Is it possible? Practical? Advisable?

[MJCP]

The paint on our pool is flaking off in spots, some dime sized, some as big as quarters, but mostly just little flecks of paint that I notice in the skimmer basket.

After reading about how expensive repainting is, is it possible to just "touch up" the spots? Most of the flaking is on the steps and in the shallow end.

Our pool is a 70's cement pool with apparently several paintings already, since I see the signs of previous paint jobs, and the old owners left at least 2 different brands of empty paint cans in the shed.

 

[TresW]

Flaking paint is indicative of an underlying problem that needs to be solved. It could be that there was improper surface prep during one of the previous paint jobs or it could be that there are just too many paint coats and they're not bonding well to each other any more. If you start touching it up you'll probably be starting a never-ending process of touch-ups. Unfortunately there's not really a cheap fix, to make the problem go away you're probably looking at draining the pool and stripping ALL the old paint off, then refinishing.