I had ecofinish installed on my gunite/plaster pool in March. 95% of the entire pool surface of the ecofinish has a sandpaper like texture. It’s not the smooth surface it’s suppose to be. Obviously my installer didn’t melt the powder enough to make it smooth. I have a small hand vacuum that I use and every time I use it I get quite a bit of the ecofinish powder in the vacuum that is coming off all areas of the pool. The covering seems to have adhered very well and if I didn’t have the vacuum to see what is coming off I wouldn’t know it was happening. Anyway my question is, do you think this will be a problem over the long term or would you recommend to have them come back out and make it right.(smooth). I’m a little hesitant to have them try to smooth it out because I think if they knew what they were doing they would have done it right the first time. With your experience with ecofinish, is it fairly easy to smooth out the surface going over it again with the heat without causing other problems? Thanks for your time.
There isn’t an easy answer to your question without being able to see and feel the pool surface. Often our surfaces are finished with a rougher surface on purpose to prevent excessive slips and falls. Especially on our sun shelves and stairs, we aim for the slightly rougher finish. A completely smooth surface is sometimes possible but not always the best for the application. If your entire pool surface is consistent with the same texture it would seem it may have been done that way on purpose and may be perfectly fine. Is the powder you are getting off the surface the color of the eco finish or is it white? Another reason for sand paper feeling finishes could be water chemistry and specifically the calcium hardness and pH/alkalinity of the pool. Double check all of those by bringing a water sample into a pool store, and depending on those results you may find a chemical/water balance solution to be beneficial as well. In our opinion, over the long term of your pool, a bit of ecoFinish coming off is not an issue, nor is a slightly sand-papered texture.