Pool repair and painting

[blazer58]

I know here at TFP painting a pool is not recommended nor endorsed, but in my case it was a choice I had to make.
A replaster in the Chicago area was 15-20,000 (pricing 3 years ago), if you could get someone out to look at it.
Repair/paint is going to be way cheaper (will break down cost when we finish)
At my age, I will only have this house/pool for maybe another 5-10 years tops, so that mean 1-2 repaints.
Reading her thread and messaging Household6, we decided to repair then paint our old pool.

Here is a thread of what pool looked like 3 years ago when we bought the house.... Starting a renovation on older inground, Chicago
Over the past years, we limped alone with the pool finish as it was, and spent our money on a new heater, pump, swg, repaired some of the water line tile and grouted, and added a ladder and handrail.
The plaster had gotten into such bad shape, that it was staining from the leaves, and a few sections of plaster were popping off.
This spring when we opened, it had staining from leaves so we drained and cleaned it but the stains were not coming out, even with another light acid wash.
At this point I chipped out alot of the bad spots, filled with a portland/hydraulic cement mix for the repairs and refilled the pool.
The repairs held all summer, so this fall we drained the pool and chipped out remaining bad spots, and are repairing them now.
Hope to have repairs done sunday if rain stays away.
Will update how we repaired, what materials we used and final cost

p3.jpg

• blazer58
• Sep 12, 2020

p2.jpg

• blazer58
• Sep 12, 2020

p1.jpg

• blazer58
• Sep 12, 2020

 

[blazer58]

The dark spots in pics are the repairs we did in the spring.
99% of the bad spots are from a replaster/skim coat the past owner did on their own about 8-10 years ago

 

[Dirk]

I'm sure your ongoing updates about how this works out for you in the coming years would be most appreciated by others here at TFP, no matter the outcome. Lots of pictures would also be appreciated. Good luck, and thanks for sharing.

 

[cowboycasey]

I have a question? If you all did the chip out and acid wash and prep for the new plaster how much would just a basic white plaster cost.. I would say right around 3 to 4k... would you be able to do all that?? the last plaster job lasted some years and I bet it was a basic plaster...

With that said I know you have gone through all the plus and minus of this, I wish you the best outcome

 

[blazer58]

I have a question? If you all did the chip out and acid wash and prep for the new plaster how much would just a basic white plaster cost.. I would say right around 3 to 4k... would you be able to do all that?? the last plaster job lasted some years and I bet it was a basic plaster...

With that said I know you have gone through all the plus and minus of this, I wish you the best outcome

That might work, but I am in my early 60's, and it would be to much for me to chip out 2 layers of plaster, cleanup, ect.
( I just finished the repairs today, I had a helper and it took about 40 man hours total )
I would guess, if I could find someone to just plaster, it would be at least 5,000 plus.

 

[cowboycasey]

That might work, but I am in my early 60's, and it would be to much for me to chip out 2 layers of plaster, cleanup, ect.
( I just finished the repairs today, I had a helper and it took about 40 man hours total )
I would guess, if I could find someone to just plaster, it would be at least 5,000 plus.

I see and that is exactly why I asked as I was not sure..

 

[kimkats]

You have the right person to talk to in @Household6 ! She can help you not make the same mistakes she made. Then you will be able to help others not make the ones you might make.

I can't wait to see how this one turns out!

Kim

 

[ImpalaSS]

I painted my fathers pool with Insl-X pool paint. Did 2 coats of white. Its lasted 4 summers but needs to be touched up/redone next spring. I think the Polaris wears down the paint. If I can remember the materials were less than $500. It turned out very well.

 

[blazer58]

After repairs, we etched the pool then did a citric power wash, let the pool dry for a week and this is the first coat we put on Saturday.
Getting ready to add another coat this am.
The first coat is thinned with water per instructions, acts more like a primmer, and fills in little cracks, ect
With next cost, you should not be able to see the patching
Also in the sun the color is not as dark, but alot darker then we were expecting

paint1.jpg

• blazer58
• Sep 20, 2020

paint2.jpg

• blazer58
• Sep 20, 2020

 

[cowboycasey]

That looks great

 

[Dirk]

Wow, what a turn-around!

