I was also led to believe that plastering was a very delicate process that required a lot of skill because the coat needed to be even, etc....but on this pool, the plaster is as thin as 1/4" in some places, and 1-1/4" in others.....
First, very cool project, I just read through everything and will be following along.
The difference in thickness is pretty common, though indicates a less than stellar plaster job. Plastering isn't as delicate many people think, and the coat doesn't need to be super even. The reason it's extremely difficult to DIY is primarily because you need a large mixer, a large grout pump, and a lot of people who all have trowel skills. You need all of the plaster applied in a short time period to prevent "cold joints" from forming, and there's simply no way to do that without a large crew and large mixing/pumping equipment. I saw you linked the DIY pool-replaster blog a while back, and what he did was break up his pool into small sections with stone tiles, with each section small enough that he and his family could plaster it in one short session in order to avoid cold joints. There technically are cold joints forming against the stone tile, but any cracking at that joint will be perfectly straight following the tile edge and not really noticeable.
Another issue with DIY plaster is that it's very difficult to source white portland cement if you're not a pool plasterer or pool builder. That's an easier problem to solve, but still a significant hurdle unless you want gray pool plaster.
I remodeled my pool not long ago, and seriously considered trying to plaster it myself. I work with concrete products a lot as part of my job, am pretty handy, and DIY pretty much everything. I had several ideas for ways to do this, but in the end I found a local pool plastering company that was able to give me a mini-pebble finish applied to my demanding spec's at a great price, so that's what I did.
One of the reasons I got a great price on the plaster is that I did all of the prep-work and other repairs myself, including chipping out all the plaster, replacing the skimmer, replacing a bunch of plumbing, replacing the return fittings, installing new waterline tile, extending the baja shelf and adding a step, capping the main drain and patching over it with new concrete, chipping out and patching weeping rebar in the shell, building and plumbing a water feature, replacing the light fixture, installing an autofill, etc. I also handled the start-up myself. If you're planning on doing most of the work yourself, don't contact a pool builder for plaster quotes, contact the plaster companies directly. Most pool builders sub out the plaster work. And a lot of plaster companies also do pool repairs, including large involved repairs.
- I showed him the crack and mentioned that we had been looking into repairing it and mentioned the torque-lock stuff. He nodded when I said it but then later made a comment like "we normally just use staples". I have been watching a lot of videos about this stuff and obviously the guy who sells Torque-Lock clearly thinks his product is superior to everything else, and as someone who doesn't really know any better, I feel like I would trust that system more than gluing in the staples. What's the general consensus around here? Is Torque-Lock overkill for these types of cracks? I'd rather spend a little extra if its worth it to know we are getting a superior product, but is that pressure mechanism does nothing and the carbon fiber staples hold just as well, then maybe we'd just go with that. If spending an extra $1,000 to make sure that crack is repaired properly is what needs to be done, then so be it.
- For the bond beam, he said he thinks they would just replace it. Cut off the rest of it all the way around the pool and re-pour the entire thing. Make some sense or completely unnecessary if the portions that are left intact are in good condition?
Being able to post-tension the staples does offer some slight advantage over standard staples, but the benefits are definitely being over sold. Steel or carbon fiber staples work very well. And the quality of the installation is going to have more influence over how strong the repair is than what type of staples are used.
Cutting off the whole bond beam and re-pouring does offer some advantages. If you keep parts of the old bond beam, making the transition from the new to the old and linking them together is a bit involved. Pouring the whole thing new also allows for easy proper leveling, which could eliminate the need for a mud cap, which can potentially be a weak point that leads to issues later on.