our inground pool (concrete/gunnite/plaster/whatever) was not properly cared for before we bought this house, and the interior surface is fairly pitted & rough, especially the built-in steps, which are downright dangerous. after our first swim, the bottoms of our kids' feet were bleeding, if that gives you a better picture. i guess my husband's and my feet are tougher, as we didn't have a problem.

anyway - (1) we were told that to have the pool re-plastered would be about $12,000. is that remotely accurate??? (it's about 25,000 gallons, kidney shape, about 8' deep end, 3-4' shallow).

(2) also, what about painting? i don't think it's painted now, but would painting it make it any smoother? how expensive is that? also, does painting a cement pool protect it from ever becoming pitted? if we did actually have it re-plastered, should we have it painted also?

(3) i was told it became pitted because the calcium hardness of the water wasn't kept high enough & so the water leached calcium out from the plaster walls, leaving pits & also damaging the tile grout, which is why we've lost some tiles, too - is all that correct?

thanks.......

 

I just had a 22,000 gallon pool resurfaced with standard plaster for about $3500. It carries a 3 year warranty if the company is used for weekly water chemistry checks. Otherwise, a 12 month warranty.

For $12,000 you should be getting a lifetime warranty Pebble Tech surface... (no, even Pebble Tech does not cost that much.) I'd be curious to see what exactly they are proposing to do for that amount. Is the gunite under the plaster damaged?

 

In the mean time you could buy the kids some swimming shoes like what you use at a lake.

 

I would not have it painted, but it is a personal preference I think.

Plaster pools do require regular chem checks and you must keep the water reasonably balanced. If you want something with a longer warranty or a little fancier you can look at Pebble Tech or Diamond Bright or any of the other higher end surfaces. They usually carry a minimum of 5 year warranty, but the cost is about 2-3 times a plaster surface.

 

it was just an off-hand comment by the owner of the place we had open the pool. she was explaining about how the pool "could" become pitted & how it would feel rough, and i asked if ours was rough (hadn't been in it yet) and she felt the side and said "oh yeah! that's rough!" and we said "well how much would it be to have it fixed" and she said replastering a pool like ours would run about $12k. so that's the extent of the "estimate". it's good to hear it might not be that much!

do you have more info on the different surfaces you've mentioned: plaster, Pebble Tech & Diamond Bright?

 

believe me ~ we RAN to get those! they worked great & also help with the fire-hot patio around the pool!