Surface of a fiberglass pool

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pabeader

pabeader

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May 14, 2015
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Cartersville Ga
I've been renting a house with a fiberglass pool. The pool was in very bad/swampy condition when I took over. I got it clean and have been doing different experiments with stains and the such.
My question is about the actual surface. Is it supposed to be squeaky smooth like glass, smooth like semi-gloss paint, slightly rough like 300 grit sand paper or rough like concrete?
 
The reason I ask is that my pool feels like semi-gloss to almost flat, paint. The 'coping' area is pretty glossy but as you work down the side to the waterline it gets rougher. I'm wondering if I have calcium scale?
 
pabeader said:
The reason I ask is that my pool feels like semi-gloss to almost flat, paint. The 'coping' area is pretty glossy but as you work down the side to the waterline it gets rougher. I'm wondering if I have calcium scale?
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Quite possible or breakdown of the gel coat. What does it look like when you drain it? White chalky look?
 
Unfortunately, the last time I did the AA and full drain I didn't really notice. It was still early in the year and the light was poor. But I can say that there were no reflections from the pool surface. With my luck it's probably the gel coat breaking down. In fact, I didn't know there was supposed to be a gel coat until I read some recent posts where folks talked about it.
 
Does your CSI tend up toward +0.6? PH, TA or CH run high? If not, then that rules out scale.

There are some old threads that discuss gel coat breaking down but I don't remember the details at the moment. I don't think it is a big deal until it starts to blister, called osmotic blistering. Once it starts blistering then water can get behind the gelcoat and start leaking and delaminating the fiberglass layers.
 
Take it from me Bob, before my TFP days and education, you can easily get scale on that shell. I'm working mine at the moment. One thing you can do as a test is grab some 600-1000 wet/dry and rub a spot somewhere that's not a big deal as a test. A good bit of elbow grease will tell you if it's scale - "if" you see a nice/smooth color underneath.
 
pooldv - I have to get the data from my phone, I hadn't been tracking CSI so it isn't in my brain. Will check that this evening.


Texas - HHMMM... Right now the possible scale is tan/brown color. If I get some 600-1000 wet/dry and try removing it, I should see a definite change.

I wonder if that's what the gel coat cleaner is for, that I found under the sink in the bathroom.
 

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Right now the possible scale is tan/brown color.
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That's what I noticed with mine. Some areas getting kind of dirty/dingy looking. Like tarter all over. After some negative CSI time with no change, I took some 600 grit to a spot and "BAM" - there was my deep blue. I'm so mad at myself for the years of (previous TFP) ignorance and neglect about my CSI. All I cared about was no algae. I'm putting a paper & images together now to track my efforts and hope to post it at some point later this season with my progress.
 

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