HELP!

The Swimming Pool Coating & Repair Page

Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc.

Your Host and Tour Guide:

Paul Oman, MS, MBA - Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc.

Member: NACE (National Assoc. of Corrosion Engineers), SSPC (Soc. of Protective Coatings)

"Professionals helping Professionals"

Disclaimer: The comments below are offered only as suggestions and guidelines. All decisions regarding product selection, surface preparation, and coating application are the sole responsibility of the purchaser.

Introduction:

We tend to shy away from swimming pools because there are lots of mystery problems, less than professional contractors, and demanding owners. Pool companies come and go at alarming rates, often without paying their supplies and leaving pool owners in the air.

We do not carry swimming pool paint / epoxy, but we do have products that are used in pool repair and preparation, as well as around the outside perimeter of the pools.

Cracks:

Note repair products may stop or plug the crack but will not address the cause of the problem (settling, ground movement, etc.) so the crack may re-open or new cracks may appear.

Fixing cracks in dry pools: use our WET DRY 700 (about 30 - 60 minute working time - color off white).

Fixing Cracks underwater: Use Wet Dry 700 (white).


Touch-up paint without draining pool:

Use our Water Guard 300 light blue or white color available.

Attaching - reattaching pool tiles:

(underwater or in dry conditions) use Wet Dry 700

Preparing gunite/plaster pools for coating - recoating:

Important information. More and more we are starting to believe that most of the coating problems with these kinds of pools come originate from three possible causes.

1) moisture and minerals migrating from the concrete/plaster side of the coating and not from the water filled side.

2) water side concrete damage due to pool chemicals and the often low quality of the gunite, plaster etc. to start with.

3) chloride (from bacteria control chemicals) or sulfate contamination (from pH control chemicals) that can cause blistering of new pool coatings in gunite/concrete, or even fiberglass and/or metal pools. These need to be removed.

In any case, we believe poor quality materials, pool chemicals, groundwater movement inside the concrete, etc. all combine to make the paster/gunite an unstable and weak surface on which to apply a pool paint, especially a low or no solvent coating which basically bonds only to the very surface of the gunite/cement.

Below is our latest thinking on pool repainting. It is focused on gunite - plaster - cement pools, but I would use the exact same steps -products - technique on fiberglass or metal pools as well. Again, this is just my thoughts based upon lots of conversations with vendors, pool owners, contractors, etc., and is not some sort of offical recommendation. Hopefully you can use this information as a starting point for your own needs.

Clean the surface and treat with biocide to remove dirt and grime and kill any organic organisms.

Sand blast the surface (a more practical alterative is to use high pressure water, say 2500 psi or greater). This removes the soaps etc., as well as removing loose sand grains, rust, etc.

Treat with a salt removing solution. These salts will absorb moisture through the pool paint potentially forming corrosive liquid filled blisters, or growing expanding crystals that will crack the pool paint. We do not sell such a micro salt removing wash product at this time.

High pressure water wash the surface yet again, this time to remove the salts and salt remover.

Epoxy seal the pool. In my limited experience, priming the gunite, plaster, etc.with solvent thinned epoxy before applying the swimming pool paint, seems to greatly reduce or eliminate pool paint adhesion problems. Use our Low V epoxy cut about 15 - 25% with xylene. Not a bad idea for fiberglass or metal pool surfaces also. We want the epoxy to be thin enough to leave behind the surface texture of the gunite, metal, etc.

Coat with a swimming pool paint within 48 hours of applying the epoxy (so that there will be a bit of chemical, as well as mechanical, bonding between the epoxy and the paint).

I have no experience with pool paints, nor do I have any such product to sell or recommend. I could not imagine any pool paint having a problem going over a thin coat of epoxy, but I would still check/ask just to be on the safe side.

Treating - protecting the concrete lip around the pool:

Coat - seal (wet down) with our Bio Vee Seal. This product will soak into the concrete making it less porous and permeable, thus less attacked by pool chemicals, acid rain, etc. Vee seal leaves no trace of itself on the concrete, it works inside the concrete plugging pores and spaces below the surface.

Pebble Stone walks and areas:

These stone walks need epoxy resealing every few years. Use our least expensive Basic No Blush Epoxy here. The tricky part is applying the epoxy evenly over the stones. It is too easy to watch lots of epoxy simply disappear between the stones within a tiny area. I think we have a solution - a thick foam brush with slits to keep the epoxy from being forced out of the roller when one part of the roller is compressed down by the stones (we sell these rollers for $6.50). Coverage is about 250 square feet per 1.5 gallon kit. Visit our Riverstone page for more information.

Knowledge is Power - We like informed consumers!

Learn the basics of epoxy at our educational EPOXY 101 page - Click Here.

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