I have a medium gray plaster with 3M Smoke added...I had the smoke added to extend the life, you can't really see the crystals much at all. We do have some mottling and at first it really bothered me but now I don't notice it at all...partly it faded a bit I think but mostly it's hard to notice unless you are specifially looking for it.

Is 3m smoke a pebble product?

Nice pool--- again, I like the slight mottling

Thanks! 3M isn't a pebble product it's a Quartz additive that is supposed to extend the life of the plaster. Normal plaster is typically made with Marble sand, Quartz is a harder stone and is should to last longer...but when all is said and done its really just plaster.

tess tx-- about how much percent did the 3M product add above the cost of plaster?

All--- do you recommend this product?

Thanks

I believe that it was about 2k additional but I'll double check tonight and let you know.

Hey Tess, How's Quinn?

Hi Dischnell, thanks for asking...he's doing great! He's up to walking 15 minutes twice a day and he's allowed back in the pool... the day his stitches came out and he could get in he headed straight for the waterfall and stood full under it for a good 5 minutes! Tess

Must be nice to have a dog that likes the pool. I still can't get my Sadie in the pool for the life of me.

Really? not even on the shelf?

She'll go on the shelf, but not willingly. I usually call her over and "make" her go on the shelf. She just likes to drink out of the pool best. I'm trying to get her used to it, but I suppose if she's not a water dog, she's not a water dog. We'll see after the season is over.

...sorry to hijack the thread, I was just curious about your Quinn :)

I have a light to medium gray plaster and water is blue. I do have mottling but I also wanted that and like it.

Does anyone here have a pool with plain white plaster surface? Or, perhaps, could point to a realistic photo that is not an ad? We are just now building a new pool and trying to decide on the color. The contractor says that plain white plaster produces a nice gentle light blue water color, which, we think, we like - it should fit well in our landscape. However, several friends have told me that the pool would not look blue at all if I choose white color. Could you folks please provide some advice?

Many thanks,
Constantine

constv: here's a picture of our friend's pool. Their pool is a year old with regular white plaster.

Constv,

I want to add that you will get a light crisp blue color almost all the time since the water is reflecting off of the color of the sky; sometimes it could get a darker shade of blue depending on the angle and brightness of the sun but for the most part, you will get that refreshing blue water look. The picture shows the correct color but is only two dimensional so it's not nearly as pretty as if you see it in person.

However, light color plaster will show dirt on the bottom of the pool more easily. As for the spa, yes, there is very little blue there because there's less water to reflect off the sun so it shows more of the white plaster. Hope this helps.

Does anyone have a photo of a pool completed with SGM's baja sand? We're trying to decide on a color that is dark, but not black-bottomed or murky-looking. We've chosen to go with the River Rok, but need suggestions on the color.

just adding my 2 pennies

better late than never! Here is our pool i used Dischnell photos to show my PB and the plaster foreman the color. Ended up matching the tile and wish i woul have gone a bit darker.. but i still love it. its a med to dark grey plaster with 3M agean green added to it...

last weekend

looks like it got lighter... but it may just be the time of day

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Pool Page

Very pretty color. You did good with your mixture! Yours came out very similar to ours, a little lighter and more of the blueish-green specks, but it sure did turn out beautiful. Nice choice!

That is a pretty color. We are going with 3M French Gray. It will be interesting to see how everything turns out. Gunite will be done either tomorrow or Saturday :)

xnightowl:
Thanks a lot for the answer and picture. That's exactly what I needed to see. I don't know if I should be concerned with the dirt at the bottom... We are installing a PCC 2000 automatic cleaning system that is, basically, a system of retractable jet heads positioned throughout the pool floor that work on a timer and 1) suspend the small dirt particles to be sucked into the filter; 2) push other debris towards the collector at the deepest point where the debris get caught and collected in an easily accessible canister - outside the pool. I was told that it practically allows to eliminate any kind of debri build-up at the bottom. Hope that's true.

I have been reading way too much negative stuff about colored plaster, its reliability and quality, maintenance problems, etc. Pictures in this forum look awesome, but I wonder if it indeed requires more maintenance... My contractor told me that white plaster is the most reliable of all types of plasters. He says that if one wants something that has awesome color, reliability, and a life-time warranty, they should go with "Pebble Matrix", not colored plaster. But that adds about 10K to the price of a pool that is roughly 20x40 ft.

