Quote Originally Posted by PoolDoc View Post
Hi Butterfly;

It just sounds like you've got some patches where the plaster is delaminating (coming unstuck) from the gunite. This can happen if you leave a pool dry and it gets very hot; it can also happen if it freezes while dry . . . and it can happen for reasons I don't know, too.

If that's what it is, the only fix is to drain the pool. chip out the popped plaster, and replace it. But, I do NOT recommend that. Often when you do this you'll find that the area NEXT to the pop is also delamininated, and that if you REALLY want to solve the problem, you'd remove ALL the plaster, and then re-plaster.

If I were you, I'd avoid standing on those areas, and just leave them alone till the pop free. Then, drain and patch just THOSE areas, till you are ready to do a complete re-plaster. I've seen pools go a LONG time with a few popped areas.
Thanks so much PoolDoc for your reply!

It helps a lot to understand the situation for sure! I bought the house/pool in 2010 and don't know if the pool itself has ever been drained and left to dry in the hot sun, so I don't know the history of what may have been done to this pool in the past. But as you say, de-lamination could happen for any number of reasons. I had wondered if the vacuum/suction of the pool vac could dislodge it with strong suction. Whatever the case, it sounds like plaster delaminating from gunite is most likely what is happening.

The bucket test I did is inconclusive. It appeared to be approximately the same amount of water had evaporated from the bucket as from the pool - a bit more than an inch over two days or so in very hot weather (105-107 degrees in Las Vegas). So, it didn't appear that there's a noticeable leak going on. Hopefully that's good news.

Yesterday I got into the pool and walked around and observed more and found several more "floaty" areas on the steps which are difficult to avoid stepping on while getting into the pool. But I will certainly do my best to not put pressure on them unnecessarily. I agree, it's probably best not to do a complete drain and get into a big problem of having to do a complete replaster. I don't have the $$ at this point to do it and if it's true that the pool can go a long time with these few popped areas, I would opt for that until I see otherwise. I have never been in a pool with a problem like this, so it's all new to me.

I guess my main concern is that if I don't address the issue now, am I looking at severe damage to the pool, or is putting it off a viable option? I don't want to end up with more problems down the road than I have now. I also am concerned with my pool vac suction being so strong that when I vac over those areas, it pulls it even more and causes more delamination. But I really have no chocie but to vac, as that's the way I clean the pool, although I often try to keep cleaning and vaccing to a minimum during winter months when pool is not in use. Thanks again for your helpful info, greatly appreciated!

If anyone else on the forum reading this has experienced delaminated areas, feel free to post about your experiences. I had no idea such a thing could happen in a pool whatsoever!