Do we have any FIBERGLASS POOL SPECIALISTS here??

[Steve P.]

I need some fast professional advise on what I feel is a shoddy repair of my pool.

Last summer I had (THE ONLY COMPANY), in the area come and refinish my 24 year old fiberglass pool. It was getting black marks that they called COBALTING. To repair it the pool was drained and ground with a 9" grinder sporting a 60 or 80 grit sanding disc. At the black marks he punctured the skin and water blew out like drilling a fingernail you just whaled with a large hammer. Then he ground out the hole some back to good material and then covered the entire pool with fiberglass cloth and whatever the liquid was from (2) 5 gallon buckets.  He did 2/3rds of the pool on day 1 starting at the deep end. Day 2 he finished the shallow end and the steps. Before he left he was already filling the pool..

Here are the problems.

1) I no longer have a blue pool as their (PAINT), for lack of the right name, is white.
2) It is nothing like the original gelcoat. It is very textured due to only coating the fiberglass cloth. No sanding after the cloth and coating at all.
3) I noticed that the pool always looks dirty now.  (More on that later).
4) one spot that was repaired from COBALTING came back right by the steps.

So I call the owner and he and his grand daughter come to see what is what. She takes a sample and says my chemicals are off. I took a sample to Pinch a Penny and they say off a little 1 gallon of chlorine and had no Stabilizer. Not a big deal.. Also both told me at this point NOT to leave my cover on the pool all the time...  I typically only take half of it off so I can float in it and take some pain off my back. Then I roll the cover back over to keep the heat.

So having taken the cover off to give it a bath, I noticed this wavy line in the pool and realize it is where he rolled the PAINT over the day before's coating. And that area was nice and shiny and clean. After looking closer you can see every place the roller rolled a second coat on and exactly where he stopped..

Get them back out to look again and he says it is due to my chemicals being off. Again, I had just removed the cover a day or two before he was here and he saw the difference from end to end..

A few days ago he calls and says he is in the hood working on another pool and if I drain the pool he can get his guy here the next day to repair the BLACK spot and see what needs to be done to make the finish right.  So I rig up to use my pool pump to drain the pool. A few hours later it is empty and I call to tell him.

Next day the guy come before 8:AM and doesn't knock or call, just does a quick fix that I have no clue how he did it and off he goes. So I get up later and call. He says it was just RUST that caused the black mark... Says it was probably from his wire wheel and got stuck in the fiberglass matt.  OK, why wasn't it sealed by the PAINT? and why was it BLACK??

He says nothing about the finish in the bottom of the pool.. So I ask the owner again and he says, You have to get your chemicals right and that will fix it.. (I am screaming BULLSHIT in my head). I was in the pool dry and it is dirty. It won't come clean with normal chemicals and a once a week brush and vacuum. I believe it has such a heavy texture that the pollen is being caught in it and not letting go. The area where it has 2 coats due to rolling passed day 1's paint job looks GREAT!!!! I have had friends ask me why I didn't finish cleaning my pool!!!!

So this morning the worker came and ACID WASHED the pool and it is very clean. In the NOON SUN you can see the difference just as you could full of water. He says keep the chemicals right and it will be fine. I think I will always see the difference in the pool no matter what if it has nothing done to change the finish.

This is where I need your professional help. Am I nuts, screwed and no one can give it a good finish??

Am I going to end up hiring a CORVETTE GUY to come and sand and refinish my pool just so it will not look filthy??

Do you think another coat all done at one time will fix the night and day finish I have now??

I will tell you that where he coated over the day before's coat it is shiny and much more even or flat. I think a thick coat would sort of self level and fill some of that heavy texture.


HELP 

[2Gunz]

Im not a pool guy...... nor have I ever tried to do one.

But Im pretty sure your "pool guy"  has about zero idea what he is doing.

Get your money back and find a real "pool guy"  or just do it yourself.   If you can build a charger you can fix a pool.

Couple videos that might be of some help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPm0EHudG6o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm98lG2T7dQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OIM1gkzcZk

[Steve P.]

Thanks 2gunz, but it's not that simple.. I cannot do the work as I have a fused back.. I could spend ten minutes with a grinder and the next 2 weeks in the hospital for doing it.. OR WORSE!!

When the bottom dropped out of the economy, many pool places went under here in Florida. Now there are 2 that refinish fiberglass pools and I saw video of the first company.. I would sooner do it myself than have them do it...

That leaves the company I hired.

My big question is for those whom USE these products normally. I cannot buy it myself. Not even through Pinch a Penny. Or I might just apply another coat to try to close up some of the roughness.  Try to imagine putting a piece of fiberglass matt on your hood and NOT sand or fill or block it... Now imagine your entire car is like that. Drive it for a day and see how much road dirt is stuck in all that rough surface. They had to acid wash it to get it white again!!! 

[AKcharger]

Hey Steve

kinda off topic but we're planning to buy a house and (if it doesn't already have one) have a pool installed...any tips? I'm thinking avoiding a fiberglass pool?

