what's the best material to use for replastering? i'll prob. sell the house in 5-10 years and want a dark color. borates is just a diff. chemical that you use instead of chlorine? it doesn't require different equipment? how would i know if there is currently an auto cleaner, and how much should one cost if there isn't? are all filters the same?
Any pool plaster will be fine. Options are color and texture. More important than the plaster used is who puts it on. As with everything, there are good plaster guys and poor plaster guys. I work for my nephew and he knows most of the KC area plaster subs and some in Dallas area. Also has contacts in the pool industry that can find out who to use in any area of the country.
Borates is just a different chemical to use instead of chlorine. Very similar to the way you use chlorine but much less labor intensive and water quality is much better. We started using when we had customer (Wichita area) with serious injuries from car accident and wanted to use pool for re-hab. Did not cause any problems with injuries and we found pool to be much easier to maintain. Pool owner had just bought house and had never had a pool before and had zero problems the whole season. Uses same equipment unless you don't have some type of chlorine feeder that uses 3" tablets. If you don't have a feeder, it can run $100 - $150 installed.
You would know if you have an auto cleaner as it is a device the size of an average pumpkin that moves around in the pool. The one we like runs $850 retail but we sell at discount closer to cost if purchased in connection with other services.
