Questions about refinishing plaster pool

[easy-e]

Hi all. I am coming to the end of my first season with a pool, which was mostly wonderful. This site was of course a blessing.

I knew when I bought the house the pool would need to be refinished. There is some significant etching and rough spots and a lot of the decorative tiling has already broken off near the skimmers. The previous owner did a Darnty job with the house in general, though it was only a short period.

Is there any wisdom on when to refinish - end of season vs start of season? Any suggestions for finding a reputable builder in my area? I understand these finishes should last 10 years or more but I’ve read here that many contractors do a shoddy job and then blame the owner for not managing the chemical levels.

So yeah, appreciate any information and if you have a recommendation in NJ please let me know. I’m also thinking it might be better to wait until start of next season given current inflation.

 

[ajw22]

You want to do plaster work the start of a season so that you have a few months to do the startup and keep pH down. Closing a pool right after plaster can cause scaling while it is closed.

But you want to wait until late May or June in NJ when the nighttime temperatures will be over 50F so that they do add chemicals to the plaster mix to accelerate curing.