[Indygenerallee]

Sounds like the guy is a hack... Should have been a couple layers of glass mat and not cloth, and I would have been pissed if it was not sanded smooth!! F that.. any repair on ANYTHING should at least blend into the surrounding area even if not "perfect", he's just giving you the runaround. Good luck brother!

[Steve P.]

To AK,  I have owned Fiberglass, Gunite and an above ground with a vinyl liner. I can tell you all 3 are nice as hell when it's hot or for a party. NONE are worth a shit when things are off or need repair. It's like a boat. The best days of boat ownership are the day you buy it and the day you sell it..

I liked the Gunite pool the best, but really they all have their issues.. I use the pool for my back, so I need a pool. If I didn't have back issues I would never own a pool again. Pool table, YES. Hot tub, YES.

Last year I had this pool refinished. It cost me $3000. and it is a shit job. Also last year I had to replace my pump and motor. Another $500.00 with fittings. Plus I bought a solar cover so I can get in earlier and stay in later in the year. Another 120 bucks.. Chemicals and cleaning supplies and a pool vac. You don't want to know... When we bought this house nearly 4 years ago, the pool was green as no one was here to maintain it. A ton a chemicals later and lots of scrubbing and it was nice. Then we switched the pool over to salt water. The system installed was $1500 ... All in all I would be driving my Dodge right now if I didn't need a pool..

Have I talked you out of it yet? NO, let me tell you about the mess of refinishing the pool!! lol...

I would think long and hard about having a pool. It is really a never ending investment. Adds to the value of the house, but the costs are insane.. My parents put theirs in back in 1990. Cost them $20,K then. They have replaced the solar panels once. The pump 3-4 times and the pool needed to be reshot with marcite a few years ago. That was around 6 grand.. They almost never use the pool and have not used their built in hot tub in more than 15 years.. But the pool and the deck have to be constantly maintained.. They are thinking about selling their house now as they do not want to maintain all of this anymore..

If I had no pool here I would have bought the smallest 4-5 foot above ground I could find and installed it with a small deck. Just enough for me to be safe getting in and out of the pool. 

[Steve P.]

Indy, I probably used the wrong name. I believe it is fiberglass mat. Also they refinished the entire pool, so every inch of it was sanded with 80 grit and then wet coat and mat and wet coat over it. But it is very rough.. I really expected it to soak in and lay down flat. Especially on the bottom, but the surface everywhere is like a sponge. Maybe not quite that rough, but you get the picture.. It just grabs dirt and holds on for life.. It's terrible..

[Fred]

When we sold our last home (30 years ago) the interested party said they like the house but didn't want a pool. We thought they were just trying to get us to come down with the price. I told them if they didn't want a pool they should look for a home without one (plenty about) but they bought our place and guess what!  They removed the pool!

[Steve P.]

They had already lived that nightmare once... 

[Fred]

But the expense of having it removed. I couldn't see the logic in it.

[Cooter]

Hell Steve, at least you didn't have what happened at a buddy's house here. Hadda crazy lady drive slam in it. Course, it was about half full of green water as my buddy's pop didn't believe in keeping it up, so the county made him either remove it, or fill it in. It now has a nice bunch of grass growing on/in it.

[Daytona R/T SE]

I had a house with a pool...


Once.

[AKcharger]

Thanks for the candid advice Steve. I keep hearing that pools are a headache...but they look so cool!


Thanks again and good luck!

[Steve P.]

I don't know Fred.. Must have loved the house and location....

AK, believe me, they are a huge PITA!!!!!! 

Cooter, Hoping she had insurance and took care of damages. That nasty green water would have to be pumped and filtered of burned. Then a bio-power wash of the pool and a refill with all fresh chemicals.... Sounds like they should have had a nice pool again after the U-Boat commander deep 6'd her torpedo!!!


Really having a pool is nice if you can maintain it well and if when you get older you have someone to maintain it for you.. They are costly and a pile of work and every 20 years or so they need to be resurfaced.. And now look at what I am going through!!!!   

[71green go]

I have done a pool such as this....After the matting/glass was applied I sand the matt smooth and then apply a spray Gel coat on it.....gel coat will smooth it right out, Gel coat can be tinted to any color such as blue.....I have never done a whole pool but a very large section of my buddies pool....
You can roll the gel coat out also, but we had access to a gel coat sprayer from a buddies boat shop.........turned out very well and smooth and using for now 5 years
Without filling in the pores of the matt it will continue to collect dirt.......to apply gel coat at this point the entire pool would need sanded with like 120 grit to make the gel coat adhere.....

[Steve P.]

Ok, I had no idea that GELCOAT could be rolled, but I have no clue about painting anything!! That said, everything else you said is what I have been thinking all along. So either this company just does not do a complete job or they are complete thieves.

On their web site it said they put MANY COATS on. I asked before I signed and was told that the new coating they use was thinker and was no need for it.. Well, I can probably get some paint to stick to my truck too, but it probably will not look very good!!!

It is filled with water and chemicals again. He swears it will not do it as long as I keep the chemicals tight. I am thinking he is full of crap... As bad as the surface is I am SURE no chemicals are going to keep it clean and still be able to safely swim in it!!