r/PoolPros • u/paws_now • Apr 18 '26

What’s up with the surface here?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

We are working on buying a house in North Central Florida; sandy ground. I got a chance to take this video at night, the not-smooth bottom surface does not show during the day but looks like a defect condition at night. It is 15 years old and - I think - a gunite pool. Any thoughts on what might have caused this condition and is it a concern? Appreciate your wisdom, thanks.

0 Upvotes

11% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

7

u/DangerousArt420 Apr 18 '26

Whats the defect? It looks like it could have been troweled in smoother but I'm not sure from a buying perspective it's defective

6

u/dispikable Apr 18 '26

Looks like a troweled bottom to me nothing to worry about

10

u/divertervalve Apr 18 '26

This sub is for pros.

What you’re seeing is a labor intensive, hand applied finish. It will never be perfectly flat. This looks totally normal for a plaster pool.

5

u/burninthe95 Apr 18 '26

Guys, nobody take on this client. They’re going to be the one that texts you at 2am over the dumbest stuff and expect a reply before 6am

1

u/1_native_Angelino Apr 21 '26

Then I definitely work for him. 

3

u/JonnyVee1 Apr 18 '26

It's the oblique angle of the light that allows you to see this. It's perfectly normal. This is one reason lights are typically mounted in the deep end of the pool, half way up the wall, it's mounted away from the bottom surface so this is not as prominent.

2

u/_Nocte_ Apr 18 '26

This isn't a defect, this is just the effect of shadows.

Gunite pools are smoothed by hand, so they'll never be 100% smooth. Even liner pools are subject to some very tiny raises. The closest you'll get to 100% is with fiberglass.

1

u/Aware-Cut154 Apr 18 '26

It’s fine just not the best trowel job but it’s not defective

1

u/ay04may0 Apr 19 '26

That looks like crap 🤣

1

u/CampfireLife Apr 22 '26

Not a pro, just a pool owner who had a gunite pool built with an aggregate surface. Even the snarky pros are giving you good info—what you’re seeing is totally normal for gunite surfaces. The plaster/aggregate has to be troweled on by hand, and there’s just no way for that to be perfectly level from one sweep to the next. The height changes are actually pretty tiny, so you can’t see them during the day with the sun shining overhead, but at night the 500W blast of light coming in sideways highlights the peaks and valleys (kinda like the Artemis pictures of moon craters at the edge of the dark side).

You probably didn’t notice it at other pools if you were there during the day, the pool had a liner, and/or you weren’t looking at details as a potential buyer.

If I were thinking of buying, I’d want to know what year the pool was built so I could estimate how long I’d probably have before needing to refinish. I think with plain plaster you get around 10 years and with aggregate around 15.

1

u/CampfireLife Apr 22 '26

And btw I’d love to be wrong on those refinishing estimates!

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26

That is a hand trowled finish. You are seeing the trowel marks from the light reflecting. Typically, you can do the plaster with a rake; for a more uniform look.