Hello, thank you for taking the time to read this. I wanted advice on our pool plaster situation.
When our pool was replastered in late April 2023, the company that did it forgot to put in our tile trim. So, 4 days after the new plaster was done, the pool was drained and workers were walking on it to do the tile. We live in southern California where the weather was mild but warmer than other areas so this may factor in to what happened next.
Anyway, my mom noticed cracks that have been steadily expanding in the shallow end a few months after the job was done. They span several feet and in some areas there are dark/black spots with some residue (calcium build up?) emerging from the cracks. The company has delayed coming out to address it, so we had a few pool companies come over to give us their opinion and a quote.
All the pool companies agreed it should be replastered completely. They said a patch would be discolored and the pool needed to be redone. One wasn't sure if the staining was from rebar surfacing (we hadn't drained the pool at this point yet), but all of them agreed it was very premature and almost unheard of to drain the pool after 4 days since the plaster wouldn't be fully cured.
Anyway, we just had the company that did the plaster job over to assess our pool after draining it. The owner is trying to blame these cracks on improper calcium levels. Over the phone before he even saw the job, he exclaimed it would cost him so much money to redo it. He is actually the one who referred us to our current pool service that balances the chemicals in our pool, and the only reason we've kept them is because they came through the company that did our plaster.
Fortunately, my mom had the water chemical levels tested right before we drained the pool. The calcium hardness levels were normal (254), but the PH was high (8.3) and the alkalinity was low (77), and the cyanuric acid was just slightly high (102), the copper was high (0.4), and the phosphates were high (452, but we were advised this was acceptable).
Could the calcium hardness (that was normal), cause the delamination and cracking? The owner of the plaster company knocked on the tiles and said it sounded hollow. He is trying to blame these problems on the calcium hardness and acid/the pool water levels, acting like he is doing us a favor to even consider doing a patch.
Does anyone have any advice or opinions on what is going on with this plaster? I feel like he is lying to save himself the cost since the other companies assessed the pool and felt it needed to be redone, but since they didn't see the cracks with the water drained I have a margin of doubt.
When our pool was replastered in late April 2023, the company that did it forgot to put in our tile trim. So, 4 days after the new plaster was done, the pool was drained and workers were walking on it to do the tile. We live in southern California where the weather was mild but warmer than other areas so this may factor in to what happened next.
Anyway, my mom noticed cracks that have been steadily expanding in the shallow end a few months after the job was done. They span several feet and in some areas there are dark/black spots with some residue (calcium build up?) emerging from the cracks. The company has delayed coming out to address it, so we had a few pool companies come over to give us their opinion and a quote.
All the pool companies agreed it should be replastered completely. They said a patch would be discolored and the pool needed to be redone. One wasn't sure if the staining was from rebar surfacing (we hadn't drained the pool at this point yet), but all of them agreed it was very premature and almost unheard of to drain the pool after 4 days since the plaster wouldn't be fully cured.
Anyway, we just had the company that did the plaster job over to assess our pool after draining it. The owner is trying to blame these cracks on improper calcium levels. Over the phone before he even saw the job, he exclaimed it would cost him so much money to redo it. He is actually the one who referred us to our current pool service that balances the chemicals in our pool, and the only reason we've kept them is because they came through the company that did our plaster.
Fortunately, my mom had the water chemical levels tested right before we drained the pool. The calcium hardness levels were normal (254), but the PH was high (8.3) and the alkalinity was low (77), and the cyanuric acid was just slightly high (102), the copper was high (0.4), and the phosphates were high (452, but we were advised this was acceptable).
Could the calcium hardness (that was normal), cause the delamination and cracking? The owner of the plaster company knocked on the tiles and said it sounded hollow. He is trying to blame these problems on the calcium hardness and acid/the pool water levels, acting like he is doing us a favor to even consider doing a patch.
Does anyone have any advice or opinions on what is going on with this plaster? I feel like he is lying to save himself the cost since the other companies assessed the pool and felt it needed to be redone, but since they didn't see the cracks with the water drained I have a margin of doubt.
