Swimming Pool Surfaces: Fiberglass vs. Plaster

COMFORTABLE SURFACE
Have you stepped into a swimming pool where the bottom feels smooth and comfortable? Have you been in other pools and felt a rough edge on your feet? That's just one difference between fiberglass and plaster pool and spa surfaces. Fiberglass stays smooth, while plaster turns rough over time. Swimming pool builders have been using plaster to surface pools for many decades. But in the past twenty years, homeowners are increasingly turning to fiberglass. This helps build comfortable, stronger, longer lasting, more energy efficient and ultimately more cost effective pools.

SAFETY
The smoothness of fiberglass prevents minor injuries that can be caused by the roughness of plaster. When children and adults swim in a pool, they may get small cuts or abrasions to their feet from a plaster pool.

EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE
The flexible nature of fiberglass means that it can withstand minor movements, even over existing cracks in the pool or spa gunite shell. If cracks reoccur, they can be patched relatively easily. Plaster is stiff and brittle. It will easily crack and chip in response to shifts in the earth.

DURABILITY
Fiberglass rarely cracks, chips or breaks. The water tight shell also does not allow the steel reinforcement, or rebar to bleed through.
When plaster cracks or chips it needs to be re-plastered. There are two ways to re-plaster a pool. The first way to re-plaster is to simply plaster over the existing plaster. However, because of it's nature the two surfaces do not easily bond. It is similar to putting a layer of clay over another that has already hardened; it doesn't quite stick together.
The other way to re-plaster a pool is to chip off the old layer of plaster. Each time the plaster is chipped off it goes deeper into the structure and closer to rebar and the dirt, which weakens the pool's strength over time. Every time plaster is chipped away, the pool's structure gets thinner. Fiberglass bonds well with plaster, and the new surface will be immune from further flaking or chipping.