That's exactly the advice my contractor gave me. I asked him about the dependability of plaster today as compared to twenty years ago, and he swears that if properly maintained a plaster pool will last over ten years. He is also a traditionalist for pure white plaster. He claims that a pigment will dye the surface of a sand grain, but when the surface wears off, what's left is the white sand grain. Based on price, I went with white plaster. It is also good to shop around. With my remodel, I had a half dozen contractors over to bid on the job. Adams Pools, a nationwide company that specializes in pebble, offered new coping, tile and pebble for a 12' x 22' pool with a 6' deep end for $15,000. I had some other mason and plastering companies from around the Napa and Sonoma County area of Nor Cal. all come in between $8-10,000 for coping and tile and basic white plaster. My neighbor told me about a local plasterer here in Sonoma who takes a few side jobs during the season, on top of his regular job. He came in at $7000. So far I'm happy with his work. He came in Saturday, ripped out all the old tile and sand blasted the pool. I told him about a booster system on the pool, that drains from a bottom outlet, goes to a booster pump, and passes back to 4 venturi jets at the front of the pool, giving it a jaccuzzi effect. The bottom line had a leak and has been abandoned for years. I didn't think abour repairing it as I assumed it would cost small fortune. Sunday, he came back with a saw and jack hammer, cut out about a 2-3' section around the drain and replaced the piping. He said he would presure test the line tomorrow and if the leak was near the inlet, hopfully he fixed it it. If it's somewhere else, then the pipe would need excavated and I'm certainly not going to go through that expense. The pool operates fine without the booster, but it sure was a nice feature. I'll keep my fingers crossed. The additional plumbing work he through in, and it wasn't even in the original contract, so so far I really happy with the way things are going.

_john

Dischnell - if you're still out there and wouldn't mind doing so, can you please post a close up of the raised bond beam portion of your pool. We are designing our pool now and I like the way you have that set up.

thx

I believe you are talking about our raised planter at the back of our pool that has our fountain jets spraying from it. This was a really inexpensive way to add a water feature. I believe the entire set up cost less than $295 (minus the fountain jets). A significant difference from the rock waterfall we initially wanted but didn't fit into our budget. It is raised 6" above our deck...

_john,

I read your post about plastering. I'm in the process of making the difficult decision on what material/plasterer to go with. I'm located outside of Kenwood and am interested in the local plasterer you hired. Could you send me contact information?

Thanks,

Waterouzel

Hi, Waterouzel:

I haven't posted to this forum in months and missed your message. I went with Donnovan Pool Plastering. He is an independent contractor who works for a plastering company in SR. He has his own business he does on the side. He will come in, drain your pool, tare out the old plaster, coping and do all the prep work, then he will bring in a tile company and the plastering co he works for in SR to complete the plastering and finish up. You just write one check, to him, and he takes care of everything else... he came in about $800 less than any other bidders. I had both the tile co. and the plastering co that he subcontracted submit bids for the project, and both of them were about $800 higher than him. A decent, hard working, no BS type of guy... highly recommended... Look up Donovan's Pool Plastering in the Sonoma phone book.
_j

Nothing added, just plaster. I'm VERY happy with it, and it doesn't require anything extra other than a brush now and then. It does have some mottling, but not enough for me to even notice. No problem seeing kids at all depths (and it goes to 9'), we have lots of kids of all ages over often.

We have noticed that the color lightens up with the acid load is too low, but that may be a factor of our very hard water. I have only last summer photos, really need to get out there and do some more. Here is one that shows the color fairly well, or you can click around and see more.

Here is a link that might be useful: pool

I am re-doing my pool. I will be using Triple AAA Tile and Plaster in Dallas. I am not sure whether to go with white plaster or white with blue specks. Does anyone have any input concerning this??

If you scroll up about halfway you will see my pool with white plaster and blue specks. Sometimes plain white plaster, especially in shallow pools, will look more like a light aqua rather than blue. What color water do you want?

We're having a tough time choosing which 3M color to plaster our pool with. We saw French Grey with Smoke today, but it was a bit too grey. We want a true medium blue, not too greeny either. Help!

Stevenbr,

If you are still around did you end up going with QuartzScapes. We are going with it and I can not decide on French Gray or Midnight Blue. I'd love pictures and info from anyone on QuartzScapes, there isn't alot out there? Thanks.

Hi, am new to this forum but looked here for advice on pool plaster. Loved the look of "dischnell's" pool photos from may of 07. If dishnell is still out there, please respond. We copied your exact pool plaster of the Premix Marbletite Marquis/mixture of their colors Charcoal (40%) and Pewter (60%). Our pool looks like your first photo...the dark grey. Now pool co. has added acid and it looks no different. He does the acid water wash meaning the pool is already filled. he added more acid...still very little change. He says he is brushing it and I asked when it will look like your 2nd photo...he has never done this mixture so he is not sure. Any advice. Our pool co. does not communiciate well with us. We are frustrated and ready to swim. Any others please respond as well if have advice. THX

Hi...I'm new too and also loved "dischnell's" pool. We want your same water color, but our PB uses 3M colorquartz, rather than the premix marblelite marquis that you used. I think we're going to go with caribbean blue plus med.to dark gray plaster. Hope it turns out. Did they add dark gray to your premix or was the plaster already part of the premix? One 3M rep said that 3M gray with 3M black might give us your color being that your pewter is equal to gray and your charcoal to black. Another rep said that 3M has a color called cornerstone or another called flagstone that are mixes of gray and blk. Nobody seemed to know for sure, so we're kind of afraid of the blk.+ gray combo...which is why we're adding carribbean blue. If you have any thoughts or info on it, please let me know. They're suppose to do the plastering any time now and we're really stressed about the color. We haven't had a good experience so far with other work they have done for us, so this part is really scary. We hope we at least to get the color right.

