Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Tile, mosaic, marbelite, Marcite, Marblesheen,
fiberglass, plaster, shotcrete, paint, epoxy coatings.
Use, care and repair of the various surfaces.
JamesV

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby JamesV » Mon 12 Nov, 2012 11:31

Aggregate pool finishes are becoming more popular as innovations in pool plaster come to the forefront. Today, aggregates have taken over the top spot from pool plaster as the most desirable pool finish option. Most pool owners have chosen to go with an aggregate pool finish because of its durability and aesthetics quality. Natural quartz an additive that has been put in some new pool finishes. A quartz pool finish will typically last between 7 and 12 years. QuartzScapes is one of the beast quartz pool finishes on the market today. A premium blend of crushed quartz, white cement and mineral-based pigments, QuartzScapes merges beauty and strength for a stunning pool finish. Quartz is an amazing additive to pool plaster to increase durability and beauty, but pool owners are trending more toward exposed aggregates.


Pebble Tec lover

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby Pebble Tec lover » Sun 02 Dec, 2012 11:07

Pebble Tec is the acknowledged best pool surface. With Pebble sheen being the best of Pebble Tec. Most of the nay-sayers in here are Pebble Tec wannabes, that are envious. They would complain if they got to heaven nd found out their favorite beer was unavailable on tap. Trust Pebble Tec ... and trust reliable ratings and reviews ... don't trust natural born whiners.
nitrams2000

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby nitrams2000 » Fri 07 Dec, 2012 00:35

:D I had my pool installed in 2008 , I have had pebble tech for 5 years now with no problem, Its very smooth on the bottom , so my feet are never scratched, very smooth finish, color is perfect, so far there is no change in color, water stays completely clean, very easy to maintain, I get lots of compliments because no other pool i know has it, a lot of people make pools around here the old fashioned way so mine looks different but i love it, I have bricks pavers for the whole deck so it matches the pool almost perfectly,

I will say I was scared because the guy putting in the pool had to use 4 separate companies to get this pool created but from the beginning I sad to the pool maker, "look at this pool as if it was your own pool and make it the way you want to, make it as if you own it" He created it the way he wanted to and i think its perfect, it wasn't cheap by no means but I love it , I'm very satisfied and I love the pool, my email is jmartin@ebins.com if you want to see pictures of the pool , I'm very proud of it,

P.S. I will tell you that all pools to maintenance no matter what pool you get and I really thought we would use it more, I love it, its a great center piece that everyone wants to talk about but hardly anyone gets in it anymore, I don't care who you are you just wont use it as much as you thought you would, Ive been in my jacuzzi maybe 4 times this year and my pool maybe twice. just a shame.
kiwipool

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby kiwipool » Sat 08 Dec, 2012 15:26

The Question asked is Pebble Tech a goon finish. Answer yes it is the pebbles in the main come from New Zealand but strange but very few pools are done using it in New Zealand however in Australia it is called Sky Pebble.d
It requires far less applicator skills to apply than Marble however Marble has really done its dash, In general the coloring in most finishes are obtained by using oxides and this can bleach out over time.

Armadillo Pool Quartz or Pool Quartz is using a very fine mesh size of ceramicly coated Quartz (Colored Quartz) the same product that many applicators of recent times add to different types of plasters.

The main difference with this Armadillo Pool Quartz it is 100% Quartz that has the cement added on site making the product far more durable that many others in the market place. It surface is inert making the pool chemistry easier to handle. The risk of staining is reduced because only the cement which is used on ever plaster will stain however the addition of a polymer reduces this, the quartz itself will not stain and is suitable in salt water pools.

The Pool industry is undergoing a lot of changes world wide re wasted with all sorts of claims being made on energy saving by using 2 speed pumps whilst thousands of dollars a year being wasted by claims being made on the interior finish of the pool and its durability and the tail gate warranties.

Kiwi Norman.
Mark h

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby Mark h » Tue 19 Feb, 2013 22:58

I have been in the pool business for a long time and the posts here do not made since to me. Pebble Tec is a company the has 3 popular finishes. The original aggregated finish has an orange peel finish, but all of the water chemistry issues and staining problems make no sense. Be happy you had pebble because if you had regular plaster most of the problems being discussed would have been much worse with standard plaster. I can use anything I want and have no ties to the company. This is the best product in the pool plaster market and if it is presented, installed and maintained properly, the finish is very constant and beautiful and by far more durable than plaster. There is no rational argument for traditional plaster being more durable than pebble Tec.
Pool User

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby Pool User » Mon 04 Mar, 2013 10:35

Aggregate pool finishes are the new way of the future in swimming pool finishes. Pebble Tec has ok products for pebble finishes. But we just started to install NPT's StoneScapes as a pebble finish. The results have been amazing. The whole product line has been awesome. I would reccommend looking at StoneScapes if you are looking at a pebble swimming pool finish.
yuktopoolowership

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby yuktopoolowership » Tue 04 Jun, 2013 07:53

