pebbletec is not an option? i can't say enough good things about the pebbletec finish and the superior customer care after the sale if you have any problems. :-)

gina171 - unfortunately, no. My pb uses River Rok, which is more like Pebblesheen, and is actually really very nice. I did make some progress today with SGM - maker of River Rok. Earlier phone calls did not yield much info. Today, one of their marketing reps was very helpful, and emailed me many pool pics with different finishes. And, surprisingly, a finish that I wasn't even considering is now a strong contender.

Funny that you responded to this post - I was actually getting ready to reach out to you for advice - you seemed to have very good color sense.

hawkfive, what a nice compliment, thank you! i would love to see the colors you are deciding between. sounds like you've already read my posts, so you know i am all for interesting colors. post some of the photos here, i would love to see them. have you chosen your coping and/or tile yet? what kind of look are you going for? natural, lagoon, roman?

i found a thread here that features an OUTRAGEOUSLY cool pool in Louisiana....it will take a long time to load, there are tons of high quality photos and almost 100 entries, so be patient, might take a few minutes. but towards the end someone asks about the finish and someone replies that the beach entry is river rok....maybe you can contact this pool owner and get their advice/opinion on the products.

it's a great pool, get ready to be floored by it!

Here is a link that might be useful: River Rok on the beach entry

I'm bumping this thread up in the hope that someone, anyone, may have River Rok pics they can post. Stonescapes is not an option, and PT was outrageously expensive (over $12K). We are on the plaster schedule for the week of May 18th, so this is it - I've got to make a decision - HELP!!!

Hawkfive-

Hi...I'm the owner of Louisiana Pool mentioned above. The beach is SGM's RiverRok Pebble Beach with mini pebbles instead of the standard pebble size. Not sure what color you were looking for, but this finish is very durable and the only difference from SGM's other finish, Diamondbrite, is the aggregate size and of course, colors. The Diamondbrite has very small quartz crystals that give it durability and sparkle. The RiverRok is available in two different aggregate sizes ("std" and "mini"). We went with the "mini" pebbles due to smoother feel in the beach entry where the water is shallow and there is not much bouyancy to reduce pressure between the swimmer's feet, knees etc. and the finish. The "std" RiverRok pebble size which is bigger than the "mini" was rougher. Both aggregate sizes in the RiverRok are much larger than the small quartz crystals in the Diamondbrite.

Regarding color selection, hopefully between the pictures provided by SGM and the pics of pool, you'll start to get an idea of color preference. My PB showed me a pool they finished with the same color we used for our beach. The entire pool used Pebble Beach and I would say that the deeper water made the color look greenish. I didn't like it in the deeper water but it gave the effect we were after in the shallower water. The color choice is a personal preference and the color will change widely based on pool depth and even different lighting angles throughout the day.

We did SGM's Diamondbrite in the main pool and SGM's RiverRok in the beach 2 years ago and both finishes are very durable. The smoothness will depend on the application technique and is another thread of its own. You're PB may be able to show you different pools to get an idea of color preference and finish preference.

Hope this helps!

I need some help! we are doing a beach entry and will be using stonescape as a finish. How can we carry the aggragate past the bond beam onto the dry beach? Can I do a screed line and use a colored concrete base? How about using plaster with a polymer? Any advise/experience will be greatly appreciated!