Pool Area transformation

[Niko]

Hi, Great Forum and lots of good info from chemistry to landscaping projects. So will share our pool transformation in past 12 months.
We purchased house 12 months ago and encounter a quite a project as property wasn't greatly maintained.
From lots off vegetation that was really bad for the pool and filtration system. We decided to scrape all to dirt and landscape from scratch.
As well pool was 30 years old with original marblesheen plaster that was in desperate need to be resurfaced . We went to resurface pool with Quartzon Ice blue color. Here are pics before,during transformation and now. Any coments welcome

Pool Blasted and cleaned

Quartzon instaled

pool filled up

Well much better then 12 months ago,no leaf foliage like was before.
Any good suggestions for around the pool lighting???

 

[Rocco]

For the resurface, did you use color plaster or pool paint? Can you provide any tips or input for the method you used?

 

[JohnT]

Very nice setting. You might look into LED rope lighting. It can change colors and just kind of makes a glow rather than a bright light. It's especially good if insects are an issue. I currently use liquid fueled torches, but LED ropes are in my plans in the near future.

 

[Niko]

For the resurface, did you use color plaster or pool paint? Can you provide any tips or input for the method you used?

Hi, To resurface old marble sheen we used product called Quartzon in Ice Blue color . It is Aggregate made from quartz stones and is when fully cured very hard
and smooth surface. They have 9 different colors to chose from.
I'm from Australia and it is Australian product. We didn't installed our self we got professional to install.
Method of application was flowing:
1. Empty the pool
2. With hi pressure washer unit blasted whole surface and all lose marble sheen came off. Its very important that lose spots are removed.
3. Then they cut under tile with grinder and jack hummer 150 mm wide strip all around the pool. After acid wash whole surface.
4. Fourth step was application of so called "Scratch Coat " As well you can see cut out under tile on photo.

It is rough coat that helps quartzon finish to adhere well to the surface.
5. next step is application of Quartzon it self. Important thing was that you cant allow any water on to the surface for 24 hours.
7 guys applied the quartzon surface and it took them 5-6 hours.
6. Last step 24 hours after Quartzon was applied they acid wash whole new surface to take any excess of the aggregate .There were
4 people doing acid wash and rinsing in same time making sure that acid doesn't sit long on surface and cause discoloration .
7. Step seven was start filling the pool with water :-D

All in all it is not a DIY project as well requires at least 4 people for quartzon application and acid washing. More people the better.

Now there is start up procedure for first 5 weeks after application as it takes 28 days for quartzon to fully cure.
While curing in 28 days PH and TA need to be tested daily and adjusted to 7.2-7.6 daily CH 200-300 but it will be around 100 for first 5 weeks and by care guide no need to adjust thill 5 weeks is up.
Brushing pool surface with nylon brush is daily in first week and 2nd-3rd week every second day and 4th-5th week every 3rd day as well same for PH and TA. So there is some work in first 5 weeks but it is worth as quartzon more you brush looks better.
In care guide says not to ad salt for first 5 weeks as well and to use liquid chlorine only for 5 week period.
Crucial thing with Quartzon is PH needs to be 7.2-7.8 ideal 7.4 and quartzon will last long time.

 

[Niko]

Very nice setting. You might look into LED rope lighting. It can change colors and just kind of makes a glow rather than a bright light. It's especially good if insects are an issue. I currently use liquid fueled torches, but LED ropes are in my plans in the near future.

Thx that is good idea ,I wouldn't mind having some more light around.

 

[y_not]

I love that finish!! It looks simply gorgeous, like a surreal dreamscape.

I'll definitely have to make a note of this finish, see if I can find it here in the states for when I ever do an IGP in my yard.

That's interesting that they didn't need to jack hammer the old surface, only at the waterline, which I might ask, why?
And the just a pressure wash of the rest.

It seems from what I have followed on here that when people get their pool re-plastered, that they have to jackhammer the entire surface, down to the gunite.

Looks great, love the tropical plants.

BTW, what is that I see on the roof, behind the palm in the 5th photo up from the bottom?

PS. Can you put your pool info and equipment in your signature, as well as your location in your profile info. See the 1st article in pool school for a how-to.
*No need to actually put the titles shown, have a look at others for ideas on formatting if you'd like.

 

[Niko]

I love that finish!! It looks simply gorgeous, like a surreal dreamscape.

I'll definitely have to make a note of this finish, see if I can find it here in the states for when I ever do an IGP in my yard.

That's interesting that they didn't need to jack hammer the old surface, only at the waterline, which I might ask, why?
And the just a pressure wash of the rest.

