Holy Mary Mother of... Fiberglass Pool Resurfacing Quote?

GaryV512

Gold Supporter
Oct 18, 2023
59
Central TX
We moved into this home about 18 months ago. Please see attached pics. The coating on the pool was peeling, we knew we'd have to do something at some point. I'm guessing the prior owner did a "fast fix" to sell the house. Decided to get a quote this week, and I got a price for $15,000 to do the following:

- Combination pool resurfacing with new Owens Corning fiberglass
**THIS RESURFACING HAS A FULL FIVE YEAR WARRANTY ON LABOR AND MATERIALS**
Color options: white, light blue, light blue grey, light blue green
Work includes:
- Drain the pool
- Install new eyeball fittings
- Reinforce all of the joints on the walls with an extra layer of thicker fiberglass
- Apply non skid texture to the top of the steps for safety
- Grind down all of the blisters the pool may have
- Clean the tile as best as possible
- Prep, repair any necessary areas and re gel coat the white plastic stripe between the pool and
deck
-Replace the main drain ring, fiberglass the inside of the bucket to prevent future leaks, and install
a new safety main drain cover

To me it doesn't look that bad, but wow, $15,000?? It's just your run of the mill 16x32 fiberglass pool w/ a shallow end and 7ft deep end, obviously the stairs are the worst, but there's other bubbling/decay and the seams need to be redone. This is my first quote, I plan to get at least one more. I just wanted to sanity check with you all in here to see if I'm in the right $$$ range. Thanks for looking and for your advice!!

G
 

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I'm not sure whether hybrid or not. This one is in central Texas, did the brand make it this far south? It certainly looks like it has junctions/seams, and it's a caulk of some sort that's in those joints. It's softening now that the coating is coming off. It would be typical for me to get saddled with some sort of "one off", LOL!!!
 
The dollar amount may not be too far off, but it's funny how they stated, "Install new eyeball fittings" as if they are doing you a huge favor. That and the non-skid. I am concerned about that vertical crack. Perhaps that is related to the "Reinforce all of the joints on the walls with an extra layer of thicker fiberglass"? But I would look into that a bit more to ensure the pool is actually stable and not shifting or tilting resulting in a stress point that will just reappear once they are done. Cosmetics is one thing, movement is another.

We had a couple other members do a re-gel a few years back, but I don't think they've been on the forum for a while.
 
What's even funnier, is we specifically discussed the returns that she wants to put new eyeballs on. The returns froze and broke during the central TX snow storm and elec outage a couple years back, and I specifically asked to have them removed and patched over, since the one remaining return is now above ground also courtesy of the storm!

I don't sense or see any other movement, cracks, shifting, etc., just the seams where the gel is peeling off.

We'll see what the other estimator says...
 
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What material is the floor of the pool? Fiberglass or concrete/sand?
 
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It definitely looks like a hybrid pool that has a concrete bottom which was initially plastered and has since been painted multiple times.

I don't see any paint removal called out in their scope of work. Every bit of that old paint must be removed from the walls and floor prior to anything new being put on.

Owens Corning is just the manufacturer of the fiberglass mat, you might want to find out what kind of gel they are using, is there a name of the product/process, and some more details about what the resurfacing entails.

15k doesn't seem unreasonable if they have good references and are planning on removing all of the paint, reseal all joints, etc. I would look over their warranty and make sure it is comprehensive.
 
A couple of thoughts as a former "hybrid" pool owner.
1. Are they laying fiberglass over the entire pool shell (not just the walls)?
2. Surface preparation is EVERYTHING - power washing, water blasting, sandblasting, acid etching, bond coting, etc, etc.......
3. The warranty is likely worthless, whether on not the guy is still in business 5 years from now.
Good luck but be eagle-eyed about everything they are proposing and while they are doing it.
 
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Thanks, I've asked vendor #1 some more probing questions about their understanding of, and abilities to handle, hybrid pools. We'll see how they respond. I'm getting a 2nd quote next week, and will make sure to ask them the same. Thank you all very much for your advice and insight, I'd never even heard of a hybrid pool before. I'd like to get this re-coating done and have it stay that way for a while. I'm 67 so this is theoretically our "last home", and I'm trying to make ALL improvements quality ones.

G
 
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FWIW, talked to the firm again and yes, their bid includes scraping/grinding all the old gelcoat off down to the original surface. Yes, firm number 1 knows it's a hybrid pool (she said they call the "combo" pools) and are familiar with how to handle them. Bid includes that, plus applying new fiberglass surface and smoothing it down, then gel coating everything with my choice of 1 of 3 available colors. She said they'd cap off the returns as I asked. They drain the pool, but re-filling is on me. And they'll coat the skimmer basket so it won't develop any leaks.

We'll see what the other firm quotes next week...

G
 
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Well, I wound up contracting with the first company. It took them 4 1/2 days to grind, patch, seal, and coat my combo/hybrid pool. It was 2 guys mostly, sometimes 3, and they were a hardworking bunch! The before pics are above, here are some "during" and some "after" shots as well. Supposed to be a 5 year warranty on the work. I'm hoping this is it for a while and I can shift to USING my pool in spring, instead of maintaining it, or worrying about it...

The black spots on the new finish are insects that fell into the pool, crickets, spiders, etc... :D
 

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