FAQ

  • Sau-Sea FAQ
  • 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.

    Everything you own requires maintenance. Your house, your car, your landscaping and, yes, even yourself!  Pool surfaces face a most difficult environment, constant submersion in a chemically treated pool.

    Harsh chemicals (chlorine oxidizers) continually attack and burn the surface.  The pH/acid swings can eat away at your masonry finish.  Ultra-violet rays of the sun can attack and wear out your pool finish often causing it to chalk. In cold climate areas, freeze/thaw cycles can damage and break down the structural integrity of your concrete/plaster finish pool.  The very reason that swimming pool paint were developed was to protect your pool structure and finish from these many damaging conditions.

    With our highest quality swimming pool paints you can protect and maintain your pool's structure and finish indefinately.  You can beautify and customize your pool with our 14 uniquely attractive color options.  Many pool owners have installed artistic designs on the walls and floors of their pools.

    A TOP-QUALITY SWIMMING POOL PAINT OFFERS ON-GOING PROTECTION OF YOUR POOL STRUCTURE WHILE PROVIDING A BEAUTIFUL, EASY-TO-CLEAN FINISH WITH UNLIMITED DESIGN POTENTIAL!

  • Should I paint my plaster swimming pool?

    Not while you have a newer plaster finish on your pool (ie. your pool is less than 5 years old). With proper chemical balance and maintenance your new plaster should give you many years of service  before staining and surface deterioration become noticeable.

    However, if you own a plaster pool that is 5 years old or older, and the plaster is getting rough, painting with ECO-CHOICE Pool Coatings will eliminate further chemical deterioration of the aging plaster surface and provide a smooth, clean and attractive finish . You may choose either our Epoxy or Natural Rubber pool coatings.

  • I've heard you should never paint a plaster finish pool, is that true?

    No, that is not true.   While it is not advisable to paint a newly installed plaster finish pool,  it is a viable option to consider paint when your plaster finish has aged, roughened, and stained to the degree that you are considering having your pool re-plastered.  Your old plaster finish is a masonry surface that when properly cleaned and prepped, provides an excellent surface for paints to bond.  Re-plastering your pool can be extremely expensive and is subject to "plaster pop-off".  Painting provides a more economical alternative that transforms your old plaster into a smooth, clean, and beautiful finish .

  • I've been advised to have my pool replastered, are there any concerns I should be made aware of?

    Yes! 

    When your pool was built, the raw concrete or the gunite shell and plaster cured together forming an exceptionally strong internal bond. When re-plastering, that bond can only be imitated-never duplicated and that is why in re-plastered pools one can experience new plaster pop off.  If at any point, the new plaster does not maintain its bond to the old plaster, the new plaster can begin to separate and lift from your old plaster finish (commonly called pop-off).  Why risk this occurrence when you can preserve your original plaster by prepping and painting. Use ECO-CHOICE Pool Coatings by SAU-SEA to give your pool a new, smooth, high-gloss stain resistant finish.

    Note: Re-plastering requires the removal or roughening of old plaster to enhance the bond of the fresh plaster. This can mean costly waterblasting/acid prepping  and/or chopping the old plaster.  This is a large and dirty job. The prep and re-plastering should be done by skilled pool refinishing specialists.

  • What colors are available?

    We have a full range of 14 beautiful colors. See the color charts that accompany our product descriptions. Custom colors are available for an additional charge.

    Note: When painting white over white, we offer 2 choices, Cerulean or Snow.  Cerulean White is most popular because being a blue-white it highlights the natural clear crystal blue color of properly balanced pool water.   It also enhances the application process as you are applying a blue-white over top of a white-white and that slight contrast makes it less likely that you would miss any areas during the repainting process.

  • My pool is currently painted, what type of paint should I buy?

    When repainting your swimming pool, you will achieve the best results when you apply the same generic type that your pool was last painted with.  In general there are four different common paint types used and sold in today's market, they are Rubber, Epoxy, Acrylic and Vinyl.  Before purchasing new paint to re-coat your pool its highly advisable to find out and establish which of these paint types your pool was last painted with.  Once you establish this, you can narrow your search for that same paint type which will be compatible with the old coating currently on your pool.

    To help you establish the type and compatibility of the old paint on your pool, we offer a paint chip analysis service as well as at home paint compatibility test kits for your purchase.  Please see the paint chip analysis tab on our home page.

  • My pool has never been painted, what type of paint should I buy?

