Should You Do Gunite Pool Resurfacing? Look For These 3 Red Flags

Like your home’s roofing or driveway, time can definitely take its toll on your existing pool.

Wear and tear on a gunite swimming pool over an extended period of time is somewhat unavoidable, especially when it’s exposed to freeze and thaw cycles, pressurized water, and disinfecting chemicals year after year.

At Neave Pools, we get plenty of questions from our customers about their aging gunite swimming pools:

In many cases, swimming pool resurfacing can do wonders for your aging pool and bring it back to life. That said, here are some telltale signs resurfacing your gunite pool is well overdue.

Stains come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Generally, a stain on your pool’s surface is superficial damage — many times more annoying than serious. But just like that stain on your favorite shirt, we understand just how irritating a swimming pool stain is when it becomes the one thing that catches your eye every time you’re near your pool.

Most pool surface stains are caused by the following:

If stains grow in size or quantity, or if repeated attempts to clean up and remove your stains are unsuccessful, it’s probably a good time for a professional gunite pool repair with you choosing a stain-resistant gunite pool resurfacing material.

How does your pool surface feel? If the usual rough texture feels rougher than you think it should, or if the gunite is beginning to show through, that’s a huge red flag. Your pool surface is deteriorating. And it will only get worse.

Pro Tip: In addition to staining, unbalanced pH levels in your pool’s water can pit and deteriorate a pool’s surface. If you have to clean your pool more than usual, there’s a good chance your gunite surface is pitting, or your pool chemicals are increasingly imbalanced — or both.

How well is your pool holding water? The likelihood of a worn out or damaged pool surface leaking water is very good.

Do you find yourself asking: “Didn’t I just add water the other day?” That might indicate you have a leak.

And much like a deteriorating surface, pool leaks will only get worse if left unaddressed. And that also means your water bill will keep going up, up, up, until a full gunite pool resurfacing is done.

As noted, there are a few different gunite pool resurfacing options. At Neave Pools, we’re well versed in all pool surfaces, but there are two that we commonly apply more than others — marcite and quartz aggregate. Here’s a brief description of the two:

Made of a mixture of cement, water, and marble dust (or silica sand), marcite is a standard plaster application for pool surfaces. Sometimes referred to as white plaster, this surface choice is dependable and provides a watertight seal over porous gunite.

Affordability and a smooth, traditional appearance are a couple of other reasons marcite is a popular choice for pool owners. We also like this pool finish for the way it reflects light inside the pool, as it creates a refreshing, vivid blue effect.

Longer lasting than marcite, a quartz aggregate surface consists of plaster mixed with small pieces of quartz, glass beads, river stones, etc.

Many of our customers prefer this pool finish because it is harder and more resistant to staining — not to mention it gives a pool a luxurious, unique look through custom blending options.

So the surface of your pool is waving a red flag — or two … or three — and you’re recognizing the need to resurface. Not so fast. There’s a catch. You’re not ready to shut down your pool for an indefinite amount of time just because your pool has a couple leaks and stains.

We hear you. But like we said earlier, the longer you let these surface issues linger, the bigger, deeper and more destructive they become.

Just to give you an idea of how much time you might be spending on swimming pool resurfacing, new surface applications typically take a day or two. And on average, there is a two-week curing period before a homeowner can use their pool. Two weeks! That’s the perfect amount of time to plan for your pool’s grand re-opening party.