Planning a remodel

colorfaux

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LifeTime Supporter
Jan 28, 2015
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austin/tx
Hello! We are planning to remodel our pool and would like some advice. We are familiar with the TFP method and have been maintaining our SW pool for a year (We just bought this house with pool 1 year ago). Currently we have white plaster and bullnose brick coping. The plaster is cracking in the spa and the coping is pitting with grout issues. All of this was present when we bought the house.

We are hiring a plaster company to do the work. We are looking at pebble plasters and Lueder stone coping we will seal. We thought about pre-molded coping but are not crazy about the look. Our plaster guy is recommending Crystal Stones pebble finishes because of their limited lifetime warranty. They can match any other company's pebble finishes. We like Stone Scapes Midnight Blue and Tropics Blue. We also like Crystal Stones Majestic Isle.

Our pool is fairly deep going from 4-5 feet to 8-9 feet. I like the look of the larger natural pebbles but it's hard to tell just looking at pictures. Plaster guy says they can be rough on the feet but not much of an issue with deep pools. Any opinions? Has anyone done mini pebbles on the spa and natural pebbles in the pool? This is the big decision. Also, has any one had really bad experiences with sealed Lueder stone- it's a hard limestone.

We are also replacing the light in the spa. This pool has several old LED lights and the spa light used to attach to a fiber optic light tower thing - sorry not sure what it is but it's a unit that is wired to the outside of the pool probably from the 80's. Our plaster guys don't do electric so how exactly do we modernize this system? They are going to remove and plaster over the small LED lights in the pool.
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Given that our pool is older is there anything we should add or can add? Pool was converted to salt in 2004 per previous owner. We have no idea about overflow or pressure valves. We don't want to miss an opportunity while updating.
 
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I think the sandblasting is finished. Is this normal? It's mostly 100's of holes. It looks like some very small patches were taken off. Leuder stone coping going in tomorrow-or-Monday. Looks like rain in our forecast all next week so I guess the plaster will be delayed. We still have not picked a plaster color- the most difficult part of the process :/ Our company works with Wet Edge and CLI. We are trying to stay with a level 2 pebble finish and LOVE Wet Edge. CLI is sending us a St Croix sample. We are getting the optic lights replaced with LED. Looks like rust
 

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Did you see them sandblast the pool because if you did not I would doubt it was done. The purpose of sand blasting is to remove the soft plaster, a bond Kate is typically applied and then the new plaster. Your original plaster was white and stained green most likely from copper in the heater. Below is what a sand blasted pool should look like.
3eedbdaaf9e870977b4f2df9fba498f4.jpg
before.
1c361bc348efa35ebae34a75080f07d7.jpg
after. They Grey is the gunite showing.

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Did you see them sandblast the pool because if you did not I would doubt it was done. The purpose of sand blasting is to remove the soft plaster, a bond Kate is typically applied and then the new plaster. Your original plaster was white and stained green most likely from copper in the heater. Below is what a sand blasted pool should look like.
3eedbdaaf9e870977b4f2df9fba498f4.jpg
before.
1c361bc348efa35ebae34a75080f07d7.jpg
after. They Grey is the gunite showing.

I did see them sand blast the shallow section and it blew off a top coat of plater on the stairs. I have questioned them on the elaborate price and have not gotten a response. They came back and created grooves in the plaster with a power wash machine - only in the shallow end. IMG_0128_2.jpg
Interesting about the heater staining the plaster. How do I prevent that in the future?
Today they came a started the stone coping.
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- - - Updated - - -

So now I am trying to deal with these old fiber optic lights. Any suggestions on what to get with my Jandy system? I posted a picture of one with a tape measure so should I be looking for 2" retro fit. I have one in the spa and two in the pool. IMG_0131_2.jpg
 

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The fiber optic lights may be a problem. It may be some work to get them to be compatible with current lighting systems.

Look at Pentair Globrights or Jandy Nicheless lights. You need an electrician to come out now to rough in any retrofit work you need to install them.
 
Just catching up with your remodel. I love remodels! The change in the pool before vs after is always so amazing!
I don't really know anything about sandblasting, but I would think it would not look so much like it did when it was drained...
I'll be checking in to see you progress and help Kim spend your money!
 
For those lights, you might check out the SAVI Melody LEDs. They are nicheless lights. I'm not sure of their exact dimensions though. I've never seen them in person, but one PB we interviewed was promoting them and gave me some literature.

***
From the flyer I have:
Fits standard 1-1/2" wall fittings.
 
Hello all! It looks like Texas survived the rain and we are all back up and running. My stone coping is done and we have made our plaster decisions! We are going with CLI Midnight Blue and adding shells. We decided to go with the bigger pebbles because they look so good and our pool is pretty deep all over. This should also help with a nice deep blue color. Hopefully the spa won't be too rough!
Now we are waiting! Waiting for electrician to retro fit the current optic lights (2 in pool and 1 in spa) with LED. I also attached a picture of our current tile. It is the original tile and today I noticed it is iridescent in certain light, but only under the water line. When you walk up on it it turns blue like the dark blue tiles. Does any one know if the tiles just need to be cleaned?IMG_0154.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

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They removed the tile on the spillway and replaced with stone. They also put sand in the mastic which will be nice when it's all cleaned up.
 
We started going again after rain and electrician delays. We replaced our optic lights with Hayward Nichless (1 in spa and 2 in pool). We had some trouble as our niches were not big enough for 30W so we settled on 9W for all 3 lights. We probably will change our big light to a color bulb if we want more color.

I have a question about spa jets. Our pool is 13 and our spa jets are just normal returns. Is there anything we can do to upgrade before we plaster. The electrician said no.
We also have a bubbler at the bottom of the spa (4 feet under water). We have a PVC pipe attached to allow the water to fountain. Is there any modern retro fit for this?

WE ARE SCHEDULED FOR PLASTER ON TUESDAY!!!!!! StoneScape Midnight blue regular pebbles with hand tossed shells!!! However, rain is in the forecast. Kim, I have a sad for me if it rains :(
 

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