HOA and Apartment Pool Resurfacing in Rockwall, TX

Choosing a finish for an HOA or apartment pool

SGM, the maker of Diamond Brite, says many building and health departments require a commercial pool finish to use a non-pigmented white cement binder with a dry lightness (CIE L) of 80.0 or more and a wet reflectance (CIE Y) of 50.0 or more. In SGM's own tests, Diamond Brite Commercial White reads 88.28 dry and 65.67 wet, a 9 on the Munsell value scale, while its dark Onyx reads 44.54, 7.71 and 2 and sits outside the maker's "Commercial Compliance" group of colors. SGM says the colors in that group, which runs from Commercial White and Ivory to blues such as Super Blue, Cool Blue and Marlin Blue, exceed the CDC model code's 6.5 on the Munsell scale.

Whatever the finish, the National Plasterers Council calls proper water balance the most critical care item for a cement-based pool surface. The page on pool replastering covers how a plaster job runs, from the bond coat to the fill.

Steps, benches and ledges at a community pool

The public-pool chapter of the 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, which Texas applies to commercial pools, shapes the shallow end more tightly than a backyard pool's. It lets the shallow-area floor slope no more than 1 in 10 at Class C pools, the ones run with hotels, motels, apartments or condominiums, and 1 in 12 at Class B pools. Underwater seats and benches sit no more than 20 inches below the waterline, with a clear surface at least 10 inches deep and 24 inches wide and a leading edge that is visually set apart, and a tanning ledge or sun shelf that serves as the required way in must sit no more than 12 inches deep. Finished step treads and risers have to land within plus or minus ½ inch of the design.

The contrasting edge tile, depth markers and NO DIVING tiles those areas need are covered under commercial pool tile and depth markers.

Draining, closing and reopening a community pool

Under the Texas public pool rules, drain and backwash water that isn't reused goes wherever the TCEQ or the local authority allows, never through a hard connection to a sanitary sewer or septic system, and leaves through an air gap at least two pipe diameters above the overflow level of anything that could flood it. It must first be treated, chemically or in settling tanks, to take out chemicals and contaminants over those limits. The refill has to come from a public water system, or a well that meets the rule, with the supply protected by a reduced-pressure backflow preventer or an air gap.

While the pool is closed

The CDC's model code gives an operator four ways to hold a public pool that isn't open: keep the water recirculated and treated, drain it, cover it with a certified safety cover, or restrict access and check the enclosure. Before reopening, the owner or operator confirms the pool meets every criterion again. In Rockwall, the City's operating permit, its fees and its pre-opening inspection apply too, and the page on commercial pool resurfacing sets them out.

South of Rockwall, in unincorporated Kaufman County, the Travis Ranch HOA runs what it calls the community's main swimming pool, and homeowners register household members and guests for pool access. Rockwall Pool Resurfacing also handles HOA pool resurfacing in Travis Ranch.