Wow what a gorgeous pool! It is going to look *amazing* filled up! We are in the process of getting quotes now and are looking at Wet Edge. Do you know which type is smoothest? We have a bunch of kids with sensitive feet!
WetEdge has a lot of different product lines, if you are looking at the pebble lines that they have then the Satin Matrix is the smoothest with smaller pebbles. The Pearl Matrix uses larger pebbles. This is just my personal opinion and highly debated topic.
When we were looking at finishes we knew we wanted a pebble finish....then I found the glass finishes at NPT...
There are so many pool finishes on the market your head starts to spin after awhile
. We finally narrowed it down to PebbleTec and WetEdge pebble finishes. The reason we decided on these two is that the applicators must be certified...granted there are no guarantees with certification but for us it provided us with some comfort. As you may know by now PebbleTec also has many product lines too. What helped me decide between the two was actually finding pools with the Pebbletec finishes (both the smaller and larger pebble mix) and WetEdge pebble finishes and touching them with my bare feet in water. I found that the WetEdge Pearl Matrix to be smoother than Pebbletec and WetEdge's Satin Matrix to be smoother than Pebble Sheen.
Also a couple of good pointers that the pool finishing company owner told me is if you have a geometric pool design with lots of edges (like ours) the Satin Matrix is best. Because it covers the corners the best and the smaller pebble will lay flatter and smoother than the Pearl Matrix. Our finish has Pearl matrix in it and when I rub my had across the finish it is very smooth, no jagged pieces of pebble sticking out. The guys really did a good job troweling the pebble in an making it compact. Once I get in the water with my feet I will get a better feel for it. Also he pointed out that toe tiles are not a good thing with the pebble finish because the pebble will stick up around the edges and not be as smooth. Also there's an increased risk of the tile falling out and then the pool would have to be drained and patched in that area. Not something I want to deal with. Our PB was going to put in toe tiles and we were going to use the same glass on our wall but was advised not to by the pool finishing guys. I decided to do what the WetEdge guys told me.
Since you are in the Houston area just PM me and I can tell you who did our finish. I did extensive research on the gunite and plaster guys in our area and think I have a pretty good grasp on who does good work for gunite and plaster. During our PB interviews if they didn't use the specific companies that I wanted I didn't choose them as a builder along with other factors.
We filled up the pool then put the hose in the spa and filled that up last. The PB told us to do this as he said it was better if the spa didn't overflow into the pool (so that any surface that got wet, stayed wet and there were no coloration issues).
Congrats!! Can't wait to see it full!
Thanks cbink! this also helps explain the old clothing that was stuffed into the plumbing. There was water leaking from the plumbing returns (this is the water that was added when they did the pressure test) and they stuffed the pipes with old clothes and on the floor of the pool where water was collecting. I was wondering why they left old clothes on the bottom of the pool...I almost went down to throw them away.
Good thing I was too paranoid to step on the new finish and didn't pick up the clothing.
Kids were so excited to see it filling with water this morning. The youngest keeps asking when she can go swimming
. Now keeping my fingers crossed that there aren't any leaks and everything works like it should once things are turned on.
