replastering - I guess I can't postpone the inevitable any longer

Hi,

My plaster is now in its 23rd year. Over the past few years, I've done alot of underwater patching where the gunite has started to show through, but this season I'm starting to see lots of pitting all around the bottom. What is happening along with this is that algae is growing on the rough plaster in all the little pockmarked areas. I can wire brush it every few days. So, I believe this is getting to the end of the line. My hesitancy is simply what in the world to do with 15k gallons of water. We live in a rural area. I don't want to flood the farmer's field next to the pool, nor our septic system by running all that water down the hill where our drainfield is. And I don't have a long enough backwash hose to reach out to the road in front of our house. Do any pool restorers, by chance, also include draining the water as part of the restoration service? Or is that the owner's responsibility. The other thing that really bums me out is that they no longer seem to make the type of coping that the pool was built with, nor do they still make the tiles that we have. I still really like what I have now. Many of those tiles are still in excellent shape, as is most of the coping. I know I need the replastering, but I have so many mixed feelings about it. But seeing the bottom of the pool starting to more resemble a reef than a nice pool surface I guess is proving to be the final arbiter. Any suggestions about the whole process? I am planning on contacting a pool renovator in my area to get some info and probably have him come out and take a look.

Thanks,
Keith

Hi Keith,

I don't know anything about replasterers, especially in your area of the country, but you might be able to negotiate water drainage into the agreement, especially since there's always a danger of floating your pool out of the ground if you have a high water table and the draining is not done correctly. I know when I had my liner replaced 2 years ago, it included draining of the pool.I guess the only thing you can do is call around, but I would definitely ask that specific question when choosing someone to replaster it.

Hi,

Thanks so much for the reply. I've thought and read about this whole 'pool-floating' thing many times. We live up on top of a pretty steep hill. If the water table is actually only 6 feet below our ground level (deepest part of the pool is only 6 feet), it would seem to me that everyone in the town right below us would be swimming. I wouldn't want to take any chances though and will definitely take your advice, but I can't imagine that we live in what would be considered a 'high water table area'.

Keith