A licensed Florida pool contractor on how to tell the difference between a surface problem and a water problem, so you do not pay for a resurface you do not need, or keep dumping chemicals into one you do.
Walk around the pool with this list. Two or more, and it is worth having a contractor look.
Plaster that has etched or lost its cream coat feels like sandpaper. Once it is rough it holds algae and stains no matter what you add to the water.
Brown, gray, or blue-green marks that survive brushing and a stain treatment have bonded to the plaster. Common on well water in North Port, Englewood, and South Venice.
If you can see the gray sand-and-stone base through the finish, the finish is gone in that spot. It will spread.
Tap the surface with a broom handle. A solid thunk is fine. A drum-like sound means the plaster has separated from the shell and will pop off, usually in sheets.
Fine surface cracks in the plaster, not the shell. Harmless at first, but water gets behind them and they become sign number 4.
White plaster rarely makes it past 12 years here. If the pool went in during the 2004 to 2007 boom and has never been redone, it is due.
If you cannot keep pH and alkalinity stable no matter what you do, a deteriorating cement surface may be dissolving into the water. Etched plaster raises calcium and pH constantly.
We come out and tell you honestly: surface, chemistry, or both. If it is chemistry, we say so and you keep your money. Call 941-302-8081. Licensed CPC1456897, veteran-owned.
We see people quoted for a resurface when a weekend of chemistry would have fixed it. Check these first.
That is calcium from hard water and high pH, not failed plaster. A tile cleaner or a bead blast removes it. Lowering pH and using a sequestrant keeps it away.
Algae. If a stiff brush and a shock treatment clear it, the surface is fine. If the same spots come back in the same rough places every week, that is sign number 1 above.
If the stains appeared within days of adding well water, it is iron in the water. A metal stain treatment and a sequestrant often lift it if you act within a few weeks. Wait a year and it becomes permanent.
A rough surface uses more chemicals, more pump time, and more of your weekends. Hollow spots turn into chip-outs that add a third to the cost. And a pool that looks tired knocks real money off a home sale in a market where buyers expect a pool to be turnkey. If it is time, it is cheaper to do it this year than next.
What resurfacing costs in Southwest Florida and which finish to choose. Or find your town on our service areas page.
Licensed CPC1456897. Veteran-owned. Serving Sarasota to Fort Myers.