 

[mhk.kohler]

Getting ready to undertake this project ourselves because replastering would be ~$12,500, if we could find someone to do it. What paint did you use? What about the acid wash?

 

[blazer58]

Our pool is filling up, I will post a pic after its filled.
A little update on our project....

Patching/repairing
We used the 55 lb. Cement All Multi-Purpose Construction Material for patching from home depot. There is probably a product that is cheaper and easier to work with (this sets fast and you need to mix smaller amounts) but we used it in the spring as we wanted something that would set fast so re could refill the pool the same day. This product worked and held up all summer, so we used again this fall.

We started with chipping out all lose spots, and any hollow spots. My pool had been replastered by the previous home owner ( he did it himself) and most of the bad spots were where he had plastered all tho there were some spots where we went down to the shell.
We dampened the area to be patched, filled with material, let set, then rubbed with a damp/wet sponge in a circle motion to even out. This material can be used to a feather edge, which is also another good thing about using it. Our plaster is rough, so we left the patch rough, not smooth. The paint is a semi-gloss finish, if you have a smooth plaster finish, I would think it would be quite slippery. After painting the surface was fine, not to smooth or rough.

Painting
We used Insl-X Semi-Gloss Water Ocean Blue Swimming Pool Paint ( water-based acrylic ), also from Home Depot. I believe it is made by Benjamin Moore, and we found pricing from $49 a gallon up to $70 a gallon. Home Depot had the best cost so we ordered from there.
Our pool is 20x40 and according to two separate calculators we needed 11 gallons, so we ordered 12. We ended up using only 9 gallons, so I over calculated and am returning the 3 extra gallons.
Due to all the patching, before painting we did a mild acid wash, and the we did a citrus wash.

We followed the spec sheet, and painting went easy. We put three coats on and let cure for 2 weeks before refilling. The only thing we did different form spec sheet was, the first coat we thinned with a cup and half of water per gallon, instead of 1 cup. The slightly thinner first coat was able to go into any small spider veining, pot marks, ect that was in our plaster.

I was worried about not priming first, as spec for paint says no priming needed. The 2nd coat covered the patching fine, and you cannot see any color difference.


The cost for our project...
8 bags total of cement all.... $190
9 gallons of paint................$450
water to fill pool..................$350 (our water is cheap here)
chemicals ( salt, ice melt, bleach, ect ).......$130
misc items (rollers, trowels, ect )...............$25
Total cost............................$1145

Man hours..
40 hours for the patching, cleanup and washing before painting
20 hours for 3 coats of paint

 

[kimkats]

Need some pics!! What a wonderful write up and cost break down!

 

[blazer58]

IMAG1183.jpg

• blazer58
• Oct 4, 2020

final coat curing

Final coat curing

 

[sktn77a]

Looks fabulous. Now fill 'er up and close for the winter!

 

[Household6]

OUTSTANDING!

$20k for 20’is(?) years
versus
$1145 and 60 man hours for 4-5 years
^ That’s a win!

Allowing $100/hr and estimating 5 redo’s over 20 years, you still come out around $5k ahead.

Did you have any rain during the repaint and cure process? (We did and while not horrible, we have streaks of lighter color).

Hope you’ll provide updates (good or bad) next year!

 

[blazer58]

I peaked under the winter mesh cover and the paint seems to have held thru the winter. We had alot of snow and cold temps ( as did everyone) and was slightly worried.
Will be opening Easter weekend (weather permitting) and will update pool condition.

 

[blazer58]

I noticed I did not update when opening this year.
Paint held just fine over the winter.

Now for the year..... I have 5-6 spots size of a quarter and then a spot about 2 inches round were the old finish popped loose, guess I did not find them when repairing.
Guessing the old plaster is going to keep breaking loose over time.
As far as the paint it held all year, no cloudy water so happy so far with it.
We are not repairing the spots, will wait and see how they progress over winter and next season
Still hoping to get 3-4 years use before repainting again

 

[blazer58]

First report after opening...Water is dirty/cloudy, but from what I can see paint has held up thru winter.
Will report more after I am done with my slam