The library
How plaster works, why it fails, and what the first thirty days decide. Free, in plain English, and the same answers we give on a site visit.
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The shell holds the shape. The plaster holds the water. Everything you see, feel, and pay for later starts in that half-inch skin.
Pool plaster is a roughly half-inch coating of cement, water, and aggregate hand-troweled over your pool's gunite or concrete shell. It's what makes the pool watertight, smooth, and colorful. The shell holds the shape, and the plaster holds the water.
"Aggregate" is what's mixed in: marble dust in classic plaster (marcite), crushed quartz in quartz finishes, natural pebbles in pebble finishes, or glass beads in luxury finishes. The aggregate determines how the surface looks, feels, and lasts. See all six finish families.
Classic plaster is smooth and the cheapest, but it's the softest surface, so it etches and stains soonest (5–10 years). Quartz mixes in crushed quartz (much harder than marble dust) for a longer life (7–12 years) at a modest bump in price.
Pebble replaces most of the cement surface with stone, so water chemistry attacks the cement between pebbles much more slowly, that's why it lasts 15–20+ years. The trade-off is texture underfoot. Glass bead finishes give you pebble-class lifespan with a silky feel and serious sparkle, at the top of the price range.
Compare them in the finish catalog or get dollar figures in the estimator.
The big four signs: roughness (surface feels like sandpaper, the cream coat has worn through), stains that acid washing won't lift, visible gunite or "islands" of missing plaster, and hollow spots that sound drum-like when tapped (delamination).
One or two isolated problems can often be spot-repaired. Widespread symptoms mean patching becomes a money pit. A resurface resets the clock. Run the diagnosis below.
Plaster doesn't fail evenly. It fails at the weak spots: thin areas, trowel burns, spots where the mix was overworked or watered down. A crew that hand-trowels carefully and times each pass to the cure leaves a denser, more even surface with fewer weak points.
It's the least visible part of the job on day one and the most visible part in year five. See the five-step process.
The long game
Water chemistry slowly works on the cement. Balanced water is the whole ballgame. Here is the life of a surface, from the cure to the tell-tales.
Plaster hardens underwater for its first month. Startup chemistry decides how dense and stain-resistant the surface will be for its entire life.
Surface is dense and bright. Keep water balanced (pH 7.4–7.6, alkalinity 80–120, calcium 200–400) and brush weekly.
Fine etching and mineral deposits accumulate. A professional drain-and-acid-wash can reset the look once or twice. Each wash removes a thin layer, so it isn't unlimited.
Roughness, thin spots, stubborn stains, hollow drum spots. Washes stop helping. Pebble hits this stage a decade after plaster does.
Diagnosis
Tap the symptom that looks most like yours. We'll tell you the likely cause, how urgent it is, and whether it's a repair or a resurface conversation. Straight answers. No scare tactics.
New plaster
New plaster cures underwater, and the first month decides the next decade. We handle startup on every job. This is the play-by-play, including why you're about to become close friends with a pool brush.
The pool fills in one continuous run. Pausing leaves a permanent ring at the waterline. Keep the hose end wrapped so it doesn't sit against fresh plaster. No swimming, no pets, nothing in the pool.
Fresh plaster pushes pH up hard as it cures. We test and adjust immediately. This is where mottling and scale get prevented. The pump runs continuously the first 72 hours.
Plaster dust (fine cement particles) forms as the surface cures. Brushing the whole pool daily sweeps it up before it can set as scale, and tightens the surface. No wheeled cleaners yet. No heater either.
Once chemistry is stable and dust is under control, you can typically swim. We give you the green light rather than a guess.
The surface has reached most of its final hardness. Normal cleaners, heater, and salt systems (if applicable, we'll advise on timing) can come online. From here it's routine care.
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