I had pebble tec redo my pool in 2000. Within a few years I started losing water, to much water. After several visits and a lot of because.....I had to drain the pool and when he pounded on the wall in the bad area it was hollow. The pebble tec never stuck to that part of the wall and water was seeping behind it. They repaired it and of course they could not match it. Today they are coming again because in the same area I have a 15 inch line of calcium (again) on the line of the crack. We will see what they say today. I paid extra for the better product with the life time warrenty ...perhaps they feel most people move and the warrenty does not go with the new owner.
czechmate
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 401
Joined: Sat 16 May, 2009 09:20
My Pool: 16 x 32 gunite21000 gal., Diamond Brite Blue, Swimquip XL pump, DE36
Location: Texas

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby czechmate » Tue 04 Jun, 2013 20:40

Interesting phenomenon is, when poor finish on gunite shell causes the water to leak out of the pool. :(
It does not matter if the finish is a plain marcite, DiamondBrite or Pebbletech. The gunite properly installed is a LEAKPROOF product.
Fishing ships in Alaska, that fish in most dangerous waters in the US are sometimes built same way. Armored concrete shot to form.
So to claim that some "finish popped of the wall" and you started loosing water is quite ridiculous.
Of course, if you had a crack in the structure in that particular spot (covered with pebbletech), that also later caused bleaching of gunite or whatever alkali etc, deposited, that is entirely different scenario.
Pico

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby Pico » Tue 18 Jun, 2013 10:40

I believe so.
AppleStan

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby AppleStan » Sat 29 Jun, 2013 15:34

I had my spa remodeled with a pebble tec surface, not Pebble Tec Brand, two years ago and have been happy with it. I used the smaller finer pebbles aka pebble Fina. What they don't tell you is that the color fades with time. Mine was a rather bright sky blue when it was installed, but is now more like the color I wanted, sort of a grey blue. I've heard that they all fade. It also had patches where the color is uneven that never went away. I think the trick is with the man doing the work...it's tricky and should be done by an expert. But I like it much better than plain plaster. There can still be staining, but it is masked by the stones and there is a lot less plaster between the pebbles to stain in the first place. Pebble Fina, or the smaller pebbles, are smoother and I have had no problem with it hurting my feet or hands.
Pam Fitts

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby Pam Fitts » Wed 03 Jul, 2013 17:59

We bought the house with a 4 yr old Pebble Tec pool surface.
The surface chews through the seals of pool vacuum units -I never had that problem with the gunnite pool we had for 8 years, never replaced a seal, now replace every year. Feet get cut up so bad I only go in the pool with swim shoes -just like on the coral-filled beaches of Waikiki.
I do have swaths of missing pebbles, they cause the remaining pebbles nearby to cut feet even better.
There was no discernible heating difference, the pool was too cold to use without using a solar blanket.
I would NOT Recommend this product -unless the body of water is just for looks- No one's actually ever going to have to use it...
jeredh
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed 20 Jul, 2011 22:35
Location: Memphis

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby jeredh » Wed 03 Jul, 2013 23:24

There is such a varying degree of opinions here. My PebbleTec surface is 2 years old and i have no complaints thus far. Time will tell.

I have to believe the quality of your finish, no matter what it is, relies on the quality of the install and the care given to it. I've owned this pool for 25 years, originally a gunite surface and resurfaced once with gunite and now PebbleTec. I selected PebbleTec b/c i prefer the texture of rough vs silky smooth. Mine does not affect my feet or childrens feet. I have not noticed any significant degradation of equipment as a result of PebbleTec. All I get on my pool is compliments.

Get a quality installer and maintain your pool surface & water qualities correctly.

Good luck.
Teresa

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby Teresa » Tue 14 Jan, 2014 14:54

How does one rid itself of the dreaded cauliflower stain from fertilizer?
czechmate
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 401
Joined: Sat 16 May, 2009 09:20
My Pool: 16 x 32 gunite21000 gal., Diamond Brite Blue, Swimquip XL pump, DE36
Location: Texas

Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby czechmate » Wed 15 Jan, 2014 11:25

Ask yourself why you want it first. Is it because you like it so much, or because you want to have a trendy pool? Than ask yourself how much can you rely on the crew, since you have no clue who will show up that morning. Selecting a pool surface is not like selecting a latex on your garage door or stain on your fence. Try to learn how to make your decisions by percentages stacking in your favor. You can get many favorable testimonies on a forum, but it is like buying stock based on the last year performance. You do not know how it will be installed, or even if they will use a proper materials in the mix, never mind the process. I personally had to send home a crew, that came to install Bond Kote for the Diamond Brite. Why? First they came in the late afternoon, (which is way late to start this), handled acid mix like washing a highway after spill and when I went to look how many bags of Bond Kote they had in the truck, I discovered sand bags and some acrylic mix crap. I have fired them and the plastering contractor immediately.
Smart selection of a pool surface starts with its own ability to accelerate the cleaning process. And that very essence is a smooth gunite, that will minimize the chance of algae to take hold on any crevice or even miniscule cracks, including places of flow impediment.
I will skip the story about the impact of loose pebbles on your pump impellers, etc.
Good Luck!
LarryB

Re: Is Pebble tech a good surface?

Postby LarryB » Wed 30 Mar, 2016 14:40

I have a Pebble Tech surface in my pool that is 5+ years old. The original color is aqua but it is gradually turning black mostly on the steps and in the shallow areas. What can be done if anything to restore it to the original color and prevent this from happening?

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