What does disintegrating pool paint looks like?

[xian222]

My pool was painted before I bought the house. It has been 3-4 years and generally the paint looks fine: no chips or peels. However, all of a sudden I've noticed what I think may be called "chalking". If I rub my hand on the paint vigorously, a cloud of powder rises from the rubbing spot. When the kids play in the shallow end and walk on the bottom, the pool gets cloudy. A day or two later the filter clears it up. Is it time to repaint? Can I do it myself?

[bparks]

interested to see the replies you get. Our pool was painted too, right before we bought it I'd guess. I get the same chalking you describe, but the paint is also flaking off, especially when we run our automatic pool cleaner. When we first saw the pool it was solid blue, with lines where the roller had overlapped making it extra thick. First summer into it it's quickly reverting back to a plain, somewhat spotted plaster pool.

[rollinrock]

MY pool was instaled and painted in 1984. It started pitting in spots and wearing out in spots in about 2002 Last year I had it plastered.

[moligane]

I have the same problem and it started 3 years ago. I painted my in-ground kidney pool about 8-9 years ago. I bought the paint from a paint pool dealer and who recommended the paint, scraping the old paint, washing it with muriatic acid, resealing the walls ... etc.

I did some research what causes this ... everyone had their outrageous oppinion but one viable exlanation was the UV ray over the years breaks down the paint and becomes chalky.

Another one is if the pool is low in calcium, it draws the calcium away from the paint that's whys it chalking. I've been maintaing the calcium level at the correct level but it's still chalking.

My wife painted murals fish and sea corals on the surface and we are sorry to see it fade. I have not heard any suggestion on how to correct this but repaint it again which is not an easy task. I hope someone can give a suggection.