    The first thing that must be established is what type of pool you have.  Three types of pools that may be successfully painted are masonry, fiberglass, and metal construction.  The first and most common type of pool construction is masonry.  Ant unpainted masonry pool may be painted with your choice of any of our three ECO CHOICE pool coating types. (Rubber, Epoxy, or Vinyl).  For fiberglass pools we recommend that they only be coated with our Epoxy pool coating.  Steel pools are uncommon in today's market and they require special preparations and corrosion inhibiting primers prior to painting and we recommend that you contact our technical department prior to beginning any work on metal pools.

  • Is it OK to paint my entire pool with one of your trim colors?

    Yes.

    However,  when using our  trim colors to paint your entire pool, they are subject to extreme, excessive, rapid heating from the sun which will cause rapid accelerated solvent evaporation in the paint film which can cause heat blistering to occur.  Whenever using our trim colors to paint your entire pool, we recommend that they be thinned  with our ECO CHOICE VOC compliant dilutent.  Contact us for recommended percentages based on paint type used.

  • How often should I re-paint my pool?

    Over a period of years, your SAU-SEA finish will gradually 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. For a residential pool, ECO-CHOICE Premium Ultra High Gloss Pool Coatings are normally re-coated once every 5 years, provided that all pool water chemical balances have been kept at proper recommended levels at all times.  In commercial service, annual re-coating is not uncommon due to extremely heavy chlorine usage (daily/weekly super chlorination is often necessary due to high bather loads).

    Note#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 are dry to the touch in 1 hour, however they are not fully dry! SAU-SEA Coatings are odorless when dry. Do not destroy your gloss by filling too soon!

    Note#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.

  • What should I look for when I'm buying swimming pool paint?

    (1) Quality - Coatings manufactured with high performance ingredients cost more but in the long run they will out perform lower quality less expensive pool coatings.

    (2) Enduring Gloss — Offers the stain resistance that keeps your pool looking good and easy to keep clean.

    (3) Fusion Bonding — A “fusion” bond allows fresh coat to melt into old paint, providing ONE single layer of inseparable paints paint film on the pool. (very important under water)!

    (4) Film Integrity — long term inner strength of paint film achieved by using super strong resins (and a lot of them) that can resist chlorine, acid swings, submersion, UV damage and moisture.

    (5) Experience — A company that has a long history of success in swimming pool paints with coatings that are time tested and performance driven.
    (6) Look to ECO CHOICE Pool Coatings by SAU-SEA — For top quality at a fair price. We have specialized in the formulation of Swimming Pool Paints exclusively—manufacturing and field-testing our coatings for over 3 generations. WE are a family-owned and family-operated company.

  • Why is your pool paint expensive?

    Keep in mind that premium exterior house paints (which are less expensive to manufacture than pool paints) may cost $75 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.

    Our number one goal is to produce the highest quality formulations of any swimming pool paints available in the entire world market.  We will not sacrifice quality to reduce cost.

    With ECO-CHOICE Pool Coatings by SAU-SEA, realize that you are buying the "Mercedes" of swimming pool paints. In fact, many of the highest quality resins included in our formulations are imported from Europe.  We use the finest grade of titanium pigment available (the same high-gloss, non-chalking grade that is used in automotive and porcelain finishes). Each gallon of paint contains pounds (not ounces) of these highest quality protective resins and pigments.

    Beware online inexpensive pool coatings that prioritize cost over quality and once used cannot be put back into the can and returned if you are unhappy with their performance.

     

  • How do I fix cracks and leaks in my pool?

    If you are experiencing cracks or leaks in your pool substrate, it would be advisable to contact our technical service department for advice.  There are multiple reasons for these occurrences and it will be necessary for you to provide a detailed explanation of these current conditions in your pool.  We have a number of repair products available as well as knowledge and expertise to help advise you.

    Call 1-800-4-SAUSEA (472-8732) for more info.

  • Does your paint have a warranty?

    Yes!

    We unconditionally guarantee that all the ingredients used in all our paint formulations are of the highest quality and designed to provide superior protection against submersion and chlorine oxidation.   We manufacture our coatings using these high quality ingredients under strict quality control procedures and we maintain liquid samples of every batch we manufacture for a period of five years for later confirmation and verification that all ingredients and procedures are as stated above.

    However:

    Since we have no control over the preparation, application, drying times, weather, ground water hydrostatic pressures,  geographic environmental conditions, or the current state of degradation of the surfaces to be painted, we cannot warranty the performance of our coatings.  No reputable paint manufacturer will guarantee conditions over which they have no control. When choosing a pool paint manufacturer to purchase paints from, we recommend that you rely on the past history and longevity of that manufacturer for product performance and technical expertise in the pool paint field.