of the flakes. Nothing bad is happening, and it is still working great, and I love the water stability.

- - - Updated - - -

I am trying to get some bids on how to remove the ecoFinish right now. The pool spraying over both the plaster floor and the fiberglass walls was a disaster. Some of your readers have read my ordeal that started in Nov 2016 and is still not done right after 3 pool drains and repairs. What I learned (too late) is NEVER EVER put ecoFinish over fiberglass and also make sure you are dealing directly with the ecoFinish installer. I have some other pool companies coming over to see if they can sandblast that plastic ecoFinish off the fiberglass walls and the plaster floor or it may have to have a grinder put to it to have it taken off. Either way its going to tear up the walls and floor and a lot of re-work will have to be done. If I had to do it over again I would have stuck with the tried and true method of just re-plastering the concrete floor and left the fiberglass walls alone. Both the main pool contractor and the ecoFinish sub-contractor made major installation errors and now say they will never do another fiberglass sided pool.
Oh, did I say that the ecoFinish installer has given up and won't do any more work on my pool? HE told the main contractor to sue him if he did't like it even through they both are still partners in doing other plaster pools.

View attachment 82330 View attachment 82331

What about trying something like this? This will slice off the plastic, and should stay cool. I'd guess the problem with grinding is that the plastic melts vs grinds. Even if it warms up, you could cool it off with a mist or a little water. This thing works amazing in the right situation.

Arbortech Turbo Plane - Hand Planes - Amazon.com

 

[STLPool2017]

Just keep an eye on how much flaking you continue to see. I had some in the skimmers after the pool was filled. I also used a scuba mask and went underwater along the walls and that's when I found air pockets (size of a quarter to a half dollar) in the EcoFinish where the spray on finish did not attach to the fiberglass walls or lifted shortly after the pool was filled again. Either way it was poor prep work and or spraying that caused it.

 

[Armadillo_Trader]

I have AquaBright in my pool; 2 full seasons now and it has been fabulous. This after a winter with the pool drained down to 12" deep with no cover. The pool is as maintenance free as it could be; run the Dolphin once a week and check the water; chemical usage has been minimal and everyone raves about the look and feel.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Wow... amazing house and pool!!!

 

[StLDave]

Anybody have this on a fiberglass pool? I am in the middle of a nightmare installation on mine. More to come.

 

[tim5055]

Anybody have this on a fiberglass pool? I am in the middle of a nightmare installation on mine. More to come.

This is a few posts up.

What I learned (too late) is NEVER EVER put ecoFinish over fiberglass and also make sure you are dealing directly with the ecoFinish installer.

 

[StLDave]

STLPool2017, I sent you a PM, PLEASE look at it and get back to me. I would like to understand what you have done. Maybe we can share a lawyer? ;-)

 

[CoolHandScoot]

Thanks to everyone for your insight and input. We are in the process of choosing a pool company to install a new pool and one of the companies offers Aqua Bright. We are intrigued, but weary. From what I can tell, the product is great, but there can be problems if the installation isn't done correctly. How do I ensure that my builder is qualified to install it properly? How do I protect myself from builder error if the Aqua Bright warranty doesn't cover that?

Thanks in advance.

Hi courtneyg, FYI anyone installing ecoFinish has been trained by ecoFinish to do so. ecoFinish wont sell the product (epoxy, powder, tape, etc) to you unless you have had that training, and likely a couple of training sessions. The installer warranty is separate from the ecoFinish warranty. For instance, I give my clients a two year warranty on my installation on top of the ecoFinish 10 year warranty. You'll want to look at that closely. You should have these same concerns regardless of the finish you choose. There are a lot of people out there that are not experienced in plaster installation and those problems can be very frustrating to deal with too.

I've been installing ecoFinish for several years with very little issues. Most of the issues are substrate issues, ie the existing finish coming off and thus the ecoFinish with it. I just fix the issue and move on unless it is complete neglect or vandalism.

Hope this helps!

 

[NickinLA]

So for anyone that has had ecofinish installed. I'm about 4 months in and I'm still getting flakes of the product in my robot after cleaning. Should I be concerned?

1 year in and no flakes whatsoever. I also had very few flakes after install. It might help that our very own BDavis did it and thus likely did everything well.

 

[STLPool2017]

1 year in and no flakes whatsoever. I also had very few flakes after install. It might help that our very own BDavis did it and thus likely did everything well.

Just back on the site since last September but I am still without a pool for 2 plus years and counting because of the poor install process by the main contractor and the authorized AB trained installer that was sub-contracted. Now will have to have the AB stuff blasted off and get some professional pool help. And now (unfortunately) a lawyer is now involved. I will post more on my thread as things develop.