Flexseal on diamond brite. Yep.

[JeffKL]

This is crazy, I just sprayed 4 cans of clear flex seal on my 15 year of diamondbrite. I got ghosted by a pool repair guy. My diamondbrite was failing so bad it clogged the bottom drains and caused a poor circulation algae bloom. I drained the pool. Cleaned the walls of algae stains and felt how bad the diamondbrite is failing. I need a few months to find a new pool repair company. Not easy where I live. The empty pool was a hazard. I got desperate and said scrxxx it. I need a few months. My pool has never been so clean and so far the flex seal is holding up. 4500 gallons in key largo Florida. It doesn’t have UV inhibitors which is my main concern.

So. What’s everyone’s opinion. Stupid ? Ok
For a few months? Not a big deal, it will just flake off ?

I would love to spray a real clear coat epoxy but haven’t found one. Oh. I got one other company to actually show up and quote me $15k for new diamondbrite. I’m retired and I’d rather learn pool plaster and spend that money on my boat then $15k this year for plaster.

 

[kimkats]

So when you say "Failing" you mean the plaster is coming off? I do see some roughness but I don't see where any plaster has come off the shell.

Now lets talk about "uv inhibitors" and such. You need a good test kit so you can keep an eye on your water. Test Kits Compared

Next you need to know what needs to be added to your water like "uv inhibitor" which we call CYA aka cyanuric acid. Here is a link to what you need to keep track of in your water:

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.

www.troublefreepool.com

As for the seal flex, it will be interesting to see how it holds up. I wonder how you will know if it does start to fail?

 

[Bperry]

This is crazy, I just sprayed 4 cans of clear flex seal on my 15 year of diamondbrite. I got ghosted by a pool repair guy. My diamondbrite was failing so bad it clogged the bottom drains and caused a poor circulation algae bloom. I drained the pool. Cleaned the walls of algae stains and felt how bad the diamondbrite is failing. I need a few months to find a new pool repair company. Not easy where I live. The empty pool was a hazard. I got desperate and said scrxxx it. I need a few months. My pool has never been so clean and so far the flex seal is holding up. 4500 gallons in key largo Florida. It doesn’t have UV inhibitors which is my main concern.

So. What’s everyone’s opinion. Stupid ? Ok
For a few months? Not a big deal, it will just flake off ?

I would love to spray a real clear coat epoxy but haven’t found one. Oh. I got one other company to actually show up and quote me $15k for new diamondbrite. I’m retired and I’d rather learn pool plaster and spend that money on my boat then $15k this year for plaster.

I don’t see any failing plaster in the picture either. Maybe those pictures are after the flex seal was added?

The big downside with the flex seal is that you’ll need to have it removed before putting any new finish over it and that tends to be expensive or sweaty (DIY). Applying pool plaster is not a one man job unless it’s for a very small pool. Not sure if 4500 gallons is small enough or not.

 

[mknauss]

I used FlexTape on a solar cover once. It did not last long and was a sticky mess.

 

[JeffKL]

Thanks everyone. I was able to fill a 2 gallon bucket from what i vacuumed from the drains and pool filter. I basically sprayed two coats of clear flex seal and let it cure 24 hours before I filled the pool. I did a small test area and was surprised how smooth it was and the diamondbrite didn’t flake off when I rubbed it. I went to the store and bought 3 more cans. I needed to get the pool filled so nobody would fall in. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Still want to spray some real epoxy clear coat if some exits for pools and someone has done it before. I figure this will will need BondKote anyway in a year or two.

 

[ajw22]

Putting Flex Seal and Epoxy on your plaster will make it difficult or impossible to apply new plaster on top of existing plaster. BondKote is not going to help.

If your Diamondbrite is crumbling, you will need to chip out the old plaster to create a solid surface for the new plaster.

If you are going to do a full chip out with the new plaster then put whatever you want on what you have now for as long as it lasts.

 

[Bperry]

Thanks everyone. I was able to fill a 2 gallon bucket from what i vacuumed from the drains and pool filter. I basically sprayed two coats of clear flex seal and let it cure 24 hours before I filled the pool. I did a small test area and was surprised how smooth it was and the diamondbrite didn’t flake off when I rubbed it. I went to the store and bought 3 more cans. I needed to get the pool filled so nobody would fall in. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Still want to spray some real epoxy clear coat if some exits for pools and someone has done it before. I figure this will will need BondKote anyway in a year or two.

