When to Resurface a Pool: Signs Your Plaster Is Worn Out

A pool needs resurfacing when its finish has worn out across the pool, not in one spot. SGM, a Florida maker of pool finishes, lists the signs to watch for: “rough or etched spots, stains that won’t brush out, chips, cracks, and areas that sound hollow when tapped.” It draws the line simply: “Small chips and spots can usually be patched,” but “when wear is widespread, resurfacing is the better fix.”

How long does pool plaster last?

The two makers below each describe their own finishes, and their figures differ, so both are given.

Finish	SGM	Pebble Technology International
Traditional white plaster (marcite)	Typically 7 to 10 years	May need resurfacing every 5 to 10 years
Quartz	15 to 20 years	Around 7 to 15 years
Pebble (exposed aggregate)	20 years or more	Over 20 years with proper maintenance and pool chemistry

SGM says two things decide where a pool lands in those ranges: water chemistry and installation. Both makers put pebble at the top, which answers the question of the longest-lasting finish; marcite, quartz and pebble compared sets the three side by side on feel and fade resistance as well.

Fill water and your finish

SGM’s warning about chemistry, that “water that runs low on pH or calcium etches plaster, and water that runs high scales and stains it”, puts the source water in the picture. Cape Coral’s 2025 water quality report says “City water has 5.5 to 6.5 grains per gallon of total hardness”, after reverse osmosis treatment and a blend of raw water added back “to increase alkalinity and hardness to a moderate level”. The City of Fort Myers’ 2025 report gives no hardness figure. Neither number says what will happen in a particular pool; a water test does, and a pebble-finish maker’s start-up guide recommends testing the source water before a new finish is filled.

Mottling and stains

Mottling shows as “blotchy Gray or black areas on the surface of the pool,” SGM’s bulletin says, and “can appear as soon as the first day of the job or can take as long as 4-5 months to appear.” The bulletin quotes industry guidelines that plaster finishes are “subject to normal cement plaster mottling and shading”. Mottling on a new finish is a question for the contractor who applied it; stains that will not brush out of an old finish are one of SGM’s signs of wear.

When an acid wash will do

Not often on old plaster. SGM, describing the plaster problems of the late 1980s, says “acid washing” “brought only temporary relief and caused accelerated erosion.” Its installation manual also says its own quartz finish “can be cleaned by acid washing several times throughout its life span, without sustaining permanent damage.” So treat an acid wash as SGM does, as a cleaning method, rather than a fix for a finish that is worn across the pool.

The next step

If the signs above describe your pool across most of its surface, the next step is resurfacing a pool in Cape Coral or wherever you are in Lee County: the resurfacing page covers the three finishes, how draining works here and the permit rules by place. If the tile and coping are worn too, see pool remodeling. And if what you found is a single crack, start with surface crazing or a structural crack.