You always hope everything goes as planned on your dream pool. Then the nightmare begins. New pool installation has been one problem after another. Finally get to the finish and the pebble tec install happens. It went well the first day, then the acid wash didn't seem to be done completely. Told guys to not fill the pool because it didn't look right, but they told us it was normal and that brushing 2x a day would make everything uniform. That was the week before Thanksgiving. Almost Xmas and we have had 8 gallon of acid put in the pool with no fix. They drained it yesterday to acid wash again. It still looks terrible. Blue streaks down the walls and the ledge and seat corners all look like the the sludge in the box during install. And we are seeing place with nothing.Is this fixable or are we being to picky with Caribbean Blue pebble tec color.
Pebble tec problems
- Thread starter nmnichols
- Start date
- May 23, 2015
- 24,382
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
That looks like the aggregate has been over exposed...who has been managing the water chemistry? You say you added 8 gallons of acid but what are your water test values? What is your TA and CH?
Acid washing is only going to make it worse, not better. What has your PB and plaster applicator said?
Acid washing is only going to make it worse, not better. What has your PB and plaster applicator said?
We have no idea if they were testing the water or not. The PB has had someone here everyday, but the tried to ignore it and us at first. We have found 10 spots in the pool they are going to have to fix, currently someone is in there acid washing it more. We have told them not to fill it back up until the Florida Pebble tec rep comes and tells us it's good.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,382
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If it’s PebbleTec and was installed by a licensed P-Tec installer, then they are on the hook for the warranty.
My opinion is it has been over-etch/exposed with too many acid washes and/or the water was too aggressive (low pH/TA/CH). My opinion - chip it out and redo it. That’s what I would push for assuming you still have some financial leverage.
My opinion is it has been over-etch/exposed with too many acid washes and/or the water was too aggressive (low pH/TA/CH). My opinion - chip it out and redo it. That’s what I would push for assuming you still have some financial leverage.
Lifetime warranty for original owner supposedly and we haven't paid the final 5k invoice due to the pool being incomplete. Will see what Pebble Tec rep says. The installers were licensed and came up from Orlando. But the next morning acid wash was done by PB people. I would rather they start over.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,382
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Yup. Hold their feet to the fire and don't give an inch. They will likely try to blame you for everything or tell you that this is normal and you're being too picky about it. Since you had nothing to do with the startup chemistry, and it sounds like the PB was trying to use a no-drain acid wash process (aggressive water with low alkalinity and pH) to smooth out the color variations, none of this is on you. I have Caribbean Blue pebble tec and I can honestly say that my 4 year old faded plaster looks better than your brand new plaster...
That's what we figured. Nothing has gone well. But we are on them everyday. We will see what happens.
To be devils advocate having that pool empty per owners demand is a very good “out.”
My situation is similar to the OP except that my Pebble Tec pool is now over 4 years old. It was never a very good job from the beginning, but now there are some places in the pool that look like the OP's second photo. I agree with you that very likely that situation was mostly my own fault for putting too much acid in, trying to compensate for our alkalinic water here to keep the PH low in a vain attempt to keep the calcium off; I overdid it and I accept responsibility for it. However, that's not the main issue at the moment. The main issue now is that I finally had my boulders taken out of the pool set above a row of waterline tile (see other posts on that subject). However, doing that job also managed to damage the existing Pebble Tec so that guy recommended another guy to take out a few inches of the existing Pebble Tec and make the repair. Well, the repair itself was "okay" I guess but the repairman didn't protect the walls or floor of the pool very well. Yesterday we spent 2 hours cleaning out the floor and the junk they left in the drain, and now that everything is dry I can see that the bottom is now whitish with "streams" where clear water ran over the original and lots of streaks of white running down the walls -- as I said, it was never great, I made it worse, and this makes it intolerable.
The person who recommended this jackleg feels responsible and is coming tomorrow, says he can powerwash and acid wash the white away. Wife says that will be acceptable once the pool is filled again and I should just wait a few years before getting the whole pool replastered again. I don't agree even if. However, a full replaster (re-Pebble Tec) isn't needed except for aesthetics. The finish itself isn't that bad, the only thing that's genuinely bad is the ridiculous amounts of mottled colors, the gray-blue like in the OP's second picture, all the white stuff left over from the new repair, and the fact that the new repair itself isn't exactly the same shade. Hence I am wondering if it would be possible to deliberately STAIN the entire pool with a dark blue? I don't mean paint, I mean STAIN. If you can get stain on the Pebble Tec from rust and whatnot, why can't you deliberately stain the whole pool at the same time to give it a uniform color? Wouldn't he plaster part of the Pebble Tec take the stain without affecting the pebbles? That would definitely solve the mottled look it has. Anyone ever heard of this?
There are two takeaways for sure: First, never let the PB set boulders down into the water. None of this would have happened if the stupid boulders weren't absorbing water, flaking off into the pool and turning the sealant white. Second, even with a dedicated water softener for the automatic pool filler AND keeping the PH down (I was trying to keep it at 7.2 whereas it seems to naturally want 7.8), all I got was Pebble Tec damage and I still got calcium buildup (however, maybe there will be less calcium buildup now with the boulders no longer sitting in the water and flaking off all the time).
I had a pool when we lived in Florida and never had a bit of trouble with it. This pool in Las Vegas has been nothing BUT trouble.