Interesting Web Site on Plastering Issues

[smallpooldad]

This may help those who plan on plastering or re-plastering, Portland cement is a form of concrete.

This is for info only, and I cannot respond to any questions as I have no knowledge of the science of concrete.

One opinion only, when we built our home we hired a concrete engineer/specialist through a friend to spec the concrete foundations, walls, the pour, and the contracts, etc, and measure the concrete before and during the pour. The cost was around $900, 14 years ago, all went well.

At the same time a business associate of ours decided not to do this at his new home. His contractor told him he had years of experience, etc. Sadly he had no specs and he had to remove and replace, at his cost, the original pour at a cost of over $60,000. The main reason for this was there being too much water in the mix and the temperature of the mix might have been too high, it was a hot August day, which I am told also weakens the mix. Why did he not sue, I believe his attorney questioned whether or not he could actual get at his contractors money, and the lack of specs. The contractor was also part-time.

In conclusion the recommendation in one article is interesting,

"Boiled down to its essence, onBalance
recommended the elimination of calcium
chloride accelerators in the plaster
mix and minimizing the use of hard
troweling and retempering during the
plaster finishing operation."

Hope this helps.

Here are the links:

http://www.poolhelp.com/SIN_15%20Feb%202003_Etching%20Reprint.pdf

http://www.poolhelp.com/

http://www.lmcc.com/news/winter2003/winter2003-07.asp

This site is very helpful about a person that did it themselves. He writes about using quartz and not marble as it is more durable in the mix. Synthetic compounds and fibres can also be use in the mix to strenghten it, speak with your concrete engineer. Preparation of the surface, so that the new plaster sticks, is most probably one of the most vital parts of re-plastering. The preferred method, as I understand it, is to shot-blast the wall with small metal balls as opposed to just acid washing it, but again discuss with your specialist.

http://www.truetex.com/pool.htm