Don't know what my pool surface is.., nor how to maintain it...

[jgf310]

I have owned my house and pool since about 2004.

During that time I have done no maintenance or work on the pool surface. At one point, maybe about 10 years ago, before I was doing the daily pool care myself, my pool guy said that my pool needed to be painted. I never did it.

I would guess my pool was built in the 1970's.., but I really don't know. It is a kidney-shaped pool.

The pool surface is very hard and pretty smooth- it's either concrete, or maybe plaster over concrete. It may have been painted at one point -i see a few little areas where it looks like maybe peeling paint, but these are tiny - from even a few feet, the surface looks fine. I do have some areas of staining, that don't come off by brushing with a wire brush, but these are not that bad.

my main problem is that when I brush the sides of the pool with the wire brush, a very fine white powder comes off and clouds the water. My cartridge filter can take a day or two to clear this if i do a lot of brushing. So, I tend not to brush the sides very often, which is not great for algae prevention.

I have not been having much trouble with algae - my CC is low, even after brushing.

could it be really old paint that is coming off when i brush?

Going forward, I guess I have two choices: re-plaster (assuming my pool has plaster).., or paint. I understand that TFP does not recommend paint. As an aside - I put two-part epoxy paint on the bottom of my racing sailboat - it's extremely hard, and burnishes to a very smooth surface.., so I have trouble understanding why a similar paint won't work on a pool - but i will take your word for it.

I have a very high water table - there is a stream about 20ft from my pool, and the typical water surface of the stream is only ~2ft or less below the water level of my pool. Sometimes in the summer, the stream dries out completely (not this year-so far) but even then i doubt the water table is ever more than 4 feet lower than the water level of my pool. I have had about 3-4 feet of water out of the pool to reduce CYA - but I was nervous and replaced it right away

So I am not sure what to do for my pool.., nor even if I can do anything - given my water table...

any suggestions?

 

[Texas Splash]

Sounds like your surface is plaster, and perhaps that is what you are seeing come off when you brush. A full set of test results might help us analyze to be sure though. Can you post those first?

 

[jgf310]

i Just cleaned my System 3 filter cartridges
They were filled with small white flakes of something - around 1mm in size. They sure look like flakes of paint, so I am pretty sure the pool was painted and that when I brush I am removing 20+ year old paint.

 

[sktn77a]

Use a nylon brush.... metal wire is too harsh on the plaster surface, especially a really old one.

 

[zea3]

Whether its plaster only or paint over plaster the surface is oxidized and flaking off. One main difference between your racing sailboat and your pool is that the pool surface is constantly exposed to chlorine. The epoxy paints made for pools today last roughly 3-5 years if the surface has been properly prepared. Everything loose would need to be removed from the surface of the pool, either by power washing, or sand blasting. Pools must be drained to be painted, so if you have a high water table it would not be a diy job. A professional would either punch holes in the floor of the pool or open a hydrostatic valve if you have one to prevent the pool from floating. A replaster job would have very similar steps to prep the pool along with chipping out old plaster. I would get 2 or 3 bids for each type of job. The plaster will cost more up front, but it will last much longer than a paint job. Something else you may want to look into is retrofitting the pool with a custom vinyl liner.