Why should I paint my swimming pool?

To protect, beautify and prolong the life of your pool's surface and structure, resulting in long term monetary savings for you!

More Info

Should I paint my plaster pool?

Not while you have a new plaster finish on your pool (ie. your pool is less than 3 years old). Your smooth bright plaster should give you yeoman service for a few years before staining and surface deterioration become noticeable.

However, if you own a plaster pool that is 3 years old or older, and the plaster is getting rough, painting with SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer will eliminate further chemical deterioration of the aging plaster surface. Also, our sealer will reduce staining, acid damage, water/frost penetration and prevent bather abrasion. With SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer, you will save money and protect your initial investment.

If you've heard you should never have to “paint” plaster, consider this:

• Consider the cost! When you paint your worn plaster, you'll eventually repaint (in 4-5 years)! Hovever, if you don't paint, you will definitely have to replaster! Considering that the cost of replastering far outweighs painting (by thousands of dollars), you may want to rethink that “no paint” advice.
• Consider your pool structure! When your pool was built, the raw concrete shell and plaster cured together forming an exceptionally strong bond. When replastering, that bond can only be imitated-never duplicated, that is why in replastered pools one often sees spalling (plaster separation and lifting). Why not preserve the original plaster, rather than replicate it? Why surrender the initial strong bond for one of questionable strength? Use SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer now!
• Consider the job! Replastering requires the removal or roughening of old plaster to enhance the bond of the fresh plaster. This means costly sandblasting and/or chopping the old plaster-a large and dirty job. The replastering must be done by a skilled professional mason. Painting requires: 1. a sound masonry surface that is free of dirt and oils. 2. an open-faced granular texture on the plaster. 3. a thoroughly dry surface. Anyone with common sense can pick up a roller and successfully paint a plaster pool with SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer.
• Consider your plaster! When it is new, your plaster is smooth, bright and beautiful. As it ages, the surface will roughen (scraped knees, elbows and toes will be a common complaint). The plaster will stain and each acid cleaning will cause the surface to roughen more. Now is the time to protect your plaster with SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer! If you do not protect your plaster soon after this deterioration has begun, it will progress through the entire plaster and you will be forced to undertake costly replastering. Think of rust and steel: Rust on the surface can be removed and the steel can be protected with paint. Rust throughout the steel panel cannot be repaired-the whole panel must be removed and replaced. Save your plaster with SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer before it is too late!
• Consider SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer! Not just an ordinary swimming pool paint, but rather a specialized hybrid coating designed to suit the maintenance needs of the plaster surface on your pool. It offers the benefits of paint technology (by offering an insulative protective barrier) coupled with the benefits of sealer technology (by providing a penetrative moisture barrier) for the plaster finish of your pool. SAU-SEA Plaster Sealer puts a high-gloss finish on your plaster that resists water, acid, stains and dirt!

How do I paint my pool?

Carefully follow all the directions on the paint can label. 
For a brief summary:

1. Drain your pool (check your pool owner manual for directions and location of pressure relief plugs)
2. Clean all pool surfaces with a powdered cleanser (Ajax or Comet) to remove dirt. This may be done while the pool is draining. Thoroughly rinse away all cleaning residue.
3. Wash pool with an acid solution to remove stains and/or etch with acid to roughen slick masonry or masonry repairs. Allow pool to dry out 1+ week(s)
4. Paint pool. Allow paint to dry thoroughly (1 week +) before filling pool
   Note: Drying times are affected by weather conditions

How often should I re-paint my pool?

Gradually your SAU-SEA finish will lose its gloss. As the gloss diminishes, so proportionately will staining increase. Eventually, your pool finish will start to look dingy or dirty. That is when you need to apply a single refresher coat of the same color and type. In a residential pool, SAU-SEA products are normally recoated every 3-5 years. In commercial service, semi-annual recoating is normal due to heavy chlorine use (usually daily/weekly super chlorination).