For future reference, that bad of an algae bloom was caused by very low chlorine for a long time. Figure out what went wrong there before you spend money replacing plaster. Poor circulation alone won’t cause algae like that.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

What you’re likely seeing is aggregate loss that is due to the plaster cream dissolving into the pool water. Your pool water was likely very aggressive (low calcite saturation index, CSI) for a long time due to improper water chemistry. Depending on who was taking care of the pool and how they were taking care of it, it is not unreasonable to suspect very poor water care as the culprit more so than age or materials. If and when you do replaster the pool (it is NOT a DIY job unless you want the plaster to look like it was done by a 5 year old hopped-up on Ritalin …), proper water chemistry will be necessary for long plaster life.

As for the FlexSeal … you’ll get your few months out of it but it will slowly breakdown, possible yellow with age and eventually start to spall off. Epoxy paint is no better, a year or two at best before it gets chalky and disintegrates.

 

[JeffKL]

For future reference, that bad of an algae bloom was caused by very low chlorine for a long time. Figure out what went wrong there before you spend money replacing plaster. Poor circulation alone won’t cause algae like that.

my pool had chlorine but the floor and walls got bad. My walls were like 200 grit Sandpaper, so the algae had a good place to hide. Then realized after draining the bottom drains were completely full of sand/diamondbrite. Same for the filter. So I wasn’t getting circulation. So my water had chlorine but the walls and bottom had no proper circulation and daily turnover. It all went downhill over a few weeks/months.

 

[JeffKL]

What you’re likely seeing is aggregate loss that is due to the plaster cream dissolving into the pool water. Your pool water was likely very aggressive (low calcite saturation index, CSI) for a long time due to improper water chemistry. Depending on who was taking care of the pool and how they were taking care of it, it is not unreasonable to suspect very poor water care as the culprit more so than age or materials. If and when you do replaster the pool (it is NOT a DIY job unless you want the plaster to look like it was done by a 5 year old hopped-up on Ritalin …), proper water chemistry will be necessary for long plaster life.

As for the FlexSeal … you’ll get your few months out of it but it will slowly breakdown, possible yellow with age and eventually start to spall off. Epoxy paint is no better, a year or two at best before it gets chalky and disintegrates.

Thanks. Yeah. I really don’t want to do it myself. I had a small company that quoted me $5k. When I called to schedule the job they never returned my calls. So now back to square one. Hope to find someone for 10k or less.

 

[Bperry]

my pool had chlorine but the floor and walls got bad. My walls were like 200 grit Sandpaper, so the algae had a good place to hide. Then realized after draining the bottom drains were completely full of sand/diamondbrite. Same for the filter. So I wasn’t getting circulation. So my water had chlorine but the walls and bottom had no proper circulation and daily turnover. It all went downhill over a few weeks/months.

If you take a look at the TFP chlorine recommendations and how “enough” chlorine depends entirely on how much CYA is in the water, you may be surprised to find there wasn’t enough chlorine. Like said above, something was very wrong with whenever was caring for the water chemistry for a long time. You can manage your pool with zero circulation for many months as long as the chlorine level is correct. It’s harder down there where it’s warmer for longer but it’s totally possible to manage.

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[wireform]

The diamondbrite is probably bad for the same reason you have algae, and if it's not corrected new plaster will get that way too.

 

[BattleOfYakima]

Hi @JeffKL sorry about what you're going through. I'm between Tampa and Orlando and my plaster pool was built in 1982, and only over the last 4 seasons has my plaster begun to truly fail overall. I'm sure a quality install was part of it, but following the TFP guidelines - especially when related to FC, CC, pH, TA, and CH - I saw season after season come and go without having to face the eventual resurfacing. One neighbor has had multiple acid washes and multiple resurfaces during this time, despite having pool service from a pool store... who also sells acid washing and resurfacing...

No matter what you do - please - please - please buy and/or use a TFT-100 via TF-100 Test Kit or other approved test kit such as a Taylor K-2006.

These pool surfaces are truly at the mercy of our water chemistry. Yes, UV and cleaning takes a toll as well, but your finish spent 15 years/473,354,280 seconds in contact with your water - and every second, minute, hour, day, week, month... it was out of balance was time spent working against your finish.

I applaud your out of the box thinking and solutioning, and highly suggest you incorporate the best practices of TFP when it comes to pool matters, then unleash your creativity and resourcefulness on less high stakes endeavors.

To the experts in this thread - should he get a test kit, adjust the water, and monitor the surface's degradation under ideal water circumstances? - or does he need to go directly to resurface now if he's got buckets of that material already collected?

 

[kimkats]

HI @BattleOfYakima ! SO glad to see you on the boards!!

It is a good idea to get the water balanced to try to stop the degrading of what plaster is left. That might save him some time until he can find someone to do the work of replastering the pool. It also helps him how to properly care for the new plaster when it is installed.

Kim