· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Pool & Spa
Pool interior finishes wear out. Plaster is the shortest-lived and the most common, and the signs appear well before the surface looks obviously bad.
Service life by finish
Traditional white plaster commonly gives around seven to fifteen years. Quartz and pebble aggregate finishes last considerably longer, often fifteen to twenty-five, at higher initial cost.
Water chemistry has a large effect — aggressive water shortens any finish substantially.
The signs
Roughness underfoot, which is plaster eroding. Staining that will not brush out. Visible spidering or cracking. Exposed aggregate or bare patches.
Then the indirect sign: chemical use rising and water that will not hold balance, because a degraded surface interacts with the water.
- Roughness underfoot is usually the earliest sign
- Staining that will not brush out
- Cracking, spidering or bare patches
- Rising chemical use and unstable balance
- Persistent leaks may indicate more than surface wear
Chemistry shortens or extends it
Water that is aggressive — low calcium, low alkalinity, low pH — dissolves plaster. Water that is scaling deposits on it. Both shorten the finish.
Keeping calcium hardness and alkalinity in range is what gets a plaster finish to the top of its expected life rather than the bottom.
What resurfacing involves
Draining, chipping out the old surface, applying the new finish and a careful start-up with close chemistry control in the first month, which is when a new plaster surface is most vulnerable.
It is a significant job and a good moment to address tile, coping and any structural issues while the pool is empty.