EcoFinish Pool wall questions

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Well, pricing is pretty regional but I would think you could get this done for under $30,000 (my job was done in November 2017 - the original pool was built in 1996). I got estimates from $25,000-$35,000 to do my job and I would have gone with the $25,000 guy if he wasn't running so far behind. As it is, what I saved mostly was about $3000 - $4000, time, and the ability to speak to the guys directly and keep on top of things. My reno involved a couple of extras (new diving board and base, electrical to pool light and outdoor plugs, skimmer and ladders) which added about the same as what I saved.
 
Thank you for the information. I thought you had done it a couple of years ago and that's why I said in today's dollars. At this point I just want my pool to look normal again and either do the overlay of the new fiberglass walls or gunite the walls and make the pool slightly smaller would do that, the vinyl insert would not in my opinion. The contractors that I have talked to have not given me any option of putting gunite walls in. How hard was it to talk the pool contractor into doing that?
 
STLPool2017 said:
The contractors that I have talked to have not given me any option of putting gunite walls in. How hard was it to talk the pool contractor into doing that?
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Not too hard. I had to speak with about a dozen larger pool companies, pool builders and pool renovation companies. The ones I ended up shortlisting were bigger concrete/plaster company subs referred by the larger pool companies (that felt the job was too small for them), or smaller pool renovation companies. I used a range of about 100 miles from where I live. You might also get some names from smaller pool supply shops in your area. You could show potential builders the pictures of my reno and see what they think. And, like I said, this wasn't a quick process - took me a couple of years. But you're well ahead of the game now, so it shouldn't take you more than a couple of months now that you've researched the options.
 
Forgot to mention, these guys were my original preferred option. They say their service area is all down the east coast but I think I might have been a little too far south for them in NC (they're in NJ):

Pool Repair - Resurfacing - Conversion - Remodeling - Swimming Pool Contractor - East Coast Pools

I'm sure there are other companies that could do this. Here's a search of fiberglass pool conversions; click on eack pool and see if there's any more information and links to the companies that did them:

fiberglass pool conversion - Google Search
 
WOW, did I miss something in my research on EcoFinish! My pool is all fiberglass, about 25 years old. I am in the middle of an installation disaster. Lots of issues, and once they start, you have NO choice but to finish. Knowing what I know now, I would not have gone this route. The first day, they emptied the pool like gangbusters. Water was underneath and a corner blew out. They said to call them when it was fixed. They restarted, old repairs blew out, they left, came back to help locate other areas (so they could have done this first), and the areas were repaired. Now they are back to finish the remaining areas. They did not remove the blisters, and hopefully the sandpaper like finishes in some areas get melted down a bit more. And the zebra striping in the colors. And, hey, that color really does not look like what I picked.

I would not recommend this stuff for fiberglass pools. Probably fine for concrete.

The stuff will come off with an 80 grit grinder and alot of patience.
 
Update as of today, I must tell you my installation contractor did a great job on this. They did put down a third coat, adjusted the texture for me, and all is looking good as the pool fills up. If not for the initial problems, I probably would have had a better feeling about this from the beginning. Will let you know about it in the spring.

Now if we can just agree to that final price.....
 
My update to the "EcoFinish Pool wall questions" thread may have to be put on a new thread since I didn't know that there had to be activity within 60 days.

Anyway,. It has been 2 plus years without a pool because of the VERY poor attempted install of the AB product by the main pool contractor and the "trained & authorized AB installer" that was the sub-contractor to this debacle.

I have a lawyer now involved........and I think I have another process (and new contractors) to UNDO and then FIX the fiasco that I was left with. Stay tune!

The install problems are many and I have you can search for "EcoFinish Pool wall questions" to see pictures of the problems. If you can't find that thread let me know and I can do a highlights posting and then give you when I am going from here in the spring of 2019.20181023_145027.jpg
 

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Glad to hear you have some legal support now. Shame the whole experience has been so negative. Hopefully your new contractor will change all that for you. You'll notice I merged your threads so that now everything is back together again. :) Good luck!
 