It seems from what I have followed on here that when people get their pool re-plastered, that they have to jackhammer the entire surface, down to the gunite.

Looks great, love the tropical plants.

BTW, what is that I see on the roof, behind the palm in the 5th photo up from the bottom?

PS. Can you put your pool info and equipment in your signature, as well as your location in your profile info. See the 1st article in pool school for a how-to.
*No need to actually put the titles shown, have a look at others for ideas on formatting if you'd like.

Thanks for nice comments :-D
When they pressure wash they used 650 PSI witch is stronger than sand blasting.For quartzon they need to remove all lose marble sheen and parts that were solid didn't need to be jack hammered . Total thickness of the new finish is 12 mm and cut under tile was to bond around tile edge so once cured will become part of the pool.

That on roof behind Palm is Evaporative Cooling Unit .
Ok ill edit the signature,thanks for pointing out

 

[Flippy]

That looks awesome. I always like to see the pictures of yards taken from a total mess to a tropical paradise.

 

[Niko]

That looks awesome. I always like to see the pictures of yards taken from a total mess to a tropical paradise.

Thanks man for nice coments,

 

[bobodaclown]

In the south west they call them swamp coolers. Work great where heat is high and humidity is low. They use the evaporative cooling effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

 

[y_not]

Swamp coolers are an amazing wonderful invention. Taking full advantage of nature's laws of thermodynamics.

We have one, we love it. It's just a portable unit, but it suits us well. The hotter it gets outside, the more it drops the temp inside. It keeps it right around 70 degrees inside. Plus you have the added benefit of nice, fresh, moist clean air entering your home. As opposed to the dry stale air of an AC unit.

At night the temps really drop here, there can be as much as a 50 degree difference. But without the swamp cooler, just using fans, you can't get all that trapped heat out of the house. With this you can. It keeps it neutral to the outside temp. The only drawback is that it gets extremely humid and sticky in the house as evening sets in. I'm sire it's because the humidity is rising outside.

 

[Stevereno]

Swamp coolers are an amazing wonderful invention. Taking full advantage of nature's laws of thermodynamics.

We have one, we love it. It's just a portable unit, but it suits us well. The hotter it gets outside, the more it drops the temp inside. It keeps it right around 70 degrees inside. Plus you have the added benefit of nice, fresh, moist clean air entering your home. As opposed to the dry stale air of an AC unit.

At night the temps really drop here, there can be as much as a 50 degree difference. But without the swamp cooler, just using fans, you can't get all that trapped heat out of the house. With this you can. It keeps it neutral to the outside temp. The only drawback is that it gets extremely humid and sticky in the house as evening sets in. I'm sire it's because the humidity is rising outside.

Do you turn off the swamp cooler water pump in the evening as the outside temp is dropping and humidity is coming up?

 

[y_not]

Do you turn off the swamp cooler water pump in the evening as the outside temp is dropping and humidity is coming up?

It's kind of a catch 22. One the one hand, if I shut the pump off and just run it on fan, which I have to do for a bit to dry it out anyway. If I do this too early, then the house stays much hotter than outside. Trapped heat.
On the other hand, if I keep it running till after the sun sets and the humidity has been rising for a few hours. Then I get a near equal temperature of inside vs. outside, however, then it becomes rather humid inside. So I have to run the fan all evening to draw in fresh air that's less humid than the cooler made it.

There's a restaurant we frequent that has AC in the new half when they remodeled and added on, but a big roof mounted swamp cooler in the old half.
They don't seem to have that humidity problem there, not like we do with ours.
You can somewhat tell the difference between the 2 forms of cooling. Mostly that the AC will make it "colder" than the swamp cooler can.

So I think it has to do with the size of our cooler, maybe as the water cascades through the exiting air stream, it doesn't have enough chance to re-condense before it exits and enters the room.
It holds about 5.5gal and when it's in the 90's we have to fill it every few hours or so.

It just depends how hot it is. If it only got down to like 76deg in the house and it's 60 outside, then I'm probably going to run it until the temp is at a more comfortable range.
So if I walk into the house, having been out, and it's just icky, sticky muggy! Then I'll kill it.
But if I come in and it really isn't too muggy or at all, but IT'S HOT INSIDE!!! And I'm DYING!
Then I'll leave it run.

I'm cold blooded and hate the heat, handle the cold much better, more comfortable.

 

[Stevereno]

Well I grew up in the Permian Basin area of Texas where the humidity is pretty low most of the time and we didn't have that problem. We, like most everyone at the time, had a swamp cooler on top of the house to provide "central air conditioning". The main issue I had with it was that our system had two speeds: on and off. You could turn off the water pump but if the fan was on, it was on at full force.