gman66 - I completed a remodel of my older pool last August, but a couple of years before that I had the pool man acid wash it. The pool was drained overnight and the next day the acid solution was applied. He and a helper brushed the walls and the bottom working on some of the spots more intensely. After that they washed it down with clear water to wash off any residue of acid. After that the pool is refilled. There is no painting. Do not paint your pool. If the plaster is in relatively good shape and the staining is primarily on the surface, you should notice a difference after the acid wash, a brighter clearer water color, but an acid wash will not remove all types of stains. My pool is an old style kidney shape, roughly 92 ft around and my deep end is also 8 ft. In 2005 it cost me about 500 dollars for the acid wash. It lasted about a year, but I had some deep staining. That's what made me decide to go ahead and resurface it with pebbletec, not to mention my tile and coping was also in bad shape. Considering the cost to resurface the pool even with plain white plaster, it wouldn't hurt to try the acid wash and see if it works for you, especially if you aren't quite ready to take the resurface plunge. At the least get a couple of opinions on the degradation of the plaster. If the pool is really old, resurfacing is probably the thing to do. Good Luck!

I think Jer83 meant Refinish with a dark finish "like" the pictured pool (rather than the pictured pool being his pool). I knew nothing about pools (well, I still mostly no nothing about pools, although I know a heck of a lot more now) before we built ours. I didn't do my research until we were in the middle of building, and at that point, a lot of it was too late (our pool is beautiful, I am not complaining, but there are things I would change if I could start from scratch)...Either way, here is a video of our pool build. I don't have the real-time video of the "plaster" phase (Pebble sheen is plaster and pebbles mixed, so yes, it is re-plastering), but the video will show a little about what is involved (note, my pool was new, so re-finishing the surface is probably even more work than plastering straight to unite). It took a team of people who do it daily several hours. I don't know if the cost is more materials then labor, but there is a reason it costs much more than standard plaster. IMHO, it will be well worth paying a professional (i.e., this is not a part to try and cut costs on, if you can). Note, however, I have River Rok, which is NOT Pebble Tech nor "Pebble Sheen" (which is smaller pebbles, supposedly softer), but it is similar. One other note, however, getting the "right" color is tough. There are a lot of variables in how things look (lighting, trees, water depth, mixture of pebbles, colors, etc), so even with a professional install, it may look different than another pool with the same "color" or different than a brochure. Our pool color varies from a deep blue (not dark, but deep), to a greenish look, depending on the time of day, and the cloud cover.

The best time is in the Spring. It gives the plaster finish the most time to settle and cure with the filter running. Different companies will offer different choices of plastering materials. There will be plain plaster, aggregates, colors, pebble finishes, and everything in between. There's tile and coping if needed too. Every pool is different. It could cost anywhere from 12 to 25K, depending on what work needs to be done. Check with the local service companies and builders in your area. Scott

We resurfaced the pool with pebbletec. the installer used the wrong color, stoped after they realized it (they were almost done at that point) and returned a week later to put the right color on. The pool seem lower now. the first step for example connects to the wall at the waterline tile (only 3in under water). does it make sense that 2 leyers of pebble tec makes a big, noticeable difference? we cant get in the pool to check it now as they started chemicals.