Dark Plaster Concerns?

[Liz101]

At the final phase of pool build and trying to pick a color. Going to use a product similar to diamond brite or quartz scapes called quartz brite. I really love the midnight blue but keep reading stories about streaks, molting, imperfections being more prevalent in the darker colors. The PB keeps saying those are caused by chemical imbalances. I would rather go lighter than end up with a pool with ugly blotches. Any advice on this?

Here is the Midnight Blue. I searched everywhere online and couldn't find it. Drove 50 miles to see it today. Was super windy so there is lots of ripples on the water. You could barely even see the white cleaner at the bottom.

 

[JasonLion]

Mottling is a big problem for darker colors of dyed plaster. Quartz works differently, and molting is not nearly as much of an issue. You will never get a completely uniform color, but they should be able to get it reasonably close.

 

[Guest]

OK you two, I have to step in and play teacher! Molting is what a bird does, mottling is what pool plaster does!

OK, that is done......... And I will agree that the darker the color, the more apparent the mottling will be.

 

[Liz101]

haha Bruce, have to love my flair for spelling and grammar lol

So does mottling happen because of bad pool chemistry or is it inevitable?
Also, I have not actually seen what mottling looks like. Can someone please describe it, or better yet have a picture.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[mamasproject]

I have the Maui Gem quartz finish in shark skin. It it a darker gray. On a cloudy day you can see the mottling. It kinda looks like clouds...lightened areas of the gray. During the day with the sun shining you do not see it. It sparkles in the sun.

This picture is right after opening the pool this year.

It's not as sparkly as it can be in this picutre, but you can get the idea.

I don't regret going with the darker color at all. I would of went darker but the husband vetoed it! And remember that plaster/quartz is a hand applied product and you will never get perfection!

 

[Liz101]

@mamas - that doesn't look bad at all. Maybe I am worried for nothing. Now just to figure out if the LED lights will show up.

 

[n8huntsman]

I went with a medium gray. I have two 12v savi melody LED's and they give a nice affect. I don't wanna light it up like day light so they work good for what I want. I'll take some pics of the lights tonight.

 

[n8huntsman]

Did you get it platered yet? Here is the night pic of my medium gray.

 

[BobinBaltimore]

We did marcite with a medium gray additive. Our PB warned us about the mottling, but we felt it would fit in beautifully with the somewhat rustic appearance of our pool, with bluestone coping and gray-blue tile. It has come out perfectly. The variations provide a nice visual texture. We are thrilled with it. I'd also note that we originally wanted DiamondBrite, but had to back off that purely as a result of minding the budget. Colored plaster was much less expensive with a somewhat similar effect. Of course, this is just plain plaster, so it won't see the extended life that most of the pebble/quartz products provide. But we're happy nonetheless.

Here are a couple of photos of the plaster just before the water trucks arrived:

 

[Liz101]

Wow your pool light looks great! I really like everyones grays.

They plastered over the Friday afternoon. Went with a lighter color at the last minute. Forgot my back yard is shade more than half the day and was affraid the midnight blue would look navy at those times. The one pool I'd seen had nothing around it and was full sun all day. So went with Aruba Sky with some gold flecks added, although I was told they wash away.

They did an acid wash on it morning after plaster. Nervous because I've read bad things about it on here. After 40 hours it is full and they're suppose to dump the acid in today for the acid bath. I asked and they insisted it needed both. Personally I liked it better without anything, the color was much more vibrant. I could careless if the quartz flecks show.

There is mottling but only one spot is bad and it's in the deep end. It actually has white swirls in it. I'll be asking the PB about it today.

Also a bit nervous about how green it currently looks but have read on here that disappears when the chemicals are added *crosses fingers*

 

[PeggeB]

Re: Dark Plaster Concerns? Can tell me about Aruba Sky?

LIZ101 - How did your Aruba Sky come out? I am thinking of using it and have to make a decision soon. Were you happy with it? How would you describe the color? And God Bless you if you have any pictures you can share. Thanks for helping...big decision and the plasterers don't seem to be able to advise.

 

[EVChargeGuy]

Not sure of real age but we bought the house 15 years ago and have not done anything to the dark grey finish. The pool was closed for the last 8+ years and this is what it looked like after a fast cleaning.

Although blotchy in looks, the pool surface was sound & since we were doing so much other work ($’s) we decided to live with it for a year or 2

Looks a little better with water in it and the new paver patio

If the pool was out in the open with direct sunlight on it all day it may bother me more but we have so many trees blocking the sun the bottom always has light and dark spots anyway.