Brown Stain/Spot Identification

pirateyoshi

Silver Supporter
Sep 14, 2020
35
Orlando, Florida
I have not been able to figure out what these spots are. They are all in pits in the plaster near the water line. Didn't react to vitamin C or my SLAMing over the last few days. I have rubbed trichlor on it in the past and nothing seemed to change. The spots feel slightly smoother than the plaster but not by a whole lot. They all look and feel about the same. I would wait til I am done SLAMing my black algae away but what steps for identification should I do next?

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You've ruled-out iron with the Vitamin C, and they appears to be too light for copper, although if you have a some dry acid handy you can try applying some in a thin sock just to be sure. Since the area is depressed a bit, holding a chlorine tablet in there might be tough. But based on the texture and light coloring, it looks like the plaster is eroding away and that's the gunite underneath. How old is this plaster/pool?
 
The pool was made in '89. Not sure if it ever got re-plastered- bought the house a few months ago so I am not too sure if I can figure out those types of mysteries. Those spots are more depressed than the other spots where the plaster is eroding. Been SLAMing in full earnest for 3-4 days and my black algae is almost out of sight. Would it be a good idea to call someone in to see if we should replaster? I have been trying my best to avoid involving anyone professional until I know what's going on myself.
 
I have vacation next week so I will have some time for some free estimates. This is my first house so we have lots of expenses (just repiped the house today). I assume all replastering services are for the entire pool? Is patching these spots fine if I just want to keep water from getting to the rebar? Not overly concerned about texture or aesthetics since I haven't even been inside my pool yet. My main priority at the moment is to finish SLAMing the black algae away enough. Want to make sure I love it before I start spending thousands of dollars on a service.
 
Yeah I certainly hope its okay to patch it for now. I have handled the majority of the black algae on my walls but with the plaster being so rough in those areas I don't think I can realistically eradicate it without an acid bath which for obvious reasons I want to avoid. Luckily my inlaws actually brought up resurfacing before I had to break the idea to them which is a huge relief. I will do the quotes for them this next week but I don't think I could actually go through with it for a while since we have other projects eating up funds.

I assume I can patch the gunite spots and then as long as I keep the water chemistry good it should keep the black algae from growing back too much until I can eventually replaster and solve everything. Is this a reasonable line of thinking?
 
White plaster is the easiest to patch and look decent. Its been a long time since I've done it but just follow the prep instructions and you can buy some time. Just keep an eye in the pool overall. Nad plaster can lead to leaks and cause serious issues under amd around the shell down the road. Patching is just a bandaid
 
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