For what its worth - you are not alone. We have also terminated our EcoFinish installer on our new (15 months and counting) gunite pool build and have called EcoFinish to see if they can send another installer, but they are not that great at responding. Our installer did have an EcoFinish rep out here at one point so that is not very reassuring. We may have a new pool builder knock it down and just go the traditional plaster route. Our EcoFinish looks like a wrinkled up old liner and is patchy and just plain ugly. At this point, I would not recommend it to anyone, especially if the Company does not stand behind their installers. I wish you the best of luck.
 
I feel you pain. Getting NOTHING from the Pool contractor and the lawsuit is being filled any day now.

Hopefully the weather will get better soon and the new contractors that will be UNDOING everything that the EcoFinish contractors did so that I can go back to a fiberglass / gunite pool. Once that process starts I will post pictures of how successful that reversal process is......stay tune!
 
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sktn77a said:
Wow, sorry to hear of your dilemma. I had the same type of pool (concrete base, "Acrylic "- ie fiberglass - walls). The seal between the wall panels started to leak after about 5 years and the gelcoat on the fiberglass walls started blistering around the same time. I researched this for a couple of years, basically arriving at 3 solutions:

1. Fiberglass over the whole thing (walls and floor, as the concrete needed replastering anyway)
2. Install a vinyl liner
3. Gunite over the walls and replaster the whole thing.

I couldn't get anyone to do 1. or 2. (1. was my preferred choice at the time).

I ended up going with 3. And boy am I glad I did. I lost about 8" around the entire pool so its a little smaller now but it looks like a real pool. Here, in reverse order, are some pics on the before, process and after results:

View attachment 85053

Let me know if you want more pictures.
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I know this his an ancient thread, but what company did you use to gunite over the walls and replaster ? I have a similar “hybrid” pool with a concrete base and fiberglass walls. It needs to be resurfaced, and I’m not having much luck finding anyone who wants to work on it. It’s also “indoors”, covered by roof deck. I’m in Charlotte, NC. It appears you are in Raleigh ?
 
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I'm not sure if the the failures were ever identified. The bubble on the wall are called osmotic blisters. Water penetrates to between the outer gel coat and inner fiber-reinforce structural parts of the panel. If any of these were missed during the repair process, they'll reform in short order. There are a lot of you tube videos of boat owners repairing these which is mostly grinding away the gel coat to release the trapped water. The the resulting divot is feathered with the structural layer exposed at the center. After cleaning, a patching/filler material called "fairing" is used to fill the void. Fairing is just two-part epoxy that is filled with ultra-fine silica (carbosil). A coat of epoxy primer over the patch allows for subsequent beauty coat. I'm just using Kelly Tech Gunzite and Zeron to cover. The seams formed between the panels and at the concrete are also problematic. I think the rust color is ground water leaching into the pool, hitting the chlorinated water, and precipitating iron at the surface. For my POS pool, I'm grinding away the gel coat 6" wide on each side of the seam and across the vertical panel-to-panel seam. I will bridge the seam with 2 layers of 6 oz woven fiberglass embedded in 2-part epoxy. This is getting sanded down and filled with fairing to make it look reasonably nice. The tricky part will be filling the concrete to panel seam. I'm using a product called Ruscoe Permanent Sealer PSCG-HV, a cartridge-delivered caulk composed of nitrile rubber. This product has the same composition as Permseal but is significantly more viscous. I think the trick will be getting the gap between the concrete and panel opened up and cleaned to accept a healthy dose of the sealant. Once the blisters and seams are repaired, the entire pool will get a coat of Gunzite followed by Zeron.
 
Jim.h.oconnor said:
I know this his an ancient thread, but what company did you use to gunite over the walls and replaster ? I have a similar “hybrid” pool with a concrete base and fiberglass walls. It needs to be resurfaced, and I’m not having much luck finding anyone who wants to work on it. It’s also “indoors”, covered by roof deck. I’m in Charlotte, NC. It appears you are in Raleigh ?
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I’m in a similar boat. I think gunnite walls over the fiberglass walls is the way to go.
 
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