On 14 Apr 2005 21:02:17 -0700, "EdS" wrote:

I just bought a house with a pool and would like to get it ready for
summer. I drained it for painting and am now concerned about several
eight inch patches of concrete where the plaster is worn completely
away.

Can I get away with just painting over the concrete or do I need to
patch these areas? If I need to patch them, does anyone have any
pointers or links to pages with instructions? Does the pool need acid
washing if it's free of alge and other scumminess?

Also, I am not concerned with having a perfect looking pool and, since
we just bought the house and are a bit short on cash, I would like to
avoid any unnecessary expenses. However, I am interested in properly
maintaining is so that I minimize future problems.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

My first reaction is to tell you to stop fooling around, and get the
job done right. A plaster pool should never be painted except as a
last resort. I'm doubtful you will be able to get a good bond between
the paint and the plaster. As ugly as the plaster might be, large
sheets of paint floating around will be even worse.

To address the bare concrete, I would suggest cleaning it, and putting
on a layer of plaster. Then stopping. Painting over peeling plaster
is NOT a solution, it's going to cause further problems.

I can fully appreciate the cash flow problems that occur when moving
into a new - to you - home. I would suggest the best move would be to
do as little as possible until you can afford to have the pool
professionally resurfaced. This is NOT cheap, and isn't really a do
it yourself project. A number to throw around: Three years ago I
spent $6000 to have a 35,000 gallon pool resurfaced, including new
'diamond brite' plaster, tile, and the deck resurfaced with 'cool
deck'. The work carried a 10 year warranty.

PlainBill