From time to time we have homeowners that contact us, asking if we can repaint their pools. Painting your swimming pool might seem like a quick and inexpensive alternative to resurfacing your swimming pool but we strongly discourage anyone from painting their pools.

Painting your swimming pool will cost you more in the long run when it comes time to resurface your pool. Pool finishes are a concrete-based product that over time, interacts with the chemicals in your pool water and calcifies. This chemical process, over time, will cause your pool finish to pit, etch, or otherwise become uneven due to the chemicals in your water causing the pool finish to disintegrate. When swimming pools are resurfaced, this problem can be addressed. However, applying a paint or epoxy finish over your existing pool surface will not correct any of etching or pitting.

Additionally, painting your pool will lead to other issues. The chemicals added to your pool water interact with and break down the paint. Most often, this causes the paint to become chalky, causing the water to become cloudy. This chalky residue can get on swimmer’s skin, staining swimmers’ skin and bathing suits or clothing. Pool paint often cracks and flakes off which can also clog and cause damage to your pool filter.

If your pool has already been painted, in order to properly resurface your pool, the paint will need to be sand blasted, wet blasted, or otherwise mechanically removed back to the original surface in order to create a tight, bondable surface. If the paint is not completely removed prior to resurfacing your pool, it can lead to a bonding failure, where the new pool finish delaminates (separates) from the underlying surface.

As there are so many different paints and epoxy-type products on the market today, removing the painted surface can be difficult, expensive, and hard to price because it is often difficult to determine what product was used. This cost of removal will have to be added on to the cost of refinishing the pool, which can sometimes cost as much as resurfacing.

If you have a painted concrete pool and you would like to bring it back to its original surface, or if your pool needs to be refinished, please give Advanced Pool & Spa a call. Advanced Pool & Spa is family owned and operated and has been proudly serving the Tampa Bay area for the 35 years! We have the experience to help you with all your pool, spa, and deck remodeling needs! Please take a look at our website, advancedpool-spa.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram to see some of our beautiful work!