Embedded Debris or Impurities

Embedded Debris or Impurities

Lump of Debris

Here is a pebbled pool that had some debris embedded in the finish. This is a common problem, whether it’s organic impurities (seeds, flower pods, leaves and even dead bugs), or trash from the pebble crew (Yuck), it can drive pool owners crazy. I am surprised sometimes at just what can be seen by the pool owner (I often wonder if they are in the pool with a magnifying glass looking over every square inch of the surface) and by what I find embedded into the finish (yuck). This pool had two such spots, both were construction material. I only took pictures of this one.

Click on pictures to enlarge if you like.

Quarter Sized Lump

Quarter sized white spot.

Removed Lump

Debris removed.

Do you notice the color of the surface of the pebble finish is lighter than the inside of the hole? The surface of this pool has faded or been changed by chemicals, or more likely, a salt system. The true color of this pool is Aqua Blue.

After I removed the foreign material from this, and the other spot, I mix my patch to blend in with the color of the pools surface. Although this is an Aqua Blue colored finish I can’t just whip up a patch with Aqua Blue dye, it wouldn’t match. I played around with this patch for almost an hour trying to customize the color to match.

Packed In

Packed in and ready to feather out.

I pack in the patching material by hand and with a trowel, I want all the little stones pushed into the cavity.

Feathered Out and Almost Complete

Feathered out.

Next is a little trick (shhh, it’s a secret) and tool I use to feather out the cement base of my patch to expose the pebbles inside. I remove just enough surface cement to expose the pebble. This type of repair use to require draining the pool, that’s kinda crazy for such a small problem. Pebble type surfaces are difficult to match (texture, exposure of pebble) underwater on larger repairs but for small palm of your hand sized patches this works great.