Stains Smudges on NEW Plaster HELP!

[dogette]

Hello: I need some help. I own a brand new Anthony Sylvan Plaster Pool. Overall we are very pleased with the pool. However, right after the pool was filled by a local company small black spots started appearing mostly in one area of the shallow end. And one large one that looks like a smudge mark on the step. Over the past 2 months they have multiplied. Still mostly in one corner of the shallow end on the floor. But they are throughout the pool in other areas including the walls of the deep end. Pool water is perfect except for a very high level of phosphate that was just detected. Its was 2500. We are treating the phosphate problem but these stains are still there. I tried a vitamin C tab to see if they were stains. Nothing happened. I scratch at them to see maybe if they are algea, nothing flakes off. Im thinking the plaster had something in it. But why mostly in 1 area??? Any suggestions????[

[chicksb]

I am in the same boat as you. However, my pool is 3 years old and all of a sudden there are many black spots on the steps and on the sides in the deep end. Some brush off when scrubbed really hard but most don't. The only thing I can think of is it is the gunite underneath the plaster. Knowing the kind of disreputable people who did the plastering, I wouldn't doubt that they didn't put a thick enough layer over the gunite.

[kamkuda]

Get the water tested for copper. Black spots come from 2 general causes, Black algae, looks like specks and copper, which looks more like a smear

[loquetus]

Our pool was resurfaced last year and I had to be on these guys from day one to work toward my specifications. It seems these contractors want to get in and out as fast as they can, and my particular contractor wasn't at all concerned with the quality of his "Home Depo--No Green Card" workers work. When I had a problem and contacted him, he just about put his fist in my face.

BE AWARE!
The guy that contracted the job will NOT be doing the work.

As for the black stains, they've just begun to show-- ALL OVER the pool. To me, it seems that the plaster/gunite that they used wasn't mixed consistently, and the stains follow the flow of the trowel. It's patchy though, and this is why I think it wasn't mixed enough. You can see where pefectly white area's are surrounded by etchy black pigments. I can't brush it off, and our chemicals have been perfect from day one of the resurfacing.

[try it]

try acid washing your pool this process removes the first layer of plaster
this might remove the nasty stains.

[adriannemarie]

Our new pool had patchy marks also. It looks like trowel marks to me. The pool builder said it was a water issue. The pool service had the water tested and the results were negative. So the pool builder emptied the pool and sand blasted the plaster as well as acid washed it. I read after online that a new pool should not be acid washed. Is this true? And I am concerned about what that did to the plaster. Now the marks are back. It looks like someone scribbled on the plaster. It looks to me like trowel marks. What would cause this? Now the builder is saying his water tests show different that the issue is the water. What should we do???

[czechmate]

It would suggest to me trowel burned plaster.
(Does not look like you were on the top of things when it was being done).
Was it breezy during the application? If it was, you shoud not have allowed work to start.
Acid wash will hardly solve burnt plaster without damaging the surface.
Coarse surface will become a haven for an algae to take a hold at the first opportunity.
As you start brushing with stainless brush, even 60/40 plastic bristle, you will further degrade the surface. Also, during brushing the milk of plaster dust makes it hard to see the cleaning progress.
This is why I stress shopping around and dilligently checking the contractor.