fiber glass vs gunite

[chc4au]

This has probably been discussed elsehwere but I need some thoughts.
First I am new to the site and we are building pool, poolhouse and outdoor kitchen and am trying to decide between fiber glass and gunite. We are planning a freeform pool with water fall, slide and hot tub.
Besides obvious cost differences what are the pros and cons of each.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[JasonLion]

Fiberglass can usually be installed much more quickly. Fiberglass tends to be limited in size along one axis so it can be trucked to the site. Fiberglass tends to get metal stains more easily but is otherwise a little easier to take care of.

 

[Hpdrifter]

Shop around, you might be surprised by the marginal cost savings of going with a fiberglass pool. When I was looking everyone was saying to me "if you get a liner pool you're going to save a lot of money!" Well after shoping, the difference was only 4k! for that price I went with my 1st choice Gunite. I haven't seen a fiberglass pool deeper than 6 foot so if you want depth.....go gunite! Actually the best thing to do is ask yourself if money isn't the deciding factor, which pool do I really want. Then once you know what you want, you just have to see what you can do about getting a price that works. I look at it this way, I spent @45k for my pool, if I could have gotten a liner pool similar to what I have now for 15-20k less then that would have been enough for me to look harder at that option. hope that helps.

 

[Butterfly]

Fiberglass can usually be installed much more quickly. Fiberglass tends to be limited in size along one axis so it can be trucked to the site. Fiberglass tends to get metal stains more easily but is otherwise a little easier to take care of.

Why is fiberglass easier to take care of? The reason I ask is that our gunite pool is really easy to care for So what's up with that? Thanks.

Joyce

 

[JasonLion]

You can be a little bit more flexible with the chemistry in a fiberglass (or vinyl) pool. A plaster/gunite pool reqires that you stay reasonably close to calcite saturation balance, but in fiberglass you can go a little further towards negative saturation without problems. With a wider acceptable range you don't need to worry about it quite as much. Black algae is much less of an issue with fiberglass, since it can never get embeded in the surface the way it can with plaster. Also, the first month or so with a plaster pool involves a fair bit of work, frequent acid additions, frequent brushing. Other than the first month the difference is small.

 

[chc4au]

Thanks for the replies. Will probably go with Gunite since we are looking at a freeform pool.

 

[mbar]

I think all pools are great I would go with one that will be the easiest to meet all of your requirements, and your lifestyle. I would say they all take the same amount of time to care for, and they all have some advantage or disadvantage. You will love anyone you choose - best of luck