replaced cool deck / acid wash & tile clean

Jan 20, 2008
2
I had my cool deck redone & my pool acid washed & the tile cleaned in Dec. $3500 (I am in AZ) The pool plaster is now spotted (looks like dirt stains) & streaked, & it is etched & has blue streaks coming from the pop ups. The tile is still w/ calcium deposits. The deck looks as though it was just repainted.. & not by professionals! There was no attention to detail given on the work of this deck.There are places that are not uniform in paint/color or texture, but thats not my concern.. my concern is the expansion joints. They are all painted over & do not look "clean" or "finished". I had the owner out & he had an excuse for everything I questioned.. he said my pool is old, that's the way they turn out, the material is different than the first time, he thought the guys did a good job, & so on. He said the only way to get it to look new is to demolish it & start again. I had one crack in the deck & it is back. They put something red on it but the crack reappeared within a day & now the red is showing through the top color. I asked if there was anything I could do to make it better.. more finished looking.. If I use a knife to chip off the debris that landed on the strips & then they painted over them, it will show the white underneath. Actually, the paint is already chipping/peeling off the strips. Any suggestions? Thx :)
 
Welcome to TFP!

I am sorry to hear about the problems you are having. While every one of the issues you mentioned could happen to an experienced contractor, they are each rare and the chances of all of them happening on one job are vanishingly small. Far more likely they simply did a poor job and don't want to admit it.

The stains in the pool could be from metals in the fill water. You can check by getting some Vitamin C tablets, crushing them, putting the powder in a sock, and rubbing a sample stain with the sock for 30 seconds. If the stain starts to fade it is most likely a metal stain.

Cracks in the deck can be very difficult to repair if there is any motion at all. Of everything you describe, that surprises me the least. However, they should have told you that there was only a small chance that the simple approach they tried was going to work.
 
Wow that sounds like some very bad work. Is this person a licensed contractor? If so this is what I'd recommend you do:

1. Call and tell them if they don't fix it that you'll file a complaint with the AZ Registrar of Contractors (ROC).
2. Look up the companies history with the ROC.

http://www.azroc.gov/

3. If they don't get serious about it go ahead and file a complaint against the contractor. Most of them do not want a complaint on their record if they are a somewhat good company. Plus the inspector will come out and issue a work order for them to fix any bad workmanship. If they don't comply within 15 days they additional actions can be taken.

Good luck and keep us posted. Got any pictures of what it looks like? I'm in Tucson and have a good guy to contact if you need some references.

Eric
 
The acid wash wasn't done properly that is why you have streaks. The gypo's just
pour diluted down the side of the pool and call it good. Acid washing is a dirty messy job
and most do not want to get dirty. The acid must be scrubbed for it to be even.

The only way to clean calcium off of tile is to glass bead blast the tile. No other way
will get it clean.

They probably just painted your deck and called it KoolDeck(a common practice).

I bet your won't be able to even find this guy and I am sure he has no license.

The slowdown in construction hopefully will drive these guys out of business.
$3500 is top dollar for your job, you should of checked around and you could have
had a job at 1/2 this price that would even look good. These guys are hungery and don't
take the first person that comes along.

My neighbor just had some Excel deck coating installed(properly) for $1.85 per sq foot.
He had quotes of up to $10.00 per sq. foot and was told nobody would do it for less.

Cliff s
 
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