hi solsurfer - i replied to you in another forum as well, but i would contact pebble tec directly and ask them. maybe they can reapply the pebble tec finish to that area? good luck with your pool! :D Here is a link that might be useful: pebble tec contact form

It doesn't have to come out. Hot melt a straight edge to the bottom of the pan adjacent to the crack. Route a dado over the crack and almost through. Cut and fit a color and particulate matched piece into the dado making a snug fit, but loose enough to allow color matched methelmethacryate adhesive. Apply adhesive to the male and fit it in. It should be just proud of the pan. When the adhesive has set, hot melt blocks to the router bottom and route off the excessive glue and material. Sand and finish. Check the rest of the pan for hollow spots by tapping gently but firmly. If you find any, drill the pan, inject epoxy and fill the hole with color matched material and adhesive. Sand and finish. Make sure the drain opening has all edges sanded smooth and all tool marks removed too. Post some pics. This post was edited by Trebruchet on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 13:46

"Is the plaster that I have purchased the same as Easysand?" Easysand and Durabond are USG products. They are setting type joint compound, supplied as a powder and mixed with water. There are some other brands of setting compound out there. The problem with 'patching plaster' (even the USG stuff( is that the final coat is rarely just plaster, but a mixture of plaster and lime putty. Plaster sets way to fast (even with a lot of retarder) and straight lime putty sets way to slow (months). The mixture of the two provides a surface that sets in a few hour and then continues to harden for weeks. Durabond and Easysand both harden by the same chemical reactions as plaster, and not by drying out like premixed drywall mud. If you do not have much experience with plaster repair, stick with Easysand. Mix it about as thick as peanut butter (no limps please) and then apply with either a drywall knife for small repairs, or a plasterer's trowel for large areas (youre areas are small). Do not try to achieve a perfect finish on the first coat, but try to not leave excess material. The second coat will be easier to smooth since it will be thinner. Easysand can be scraped with a drywall knife after it hardens to remove any lines or other marks sticking out, and then another layer applied. You do not need to wait for Easysand to dry before recoating, just harden. Durabond is as hard as real lime putty plaster and very difficult to sand. Sanding also removes the smoothness from tooling with steel.

Refinishing depends on exactly what the finish actually is. Lacquer can be re-disolved and smoothed out with lacquer thinner, and shellac with denatured alcohol. Varnish hardens by polymerization and there is typically no solvent that can reverse this process. Constantines sells small pieces of veneer and you may be able to find repair pieces there. Depending on how well you want to hide the repair you can use anything from markers to paint to blend in newer wood to match the surrounding wood. Using shellac to re-finish is often the best alternative, even though it is not water reisistant. It will apply over most old finishes and adhere.