• Hint#1: Always allow the paint to dry completely before you start to fill your pool. Premature filling results in premature aging of the coating and loss of gloss. Remember: SAU-SEA Coatings and Enamels are dry to the touch in 1 hour, however they are not fully dry! SAU-SEA Enamels and Coatings are odorless when dry. Do not destroy your gloss by filling too soon!
• Hint#2: Maintaining proper balance of your pool water and judicious use of your chemical sanitizers (particularly chlorine which is a powerful oxidizing agent) will prolong the service life of your pool paint finish (as well as the service life of your other pool equipment). For example, paint and products in a pool run at .5 ppm of Free Chlorine will last 6 times as long as the same products used in a pool run a 3.0 ppm Free Chlorine.
   

Why is pool paint so expensive?

Well, first of all, our swimming pool paints range in price from about $80 to $100 a gallon. This is because SAU-SEA makes only top-quality swimming pool paint.

Keep in mind that premium exterior house paints (which are less expensive to manufacture than pool paints) cost $95 to $105 per gallon. They do not require the costly ingredients needed to tolerate swimming pool conditions, i.e., the long-term submersion, extreme exposure to chlorine and acid, continued exposure to sunlight and damaging UV rays, continued weathering from rain, wind and ice, etc.

With SAU-SEA, realize that you are buying the "Rolls Royce" of swimming pool paints. Each gallon of paint contains pounds of protective resins (not ounces). We use the best grade of titanium available (the same high, hard-grade type that is used in automotive and appliance finishes). We don't skimp on quality.

Of course, you can buy lesser-quality brands elsewhere, ones made with an ounce or two of resin and a very soft (very cheap) grade of titanium - paints full of lots of sand (silica) and clay to make them thick and creamy. These lesser paints usually have a semi-gloss or flat finish - one that stains very quickly and fails (chalks and powders) readily. Yes, you can buy pool paint for less, but remember:

While you may not always "get what you pay for", you will surely not get what you don't pay for. What's worse, if you buy a "cheap" pool paint and it fails (which it will), you can't return it to a store (like a poor quality pump or filter). Even if you could "get your money back", you're still stuck with the inferior product on your pool. Since each coat of paint is the foundation for following coats, a poor quality pool paint makes a very bad base for all future recoats. Thereafter, even if you switch back to the best quality pool coatings, they may "fail" over your poor quality, chalking, peeling or blistering old paints. In fact, often the only real solution to having applied a poor quality swimming pool paint is to have it removed (by expensive sandblasting). The, start over (and stay with) a top-quality pool paint.

Does it follow, then, that if you pay top price for a swimming pool paint that you'll get the best product available? Not necessarily!

Some paint manufacturers make lots of different kinds of paint (for houses, boats, etc) and often, they'll "sub out" the manufacturing of a specialty line (like pool paints) and just use their recognized "brand-name" on "their" swimming pool paint. Some paint manufacturers charge a high price for their pool paint to give the "illusion" of quality, or, to make as much profit as "the market will bear."

So how do you, the pool owner, know if you are getting the top-quality for which you paid good dollars?

Trust SAU-SEA products - everytime - to give you only top quality for your pool - whether it is our rubber base swimming pool paint, our vinyl base swimming pool paint, our epoxy base swimming poolp paint or our special sealer for marcite/plaster finish pools

Get saucy and bold! Trust SAU-SEA - a second generation, family-owned and operated manufacturer of swimming pool paints EXCLUSIVELY! We make swimming pool paints right - it's the only thing we do, its how we earn our living. Pool owner satisfaction with SAU-SEA means customer loyalty and repeat business - our future counts on this.

With over 100 years of cumulative experience in swimming pool paints, we've seen it all. We know what works, why it works and how it works. We can answer all your questions about pool paints (and other various pool finishes) and give you honest and workable solutions that will help you get the most out of the dollars you invest in your swimming pool renovation project. Give us a call, give us a try - you'll be speaking to us, not a corporate voice mail - call 1-800-4-SAUSEA today!