I am trying to make the final decision re: my new pool floor surface finish. My objective is to create a "lagoon"-type finish to blend with the natural jungle-type environment/background. I want something darker blue but also need to be able to see if there's a SNAKE!!!!! in the (6-foot) deep end. I would like to see an actual finished pool in the Tampa, FL area before making my final decision. ANY help would be MUCH appreciated. My "critters" can hardly wait for their new "cement pond"!

gollygee- I just found this thread; did your pool color ever change to what you wanted (dishnell's color)? how did everyone else do with your color selections?

Help! I saw what my PB calls a blue-black colored plaster pool that was only 1 1/2 yrs old and it looked terrible! The walls were still dark navy, but the deep end was light blue and the rest of the pool was big splotches of of dark and light blues....not mottled as I understand mottled to be. I want to know if anyone out there has a dark navy colored plastered bottom that had a different experience. How old is your pool and did it "mottle" evenly throughout the pool? We're also looking at Pebbletec to get a consistant coloring, but the upgrade is pretty pricey. I'm just so afraid of my pool turning out like the one I saw. It's too much of an investment to skimp on the plaster/Pebbletec, but I feel like I may be being "up-sold" on the Pebbletec. I'd prefer the plaster if it fades evenly. My PB says to get the navy lake look, they would combine black and white plaster then put the blue dye in. The blue dye is what fades out. Thoughts?

We had a blue plaster based quartz (Sunstone) that we chose because we wanted the shallow parts, like a 12'x4' sun shelf to look blue as well. While the color was really nice, we did have a lot of mottling. We were warned and expected it, but the wife wasn't so thrilled. On pool 2 - we did Super Blue Diamonbrite - a white based plater with mostly blue quartz. Looks great, feels smooth, and is relatively inexpensive. It isn't as rich a blue as the blue or gray plaster colors give you, but the trade off is no mottling.

good luck - T

Thanks! That helps! I think I won't be happy with the mottling since I tend to like things consistant in appearance. I think we're going to go with the PebbleTec Tahoe Blue color and just deal with the cost. I'd rather know what I'm getting and not worry about the mottling. I'm glad to hear you had a good experience with the DiamondBrite product. We had that in pool #1 and I think the problem was the people who "installed" it. We didn't have a great experience with it and it was sooooo inconsistant...we even saw a boot mark at the bottom of the low end from one of the guys! I personally don't think they knew what they were doing. Thanks again for your input on the plaster! :-)

This is a great thread! But I am still not sold on my color choice. I hate second guessing myself and only have a couple of days to finalize my choice. I chose DB French Grey today but saw the post about it having a greenish tint to it. I am going for a blue color and like the dark or deep blue look but not the windex look of the tahoe blue. My husband does not want a dark bottom pool so I thought the French Grey would be a happy medium for both of us. Any more pics of the Diamond Brite French Grey out there? Thanks!

DB does have custom mixes as well. You might want to look at steel blue. I believe it is 4 bags of tahoe blue and 2 bags of onyx. Don't quote me on the ratio but this is a great option to look at.

Good Luck

This message is for Wacoanne.

Did Triple AAA do a good job with the replaster. I am having mine done fairly soon and plan to use the same company.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards
Tommyboy

Does anyone have a picture of this color?

I want a medium blue but more on the blue side and less on the gray side (whcih I think the French Gray woud give me).

Am I on the right track? I want to use Quartzscapes but need advice. Thanks!!

I have sunstone pearl-black pearl, it is a dark grey base with small pebbles of white, tan, black and brown-very natural looking, water is dark blue, but not black or too dark, you see the shimmering bottom, Michelle, I have pictures, I will se what page they are on now if you want to view it, I'll post it in a minuite!, Michelle

page 8, july 12th post, under new pool pictures, michelle 16

We love the Diamondbright Midnight Blue plaster but have heard it can be more expensive than many of their other color options.Is this true??

gollygee, did you every get your issue taken care of? I know your post is quit old but I just joined this forum today and I'm the other 50% owner of the dischnell pool.

Hello
Does anyone have a pool picture with the CrystalStone pool finish in either Blue Pearl or Island Blue Isle?
Trying to decide between the two and desire a light blue look. Thank you!

does anyone have pictures of Diamond Brite Steel Blue

Does anyone have pictures of Marlin Blue Diamond Brite?

We are having a difficult time choosing a plaster color. We have seen pictures of Diamond Brite French Gray pools that look close to the more expensive blends and watercolors. We have a sunny morning and partial shade afternoon backyard. We do not want a green water color. We want a natural blue water color. Is french gray the right choice? Does anyone have pictures of Diamond Brite French Gray?

Did you end up going with the Diamond Brite French Gray? Would love to see a pic. I'm in the same boat you were in a year ago. :) Thanks!

Is this forum still active? Sydney, Aus