Can I add any sort of "protective layer" on top of my pool's pebble finish?

[kamejinjess]

Hi Everyone!
We just bought our house about a year ago with a 17yr old gunite inground pool. Recently noticed there are quite a few spots with fallen tiles & most likely bond beam cracks, so we're thinking of doing some research and try to patch these up ourselves.

This might be a very silly question (forgive me... we have zero knowledge on pools since this is the first time we own one) --
but just wondering is there any sort of "clear paint" or product with no color that we can paint over the pebble finish in our pool & spa -- to further protect that layer? (I notice some of the pebbles started chipping off, especially those spots closer to the waterline).

Our pool & spa surface is like this: (I suppose these are the so called "pebble tech finish" right...? I'm not even sure of this......)

I've tried searching keywords online but don't seem to find any products related (all the pool paints has colors so I assume they're not supposed to be used over the pebble finish right? Otherwise it'll cover all the pebbles and that wouldn't make sense?).
Or I'm not sure if maybe pebble finish don't ever even need any protective layers on top in the first place?

We're thinking if we'll be replacing all the broken tiles along the waterline, we might as well want to drain the pool, and refill it with fresh water (I believe the water in this pool should also be at least 5 or more yrs old... There's always living bugs floating on the water surface at all times and no matter what chemicals we pour in, we can't seem to balance the pH rate nicely. So I assume it'll be wise for us to dump all these old water?).

And if we have to drain the pool anyways, just wanted to see what additional actions we can take to better protect the existing pebble layer to make our pool last longer.

Just wanted to gain some knowledge... hope to hear some suggestions from all the pros here!
Thanks~!

 

[ajw22]

There is no product to put on plaster or Pebble to protect it.

Best thing you can do to protect your pool finish is to maintain the proper water chemistry…

Recommended Levels

 

[kamejinjess]

There is no product to put on plaster or Pebble to protect it.

Best thing you can do to protect your pool finish is to maintain the proper water chemistry…

Recommended Levels

Hi Allen,

Thank you for the info and suggestion!
In that case we'll just replace all old water with new and hopefully that'll get all the chemicals we've bought to work “properly”.

 

[ajw22]

Hi Allen,

Thank you for the info and suggestion!
In that case we'll just replace all old water with new and hopefully that'll get all the chemicals we've bought to work “properly”.

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

Non-Recommended Pool Chemicals

These pool chemicals should not be added to your pool. Save your money and frustration and avoid these chemicals!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Mdragger88]

Welcome to TFP
To add to all the above- the 1st step is getting a proper test kit so u truly can follow the recommended levels & protect your finish as well as your equipment.
The Tf pro, tf100 @tftestkits.net or Taylor k2006c are the only ones we recommend.
Test Kits Compared
Along with using PoolMath to calculate chemical additions.

 

[CraigChing]

Just to be clear, there is no such thing as “old” water. Your current water could have issues that require draining, but you won’t know that until you test it yourself. Get a good test kit (as suggested above), do some reading (also as suggested above) and come back with the results of your tests using your test kit. This forum has *tons* of people with a *ton* of experience to help you with any problem you have.

Oh, and welcome to TFP!

 

[BenB]

There's always living bugs floating on the water surface at all times and no matter what chemicals we pour in

Tell us more about these "chemicals"...

the water in this pool should also be at least 5 or more yrs old

The water in the oceans is 3.8 billion years old!

old water

See above No such thing.

all the chemicals we've bought

Oh no!

Please, before you go draining your pool unnecessarily, do as the above suggestions say and get a real test kit and then come back with your results. Your water is very likely salvageable and all you need to do is balance everything properly and let your filter do its job.

To maintain an immaculately clean pool does not require extensive or expensive chemicals - usually just chlorine and acid, and then some stabilizer (cyanuric acid) once every now and then. It should not be complicated or expensive.

We can help. Please do not rush to hasty solutions until you have all the information in your hands.