Plaster Polisher Damage

[deedub75]

I just had the plaster installed on my new build pool this past Tuesday with Wet Edge Altima Gray. On Wednesday and Thursday, another crew came to polish the plaster then acid wash and power wash. It’s look and feels good.

One of the polishers said that in one small area on one of the wall, some of the plaster started coming off while he was polishing. It made hole in the new plaster. They called in one of the plaster guys to patch it and he said it needed at least two hours of drying time so they worked around it. When the finished they assured me that once it cured it would be the same color. So far it is much darker and stands out. The pool was then filled with water and I can still see it under the water. It’s an eyesore. I sent a picture to the PB project manager and haven’t heard back so I called the owner of the plaster company and am awaiting a call back.

I won’t sign off on the pool and pay the remainder of the money until it’s fixed. Just wondering how it will be fixed to match. Very disappointing!!!!!

 

[ajw22]

I don't think it can be fixed to match.

Plaster should bond to the shell and harden within a day to where it should not come loose like that. It raises the question if there are other issues with your plaster application.

I think the plaster should be chipped out, a bonding coat applied, and new plaster installed.

Let's see what @onBalance thinks.

 

[deedub75]

I don't think it can be fixed to match.

Plaster should bond to the shell and harden within a day to where it should not come loose like that. It raises the question if there are other issues with your plaster application.

I think the plaster should be chipped out, a bonding coat applied, and new plaster installed.

Let's see what @onBalance thinks.

Thanks for the quick reply!

I really think someone was polishing too aggressively and took off of a divot of plaster since it was just that one spot. It could have been a greenhorn in training.

Either way they are gonna have to fix it somehow even if they have to redo it. We won’t get to swim in it anyway this year.

 

[ajw22]

Plaster after a few hours is harder then you think and hard enough to walk on. I don't know what type of power tools they were using but I have watched polishing using tools with diamond sanding pads and someone would have had to fall asleep with the polisher on one spot to create that divot. And on a vertical surface the tool has to be held there. I find it hard to see how a rookie with a polisher could have created that without an underlying defect.

 

[onBalance]

This problem is accurately described by Allen. The patch is unlikely to match the color of the read of the pool, and it is possible that there are other plaster areas that are not bonding to the substrate. It may take a few months to see if that happens. Read this post.

Calcium Nodules in pools

What are calcium nodules? In swimming pools and spas, they are small mounds, bumps, deposits, or “slag” piles of calcium carbonate which are formed from material that has been released from the plaster. The small calcium nodules are rough to the touch, hard, and generally gritty. Nodules may...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[deedub75]

The operations manager called me on Friday at 7:00 pm but my phone was on the charger and I missed the call. I'll have a conversation with him hopefully on Monday. I will definitely tell him it needs to be replaced. My PB sucks and this has been the worst construction experience I've ever had. It's been nothing but issues from the start. Nothing but miscommunication or mostly no communication. No one knows what is going on at any given time.

The plaster started this past Tuesday and they polished it on Wednesday and Thursday. This is when the issue occurred. I almost told them not to fill the pool but then they would have been blaming for issues with the plaster so I let them fill it up. There was no one from the PB there when water was going in so my pump wasn't turned on. There was no one there to brush the pool and they had not left a brush for me. The next day, someone form the PB came out and he was only there to install deck jets. I asked him who was supposed to start my pump and other equipment and he said he didn't. I had to leave so I guess he called the office and was told to start the pump. I came back home to the pump running and the heater was set to 75 degrees. I didn't think the heater should have been on at all. Still no brush left for me so I borrowed my neighbor's brush and there was quite bit of pool dust settlement. Of course my PB doesn't work weekends so I have no idea what my water parameters are and there have been no start up chemicals added. So Monday will be Day 5 of water being in with no one coming out to do anything. How will this affect the plaster? I'm still waiting for the pool deck to be poured as well.

 

[sktn77a]

Realistically, I don't think you can expect to get the pool chipped out and replastered because of this. Insist that they get a better match for the patch and withhold final payment until this is done to your complete satisfaction. I have a small area (about 2"x4") in my plaster that was patched when it was renovated and looks like a stain. It bothers me but I wouldn't let them chip out the plaster and re-do it as I fear the cure would be worse than the disease!

 

[Bperry]

Realistically, I don't think you can expect to get the pool chipped out and replastered because of this. Insist that they get a better match for the patch and withhold final payment until this is done to your complete satisfaction. I have a small area (about 2"x4") in my plaster that was patched when it was renovated and looks like a stain. It bothers me but I wouldn't let them chip out the plaster and re-do it as I fear the cure would be worse than the disease!

Id tend to agree. They’ll try and patch it 10 times before the agree to chip out the entire pool and install new plaster.

 

[ferretbone]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I really think someone was polishing too aggressively and took off of a divot of plaster since it was just that one spot. It could have been a greenhorn in training.

Either way they are gonna have to fix it somehow even if they have to redo it. We won’t get to swim in it anyway this year.

No they just found the one spot in your pool at the time that had a weak bond. No biggy but

They guessed on the color when matching while the plaster was or about to change and get darker, and they guessed wrong...... Maybe So give it a few days. They aren't going to mix a large batch for 14inches of repair. So they went with a little patch batch. They may try to re patch that under water to take some of the guess work out of it. I don't know, I do know they can get that color to match at this stage. And your right they probably wanted to get the pool filled first before more hollow pockets or cracking begain.

Hold that last payment until you have what you paided for. It may get a little closer to matching once underwater for awhile. But if it does not, they have to fix that. I dont care how because this happened while under resurfacing and before filling the pool. There are no fingers to point away from those guys. It's on them, and they know it.

 

[deedub75]

I spoke to the operations manager from the plaster company and someone is coming out this week to take a look. He says the guy who does those types of repairs is a master at matching things so we will see.

He mentioned polishing or using acid on the current patch or even cutting out a section of the plaster and redoing that section. I told him I don’t want to see that a patch was ever made there.

Also, someone from the PB finally showed up and poured some Startup Tec in

 

[deedub75]

Well, it's 2024, and still no resolution yet. I withheld the final payment and had to get attorneys involved due to a breach of contract. It's a long story but I told my attorney that at a minimum, I needed the pool re-plastered. I was willing to settle for a new plaster job or the money to hire another company of my choice and drop the real reason for the lawsuit.

We ordered polished Hydrazzo Hatteras Gray. The plaster company told us, through the PB, that Hydrazzo was back ordered but they could get WetEdge Altima and polish it. The price was to be the same. I had my reservations so I called WetEdge and they said that Altima is not marketed or sold as a polished product. The plaster company assured me that they polish Altima all of the time with no issues. We didn't want to delay the plaster for months waiting for Hydrazzo so we went with the Altima plaster.

The PB blamed the plaster company and vice versa. From what I was told, the PB never paid the plaster company all of their money for my job. The PB tried to weasel out on re-plastering the pool so the PB eventually sued the plaster company. After much wrangling and me calling their bluff s few times, the PB and the plaster company have agreed to re-plaster the pool but they want to use WetEdge Altima French Gray and polish it again. I realize that any pool plaster CAN be polished, but WetEdge Altima is not sold as a polishable product. I got this from WetEdge's website and I called them directly to confirm. The plaster company has Altima as a polished product on its website. The plaster company is marketing and selling Altima as a polished product, while the manufacturer does not market or sell Altima as a polished product.

I want the Hydrazzo like we originally picked, but the plaster company says they will only replaster with Altima. So now I'm at a crossroads about what to do.