Is It Possible That My Poured Concrete Pool Was Never Plastered?

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duvalman

0
In The Industry
Jan 5, 2017
6
NE FL
Pool Size
20000
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Has anyone heard of old pools being finished via rubber/epoxy applied directly to a poured concrete shell?

I'm planning a repair/repaint of my previously painted pool and I'm trying to figure out if my pool has ever been plastered. I've been researching pool stuff on and off for a couple of years now, and I've been unable to determine my pool surface.

To my knowledge, the pool was installed in 1969 when the house was constructed, and I realized today that it looks like it was poured in place. There are slightly noticeable seams where the corners meet the walls and the corners are 45 degrees instead of 90 degrees/rounded (presumably 45s are much easier to make with forms). There is no de-lamination in the surface, just some minor cracks and pitting (presumably frost-related from sitting partially empty for several years). I feel like a plaster surface would be in much rougher shape after being subjected to free/thaw for a few years. I started grinding out cracks and small divots in 2017 to prepare to patch them (and then got busy with work for 18 months) and it appears that there is no plaster layer (there is aggregate within 1/4" of the surface).

Pic from when I mostly drained it in 2017:
Pool Pic_Resized.jpg
The crack in the foreground has already been enlarged with a grinder. The deep end surface is in much better condition since it has been consistently underwater while the pool has been unused. |I will grab a close-up surface shot tomorrow.

Thanks!
 
I’m not expert but that looks like a hybrid pool - the vertical walls are fiberglass panels and the base/bottom of the pool is poured concrete. Usually the vertical walls are interlocking panels of fiberglass with seams that are sealed by a rubber gasket. It may have all been painted/epoxied over. Hybrid pool construction was all the rage in your area of the country back in the days of the 70’s and 80’s. Are you sure if the age of the pool??
 
JoyfulNoise said:
I’m not expert but that looks like a hybrid pool - the vertical walls are fiberglass panels and the base/bottom of the pool is poured concrete. Usually the vertical walls are interlocking panels of fiberglass with seams that are sealed by a rubber gasket. It may have all been painted/epoxied over. Hybrid pool construction was all the rage in your area of the country back in the days of the 70’s and 80’s. Are you sure if the age of the pool??
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I'm pretty sure it was built when the house was built; most of the houses on my street have, or used to have, pools. The walls definitely have some concrete in them (I've done some crack grinding in the walls as well)
 
So your opinion is that it is paint/epoxy directly on concrete? Have you ever seen that in the wild?

If I don't care about a plaster-smooth finish do you think there are any risks with just making the necessary minor repairs, doing really good surface prep and hitting it with a few coats of a high-build paint or epoxy?
 
I agree the skimmer setup is typical of an all concrete pool but that ledge going around the bottom of the walls is classic hybrid.

In any event, if the OP has ground through the wall to concrete, then I guess the walls are concrete.
 

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This could be the situation where Ecofinish Aquabright would shine. Do a search on Ecofinish and you will find several threads. I do want to highlight that you need a very Highly experienced applicator. If you do consider it please make sure they show you previous works and you have warranty very well spelled out. This pool reminds me of my grandmothers pool, great memories.

Felipe
 
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I really appreciate everyone's input! I came across KimKats recommendation of Aquabright on another thread and that certainly looks like a solid option.

I'm thinking I will do a repair/repaint this year since I have to spend the $ on all new equipment this year and then budget for Aquabright in a couple of years when the paint reaches the end of its service life.
 
I don’t think Aquabright is going to be a good approach. It works great on new plaster installations but renovations are hit & miss. There’s one member on here with a hybrid pool (FG walls and a concrete base) and the Aquabright installer ruined his pool. He’s now in a legal fight with the pool builder that did the remodel to recover damages.

A successful Aquabright application relies critically on surface prep. In your pool, ALL of the paint would have to be removed and the surface would likely need to be sandblasted down to the original shell. Then a layer of plaster would need to be applied to make a smooth surface for the Aquabright to adhere to. If you were to just apply the Aquabright to the concrete surface, my bet is it would look horrible as it is a conformal coating that will simply replicate all of the surface features.

If you look at costs, it’s going to be HUGE. Not only will you have to pay for the demo and removal of the old materials but you’ll also need a fresh plaster surface and then the Aquabright. My guess is you wouldn’t see a price less than $16,000 and I’d bet you it will be higher than that.

A better solution might be to look into a custom vinyl liner. You could convert the pool to a liner pool with minimal surface prep, ie, leave the previous paint job in place. A custom liner will cost more than a standard liner pool and you’ll need to retrofit the returns, skimmer, and coping (to add a liner track) but it will likely cost less than an Aquabright finish and be far less risky.
 
jlengyel said:
I identified the current finish as a rubber-based product today via xylene test. I need to do some searching on here to figure out what brand to go with for my re-coat.
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You won’t find much in the way of advice here on paint as TFP never recommends painting a pool. The pool paints available nowadays are all garbage and rarely last more than 2-3 years before they deteriorate, become chalky and mess up pool filters. It’s not that anyone disagrees with what you’re doing, you can only do what you can afford to do, but TFP just doesn’t have any advice in the area of pool paints other than, “Don’t do it!”

I did recently run across an online article about something called Nelsonite Poolpoxy which is a 2-part epoxy based pool paint that is supposed to be a fairly high-build epoxy coating. But I think you would have to strip your pool down to the concrete as it doesn’t work over other coatings. I have no other info on this material other than what I briefly read online so your mileage may vary ... a lot!
 
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That’s 2 part Ramuc chlorinated rubber paint. It has a very distinctive cured look.
You can decide how well it served in your pool.

Despite the mass opinion here - there are good paints; the above is great stuff.

Unfortunately there have been regulatory overreactions to PCBs in bathing vessels & VOCs and many states have these products on their “no fly” list.

So the anti paint forum consensus, is from their experiences with inferior unregulated paint products that do not hinder interstate commerce.

*Personally I don’t paint pools because it is a money looser & the tree huggers run my state.
 
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