Pool renovation/decking/resurfacing questions

[ccuellar4]

Hi All!

First I want to say that these forums have been invaluable to me as a new pool owner 5 years ago. I remember my first pool opening took me almost 2-3 weeks because I just couldn't get anything working. Now I'm on day 2 and the pool is nearing a ready state. Anyways my main set of questions/concerns.

I was looking at my gunite decking and realized a lot has chipped off in certain areas, and it's definitely showing it's wear. I decided to finally get a quote to re apply gunite and generally clean up the decking area: when I did that the contractor notified me that it's not just the gunite but the concrete below has lost structural integrity. He proceeded to chip off a little more gunite and then show me that the concrete itself has come off a bit with the decking. I decided to get a few more quotes for resurfacing the pool (it desperately needs it) and the now bigger project of replacing the entire deck area concrete and all. Me being a novice at this whole ordeal just listened and took quotes and asked questions. Now I wanted to get a bit of a sanity check with everyone here:

• The contractor mentioned that the lifespan of most in-ground pools is roughly 15-20 years and that they need to actually be remodeled around that time as plaster/concrete/etc can fail.
  • Is this a true estimate of the lifespan of a pool?
• The gunite situation with the decking. After chipping off the gunite and showing the concrete that was attached to the gunite but simply came off also:
  • Is this a situation that others have experienced where the concrete itself has started to fail a bit on the decking and that the entire decking concrete would need to be replaced/remodeled?
• Replastering seemed almost foreign to me, I've lived at this location for about 5-6 years now and never had the pool replastered, given the previous owner they never did either:
  • Is this something common that should happen regularly?
  • What frequency seems about right? I read in a few threads here that it's about every 10-15 years for plaster.
• Finally, I wanted to replace a plastic pool slide with a new one. The quote was roughly 3-4K for this. Is there an easier way for me to do this myself (if I was to attempt to just replace it 1:1 with a similar slide? Or does this just not work because hole attachments and all are just different and would not align with the metal supports?

Thanks everyone ahead of time and sorry for the lengthy set of questions. I'm really just trying to wrap my head around everything right now. If it would help I can attach pictures to show everything that's going on.

 

[HermanTX]

Replastering seemed almost foreign to me, I've lived at this location for about 5-6 years now and never had the pool replastered, given the previous owner they never did either:

• Is this something common that should happen regularly?
• What frequency seems about right? I read in a few threads here that it's about every 10-15 years for plaster.

The 10-20 year life on plaster is about right - depending on the type of plaster originally used, how well the pool chemistry was maintained, etc. It is best to chip out all the old plaster and have them inspect the gunite to ensure all is fine or patch any areas if needed. Then apply a new plaster to the complete pool. At this same time, you may want to ensure that your waterline tile is in good shape and all your pipes to the equipment pad are good