EcoFinish Pool wall questions

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sktn77a said:
Wow, sorry to hear of your dilemma. I had the same type of pool (concrete base, "Acrylic "- ie fiberglass - walls). The seal between the wall panels started to leak after about 5 years and the gelcoat on the fiberglass walls started blistering around the same time. I researched this for a couple of years, basically arriving at 3 solutions:

1. Fiberglass over the whole thing (walls and floor, as the concrete needed replastering anyway)
2. Install a vinyl liner
3. Gunite over the walls and replaster the whole thing.

I couldn't get anyone to do 1. or 2. (1. was my preferred choice at the time).

I ended up going with 3. And boy am I glad I did. I lost about 8" around the entire pool so its a little smaller now but it looks like a real pool. Here, in reverse order, are some pics on the before, process and after results:

View attachment 85053

Let me know if you want more pictures.
Click to expand...

I do want more..

So?? You kept the floor & shot new walls??
 
Yes, they drilled holes in the "step" all around the bottom of the fiberglass walls and epoxied rebar in every 12 ". Shot gunite over the walls and bottom cove, chipped out all the old plaster that wasn't firmly attached, acid washed the rest and plastered over everything. Here's some detailed pics of the reno:
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The pool was a little over 20 years old. When we first put it in, there were very few pool builders in NC so we were limited as to what kind of pool we could get. After I got tired of the leaking, blistering walls, I started researching this in ernest about 2 years ago. Every pool place talked big but when I tried to get them to commit, I guess it was just too small a job for them. So I owner-renovated the pool, getting the prep guys, gunite guys, plasterer, concrete guys and did all the above ground plumbing and equipmet updates myself. Still cost around $23,000 but I'm so happy I did it.
 
You can tell who the gunite crew chief/owner is .... guy in the blue hat on the right. Only one not wearing overalls/long clothes and keeping an eye on hoseman...
 

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Well, the only company building a complete gunite/plaster pool couldn't start until August (this was in March) of 1996, the vinyl liner guys were a complete flakes, and the concrete acrylic guy promised he could start May 1st and finish by the end of May. So we signed on the dotted line. Come May 1st, no builder....... middle of May he comes a digs a big hole in the back yard. Then the problems really started..... "weather delays" (weather was fine), "equipment delays" (???????) He finally started real work end of July after we hadn't seen him for over a month and sent a certified letter threatening legal action. More delays..... finally started filling with water end of August, equipment running middle September, decking finished end Septenmber......... just in time to close the pool for the winter! So much for having a pool for the summer of 1996........... Live and learn! This guy wanted 10% on signing, 35% on beginning (digging the hole), 35% on start of water fill, and the remaining 20% on completion. Of course, he sold the same story to several other families that same spring and was working on all those other pools when he was supposed to be working on ours. Typical, I guess. Anyway, 20 years later we're finally ahead of the game.

(I think..................)
 
The panels were Polynesian Pool, distributed by a guy in Holland, Michigan, who was responsible for the "20 year warranty". The warranty was a joke (that the panels would "hold water", seams excluded, no cosmetic or other structural warranty). Unknown to us, the guy filed bankruptcy while our pool was being built, opened up a new repair facility within weeks, selling the same "replacement" panels with no warranty, whatsoever!

Like I said, Live and Learn!
 
sktn77a said:
The panels were Polynesian Pool, distributed by a guy in Holland, Michigan, who was responsible for the "20 year warranty". The warranty was a joke (that the panels would "hold water", seams excluded, no cosmetic or other structural warranty). Unknown to us, the guy filed bankruptcy while our pool was being built, opened up a new repair facility within weeks, selling the same "replacement" panels with no warranty, whatsoever!

Like I said, Live and Learn!
Click to expand...

That would be Mark Hall’s former partner.. as in Hallmark
 
WOW, look what happens when I am not checking my TFP account for a couple of days. I was on here just last Monday and now these great comments and pictures from Keith along with comments from so many others.

Keith, you give me another option to look at with doing the entire pool over with a new gunite base.

Here is where I am at as of today. ......I have one Pool Liner Option for over $35,000 that includes installing a new vinyl liner, replacing all the wall and drain fittings (this means removing 7 sections of concrete decking to get to the piping). Removing and replacing the new coping that was just installed to place the proper bead tracking band for the pool liner, recaulking around the coping. It DOES NOT include replacing the skimmers (??) or replacing the seven sections of concrete decking that would have to be put back in when they are done. I could see that this total project could end up between $40k - $50K to undo what the EcoFinish installers did and to make it right with a new liner.

The other contractor I am talking with is telling me he can put new fiberglass sheets over the old fiberglass (now EcoFinished destroyed) and create new fiberglass walls over all the 4 foot walls. Then he would use a paint over the fiberglass after he seals up the new walls. For the rest of the gunite/plaster pool floor he would just re-plaster like a normal pool. He is currently working on material cost for the new fiberglass wall sheets but I am getting the sense that his process would also run past $40k. The upside to this process is that the pool would look like a normal fiberglass/gunite pool like I started with before the EcoFinish installers were going to make my pool better......

I will now have to look at what Keith did with his fiberglass wall pool in covering everything with a new gunite base finish but I would think that this process would be right up there with the other two options I have looked at in today's dollars. The other thing I would remind everyone is that I didn't have a burning bridge of a leaking fiberglass wall issue when the EcoFinish folks arrived, only bumps on the walls that they said they could fix and then coat over with the EcoFinish. The installers were the ones that made everything worst by tearing into the fiberglass walls to take the bumps out and now you see the ordeal that I have gone through and what lays ahead.....
 
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