The pool wall was built by a po in the early 80's. It was made of cement block with a capstone 1" thick on the top and cement block for the pillar tops. It was painted with a thick textured latex. It held up really well for all these decades.

We bought the house 10 yrs ago and had the carport constructed. We didn't think about the runoff from the roof over the wall...sigh. I guess the Grand Canyon was created by the flow of water LOL...so the wall being eroded should have come as no surprise.

I tried to repair it 2 yrs ago. I am not a brick mason and do not even play one in the movies :) Needless to say it looked good for a year or so and then failed again.

We hired a really excellent brick mason to repair the wall and put stucco coating on since it was not done correctly in the 80's. We also had the gutter put on the carport. Guess which was cheaper ????

They had to use a jack hammer to get the 4 deteriorated pillar tops off. They were so hard and well constructed that the brick mason couldn't believe it ! They then built new tops on the four pillars by the carport. The ones on the other end of the pool, by the diving board were still perfect. All of the 1" thick cap stone was also replaced on the wall by the carport.

The walls were covered with wire mesh lathe. Boy is that stuff sharp ! It is nailed on with a pneumatic "gun" using blanks. What an incredibly hard and loud job . It took days to coat both ends walls inside and out. Each piece of wire mesh has to be unrolled and cut and then held and nailed. We didn't do the wall where the jasmine grows as under the jasmine the wall looks new. This is something to think of when you are planting a non-clinging vine. It protected the wall all these decades.

I also know why they use the cheapo stuff in FL and other places that is fake and looks like insulation batts. The guys explained that they just lay it over the wall and tack it in a few places and put on the Master Wall stucco coat. This is why my Mom and Dad's house in FL would "break" when a worker hit it with the mower etc. it is cheap and fast...but it has serious drawbacks.

The lathe is covered with a scratch coat of mortar mix . Dries and then 2 more coats are applied and left to dry throughly in-between. This is a big job and requires a lot of tedious detail and perfect technique. I now know why I am not a mason . I was so impressed.

The Master Coat stucco was applied by different guys...the ones that explained about the "easy and cheap" way that they do it. I am glad that they are so good at applying the stucco but I am also glad I had the old-fashioned brick mason to do the real work . These guys know how too but said that they were glad most everyone wants the other stuff.

They brought a large crew and got to it. Finished in a few hours. They did an great job and were so neat that there wasn't one drop anywhere when they finished.

The plants along the end wall , by the carport, suffered a lot from the lathe/mortar mix slops...big sigh. But I made lemonade out of lemons. When they came today to reinstall the lights etc they helped me stand the trellis back up and I placed all new mulch/cow compost /organic topsoil all around all the roses and clematis !! Wow...there were a few broken canes on the roses and 2 clemmies are "gone" ..they will be back. It all needed thinning anyway. They also helped us level the fountain and put it back. So all is well. Huge amount of work for me. I had to also remove all of those slops as they are lime based and my flowers need acid soil. 1 wheelbarrow load of stuff...

OK that is all you need to hear LOL ! I made slideshow going from worst to finished. I will post pics of the garden that I took today on a separate post. Thanks for looking and if I can give any more detail about the wall repair let me know. c

Here is a link that might be useful: Wall slideshow