Quartzscape Install issues?

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lardo5150

lardo5150

0
Apr 13, 2017
280
Little Elm Texas
copying this from my construction thread so I can get some more attention to this.

This was the most important piece of the pool. I chose the Quartzscape cause of the Barbados Blue, as it gave me the exact blue I wanted, and I loved the texture.
This stuff is NOT uniform. The PB tells me what I am seeing is normal and most will clear up. Everyone who has plaster next to me tell me it will not be uniform.
I even drove over to NPT here in Dallas (and called them). The first guy said he looked like it was still curing. The guy on the phone said most likely normal, but they can't even come out and look until 30-60 days as the plaster can change dramatically in that amount of time.
I am a little nervous about this as I am still brushing it and the white chaulky areas that are NOT supposed to be there, are not going away.
I will say, I WILL have NPT out along with my PB if this does not change. I find this unacceptable. Most of it is on the sides...the white chaulky looking areas that is.

So, in summary, I will be following this closely, and if nothing changes, I am going to go crazy. I will be talking to NPT to make sure the PB does the right thing, even if that means redoing it.

Am i overreacting? Unreasonable?









Plaster was poured on a Wednesday. That same day they came out and did acid wash, then started to fill the pool. They brought me a brush that Friday and added a ton of acid, and I brushed 2 times a day. more of a sweeping than brushing. We had a LOT of dust. Not so much now.
When there was dust, it would cloud my pool to where I could not see the bottom.
This picture below is from that Friday or Saturday, the dark blue is where I brushed, the green is the dust.






They did not come out and turn the equipment on till this past Thursday. That same day they did the first water test and started adjusting.
The PB hired a company to clean/balance pool for first 13 weeks (no salt till 30 days after plaster pour). I expect the hired company to be out either Monday or Tuesday this week, then once a week after that.


Here is a picture of the Quartzscape sample.
I don't feel my pool looks like this...in spots, but it is patchy. All the sides, including steps, look "chaulky".

 
Looks pretty bad but there’s not much you can do but wait it out and follow up with the PB and NPT. This is one of the most daunting issues for a new pool build and the one that will take the longest to resolve as you will be put on hold by the PB and NPT in the hope that you will just give up.

Question - how much of the remaining payment are you still holding on to? With some subtlety you should let the PB know that you are not pleased with the finished product, you expected the plaster to look very different and there will be no more payments until this situation is resolved to your satisfaction.

It looks like to my novice eye that the plaster was over-etch during the acid wash and you have varying amounts of plaster creme still on the surface. I would doubt very much that anything is going to get darker blue - if anything, the darker blue is going to fade more towards the chalky blue color.
 
All you can do is give it time, see how the plaster develops, and what your pool builder is willing to do to make you happy.

There is no guarantee that a redo will be any better or that it doesn’t have other problems. There seems to be many ways plaster installs can have problems. Seems to be both natural variations and installer variations.

I had my own plaster issues that you can read about here Replastering a Pool - A 1 Year Saga - Problems Lessons Learned
 
so my PB had the owner of the plaster company come out.
He agreed it looks like poop. He was amazed that they only put in 4 gallons of acid for a pool my size.
He informed my wife they would drain the pool in November (since we are swimming right now) and either another acid wash with more plaster being added or a replaster with acid wash. I am trying to get confirmation on this since I know that another acid wash could reduce the life of the plaster so I want to speak to him directly.

But at least I am happy they are taking action already, and letting me swim for the rest of the season here in Dallas, and then fix it.
 
Plaster over plaster is a really bad idea. Even with an acid wash, a skim coat of plaster has a much greater chance of delamination. Another acid wash might smooth out the color variations but at the cost of more aggregate exposure and greater roughness.

I’d push towards a chip out and redo but that means someone is eating their profit on the job...just keep on them as they are likely hoping you just get fed up and go away.
 

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So update on this.
They told me they would do an acid bath and if that did not work, then drain and acid wash.

Started the acid bath on Monday. The guy who came out said the blue would darken. I just assumed me meant all the white areas.
My pool looks black now :(

Before


and this is today...


Its obvious this is not the color it is supposed to be, based on pics from the quartzscapes gallery and from another user on this forum who has the same plaster as me.
I am NOT happy with this. My pool looks like the Midnight Blue option, obviously WAY darker than Barbados.
 
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