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Things you should know about swimming pool finishes in general before buying.
Swimming pool finishes fall in the following 3 types or categories. Armorcoat only manufactures finishes in-group 1.
A brief description of each type is provided:
- Cement based finishes
- Marble based plaster finishes
- Quartz based plaster finishes
- Pebble based plaster finishes
- Cement bonded finishes
- Ceramic tile
- Painted
- Polyester
- Epoxy
- Urethane
- Chlorinated rubbed
- Acrylic
New swimming pools built in concrete require a rendering to even out imperfections, seal the shell to prevent excessive water loss and provide an attractive finish, there are two principal ways to do this:
- Apply a mixture of sand and normal cement to the concrete shell and provide a rubbed (float) finish which is subsequently topped with ceramic tiles or a paint coating. The cost of doing these types of finishes are far greater then the cost of a cementitious plaster or quartz finish. The resulting finishes will have superior color uniformity but are less durable, substantially more expensive and difficult to refurbish when they wear out or when the tile falls away.
- Apply a cementitious pool finish of, plaster, quartz or pebble directly to the shell.
Refurbished Pools depending on their existing finish type refurbishing requires a combination of steps to be taken.
Cementitious finishes are usually chipped entirely to remove the old finish and a new finish is applied as in finishing a new concrete pool or the existing finish is selectively repaired, then a bond coat material is applied to the substrated to link the existing finish to the new material being applied.
Ceramic tiled pools can be repaired by removing the failing tiles entirely and a new finish of type 1 or type 2 ia applied after a bondcoat is installed. If a type 3 finish is required the entire area requires a bondcoat and a float finish rendering.
Painted finished pools may be repaired once, usually after 3 or 4 years, and if there are no blisters or pealing, however the second coat will not last as long as the original after a year or two the entire pool will require very expensive sandblasting to remove all the old paint down to the concrete, before refinished with a type 1, 2 or 3 finish again.
Clearly the cementitous finishes are superior in economy and durability to other types of finishes available. All finishes require careful water management to avoid staining, scale and corrosion, caused by materials and metals that accumulate in water through the addition of treatment chemicals and as a result of evaporation. The only advantage of paint and tile finishes is their better uniformity in color.
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