Signs Your Pool Needs Resurfacing or a Remodel

Most pools don't need to be torn out. They need the right people to look at them honestly and tell you what's worn, what's fine, and what's worth changing. Pools Unlimited has been renovating pools across the Texas Hill Country since 2000, and the warning signs tend to show up in the same order. Here's what to watch for in your own backyard.

Six signs it's time

• Rough or staining plaster. If the surface feels like sandpaper under your hand, or has dark staining that won't brush off, the plaster has reached the end of its life. Re-plastering is one of the most common and cost-effective renovations.
• Cracked or loose tile. Tile at the waterline takes a beating from chemicals, sun and changing water levels. Cracked, missing or outdated tile is a straightforward fix that makes a big visual difference.
• Worn or damaged coping. Coping takes more physical wear than any other pool surface. If it's cracking, shifting or just dated, replacing it changes the whole look of the pool.
• Outdated or inefficient equipment. In our experience an old single-speed pump can cost $150 to $300 a month more to run than a modern variable-speed system, and equipment upgrades often pay for themselves within a few years.
• No lighting, or tired fixtures. If your pool goes dark after sunset, LED lighting is one of the highest-impact upgrades for the money.
• It just looks old. Sometimes nothing is structurally wrong and the pool simply looks like 2003. A full cosmetic renovation can transform a pool without touching the shell.

A note on the pump

The pump deserves a second look because it's the one item on the list that costs you money every month even when everything else seems fine. A single-speed pump runs at one setting whenever it's on. A variable-speed pump can slow down, which is how the monthly savings we mentioned come about. If your equipment pad is a decade or more old, ask for an honest comparison before you decide it's not worth touching. For new equipment, we install Pentair and Zodiac, and the pumps, filters and heaters we put in carry 3-year manufacturer coverage.

What a renovation can include

A remodel can be as small as one item or as large as a rebuilt pool. The menu looks like this, and everything on it is done by our own crew rather than farmed out.

• Re-plastering and re-tiling.
• Coping replacement.
• Equipment upgrades.
• LED lighting.
• Automation and smart controls.
• Pool reshapes.
• Full rebuilds.

Many owners combine several. Tile, coping and plaster all sit at the water's edge, and they come out and go back in during the same project, so doing them together avoids paying for the same draining and access twice. Lighting and automation are easiest to add while the pool is already open.

How long it takes and what it costs

Renovations are faster than new builds. The renovation timeline is 6 to 10 weeks, set against 6 to 24 weeks for a full new pool. On cost, our published ranges are $20,000 to $60,000 for re-plastering, new tile, coping replacement and equipment upgrades together, and $40,000 to $90,000 for a full gut-and-rebuild on an existing shell. Those are ranges, not quotes. The assessment is what turns them into a real number.

When a new build makes more sense

A renovation isn't always the right answer, and a good contractor will say so. When we assess a pool we walk it before quoting anything, and we'll tell you if a new build is the better path. Some situations push in that direction.

• The shell itself has a structural problem rather than a surface one.
• You want a very different footprint, depth or layout than the pool you have.
• The cost of the changes you want adds up to most of the price of starting fresh.

If the structure is sound and it's only showing its age, renovation almost always makes more financial sense. A pool reshape can often deliver the new look you want without a complete teardown, and that comparison is exactly what the free assessment is for.

Why the order of work matters

One reason to hire a single crew for a remodel is coordination. Replaster before the tile is fixed and you may end up doing both again. Swap the coping after the deck work and you risk damage to a fresh surface. A crew that does the plaster, tile, coping and equipment under one fixed-price contract can sequence the work properly, and the same project lead stays your contact the whole way through.

If you recognize your pool in that list of signs, the first step is a free on-site assessment. Call Pools Unlimited at (830) 980-5051 and we'll walk the pool with you before we quote anything.