plaster job, what went wrong? (drained pictures included)

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U

uwimage

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Apr 10, 2007
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Richardson, TX
OK...I'm just trying to figure out how the plaster got to this condition? This is less than a year after the plaster job, yes, we did all the chems right, swept at least twice a day and left the pump of for over 3 weeks/24 hrs a day...we did everything in their start up guide.

The pool company is being compliant, after we paid lawyer fees... :roll:

So, to the experts or novices who have experienced this, any ideas on how the plaster is this discolored? Oh, and this is post acid wash today...or does all plaster look this splotchy/un even? We just paid for a basic plaster job with a hardening additive.

The upside is if they re-plaster we can upgrade to Quartz or pebble tech, we honestly didn't have the money then, do now so it could end up working out well for us and them (but they won't get one penny till we're happy with EVERYTHING!) I've learned so much here...thanks for everyone’s involvement and input!


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Quote: "or does all plaster look this splotchy/un even?"

Plaster is inherently inconsistent in color. Not just pool plaster, but wall plaster too. Darker colors are more obvious. Typically you can't see the mottling when the water is in the pool though. It's really hard to tell from your photos because they are pretty far from the surface, but that doesn't appear to be normal mottling. It looks like your plaster is either stained or etched. I know you said you kept the chemicals in check , but it may be possible that metals or something got into your water that wouldn't show up on normal tests.
 
The reason they drained the pool in the first place is the streaking/staining was very obvious with the water in, we were kind of shocked to see it drained...I know when we started it up we put all the 'anti-staining' chemicals in it, there really is no place I can see metals getting in the pool either.

This is probably a very novice question, but is it a different plaster they put on the walls vs the pool bottom?

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
It should all be covered with the same plaster and in a uniform thickness. Has the streaking been there all along or did it show up recently? If it appeared later, was it just suddenly there one day or did it slowly develop?

The acid washing should have worked if what you had were stains. Acid washing removes a thin layer of the plaster and exposes fresh plaster underneath. You don't want to do it to many times because eventually there will be no plaster left as it's only about 1/2" thick to start with.
 
no, it's been there since last summer, we were just beaten with a 'remodel experience'since we signed a contract in September and the job was not finished till the following March. We started to give up in September, then decided to hire a lawyer...funny how those guys help...

Yeah, the acid wash too out all the organic stains (I wasn't worried about those, I didn't even put them in the pictures)...

I spoke to the construction manager today, he said if it looks the same to him (just a little brighter) we'll add a couple of holes to keep it from floating and go from there...figure out what type of new finish to put on the pool...looks like I might have to do some research...
 
No problem!

The reason I was asking about how long it's been there is because it's possible that when the plaster was applied it wasn't troweled properly. It's also possible the plaster wasn't mixed right. It actually looks like a pretty good plaster job in the pics, so it's a bit of a surprise that you're having this issue.

I have two friends that have white plaster, both pools are around 5 years old. They are both ready to get their pools redone due to staining issues. White shows everything!
 
I actually think it was a mix issue...they wouldn't admit that in person, I guess because they wanted to see it drained, but it's either that or the equipment they used wasn't cleaned right from the previous job they did. They started around 1pm at our house so I assume they did a job before us. I also noticed they didn't do the sponges on their shoes like I expected.

Anyone else with ideas? I'm happy to admit I'm being too anal but with their willingness to fix it I assume they saw something wrong too.
 
It's a little hard to tell from the pictures at a distance, but that sure looks like a water balance issue to me. It's possible it's a mix issue and the fact that the plaster contractor isn't fighting you may be the best indicator that it is.
 

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Aquaman95 said:
It's a little hard to tell from the pictures at a distance, but that sure looks like a water balance issue to me. It's possible it's a mix issue and the fact that the plaster contractor isn't fighting you may be the best indicator that it is.
Click to expand...

They have admitted fault at this point, I can assure you the chemicals were 100% balanced (my personal OCD issue :D)

At this point they are going to put a couple of holes in the pool so it doesn't float up...we're now looking at the price difference between a free replaster job, quartz, pebble tec, pebble sheen and pebble fina...only paying the difference, they'll pay the start up costs (daily sweeping, chemicals, etc included)...at this point I'm happy with the way the company responded but very upset it took this long and a lawyer's involvment to get anything resolved. To their credit there has be a bunch of internal changes...it looks like we're not the only ones who complained for months with no action and had to resolve to lawyers.

Thanks for TFP's knowledge base and support! Even if we do go with a service I will still be a regular, lifetime supporter! Thanks to Sean for all your hard work!

-T
 
Hey how did you pool turn out? I'd love to see a picture. I have the exact same color plaster and most of the mottling that you have. I have been brushing it several times a day but it seems to be getting worse the more I brush. I think when it stops raining I'll jump in with a brush and maybe the brush type vacuum head.
 
My plaster has that uneven gray coloration but not the dark splotches. So you're asking about the splotches, right? Isn't the grayish tinge normal? Last fall when we bought the house, I had a pool guy come show me what was what, and he didn't say anything about it.
--paulr
 
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