Has the sheen of your fiberglass pool faded, soiled, and looks unclean? Does it have spider cracks in the gel coat?
A wonderful DIY pool restoration project is painting a fiberglass pool.
During the fiberglass swimming pool construction, epoxy paint bonding works the best. It lasts a long time before getting thin. Therefore, it will need to be rebuilt by specialists from fiberglass pool dealers after every five to seven years. It is, however, a less expensive option than putting a fresh gel coat into a fiberglass pool.
Here are a few pool-preparation tips:
Drain The Pool With A Water Pump
Some pool pumps may entirely drain the pool through the main drain, but it is more normal for them to lose prime before pushing the last few hundred gallons out. If you have a tiny pool, you should be able to pump out the leftover water with a modest submersible pump. To remove the remaining water from really deep pools, you may need to rent or buy a tiny (1/3hp) submersible pump.
Draining a fiberglass pool may be especially dangerous during rainy months when the water table is high, and fiberglass pools that aren't properly supported may move when the water is drained.
Once the pool has been completely drained, use a big sponge and buckets to remove any remaining water from the drain, skimmer, beneath lighting, steps, and other areas.
Clean The Pool With Dishwasher Soap
Scale, debris, and oils must all be removed from the pool surface. Paint will not stick to filthy, scaly, or greasy surfaces and will peel, chip, or pop off in a short period. Begin by dissolving 1/4 cup of a low suds dishwashing detergent in 2 gallons of warm water in the flower watering container. Pour the soapy solution along the walls as a helper scrubs every inch of the walls from top to bottom with a scrub brush on a pole (or by hand). After every 10 feet or so, stop cleaning and rinse the scrubbed areas.
After scrubbing and rinsing the walls and steps, continue to the floor and swap chores to acquire new strong arms on the scrub brush. Finally, rinse the pool and clean the floor.
Then, using a strong degreaser, repeat the operation. Scrub the walls, steps, and floor vigorously, rinsing immediately to avoid surface drying. Rinse the pool thoroughly and drain all wastewater from the deep end.
Sand The Surface Of The Fiberglass Pool
Sanding the pool is a vital step to roughen up the surface and enhance paint adherence. Buy two sanding pads placed on wooden poles with #80 grit sandpaper for fiberglass pools. It's unnecessary to rub the Gelcoat completely off the pool; one or two passes with gentle pressure would suffice.
Parallel sanding grooves keep paint better than cross-hatch or sanding in all directions if you sand in the same direction all the time. Certain sections with transition curves, such as around steps or lights, should be sanded by hand for additional control. After sanding, re-hose the pool and pump out the water, making sure you get every last drop.
Dry The Pool, Be Sure It's Dry
Some plaster swimming pools can take up to a week to cure, but in most circumstances, a fiberglass swimming pool can be dry and ready to paint in only two days if the weather is dry and low in humidity. Use masking tape to adhere several huge pieces of transparent plastic to the pool walls and floor to ensure it's dry before painting. Inspect the squares after a few hours in the sun to determine whether there is any moisture on the inside of the plastic. Pay special attention to fiberglass portions with a thin gel finish, spider web cracks, or very little surface crazing. If there has been any rain or morning dew during the drying time, pump it out or mop it up.
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