About to put in a gunite pool and down to finish selection. I like the pebble finishes, preferably the polished types with embedded glass beads but they are $$$. Anyone have experience with standard pebble finishes? Are they rough to the point of being painful? Also, can't decide if we want a lighter brighter interior colors or the darker ones. I've heard the dark interior pebble pools can get hot and ours would be in full sign most of the day.

Basically any of these in the matrix or primera lines

Wet Edge | Product Gallery (wetedgetechnologies.com)

where are you building?

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Rural parker county

I had a PebbleTec gunite pool. Not rough at all. Very durable and easy to maintain. Feels good on your feet. I had a tanning ledge and a bench in the deep end. Sitting or laying in it was no problem. Virtually indestructible. I always joked that if there was a nuclear war, the pool would still be there unscathed.

(Ex) wife insisted on Pennsylvania Bluestone. Do not recommend. In July you could cook an egg on it.

the one piece of advice i'll throw out there is that you aren't beholden to the tile distributors your contractor sends you to. i found the selections of the distributors to be lacking so i went on my own and found exactly what i was looking for. the thing they won't tell you is that a lot of wet tiles like shower and kitchen tiles will work in a pool setting. you're about to spend a butt ton of money. get what you want

as far as pebble tec goes the hybrid spray in stuff doesn't cut or scratch at all. we've been happy

Go with the pebble finish and have them add in abalone flakes to give it a little sparkle.

It's not rough to the touch and much more durable than just plain plaster. Worth it

We definitely want at least pebble. Plaster is out. We are between standard pebble and the pebble that's diamond polished smooth. But we aren't sure if the extra expense is worth it if the standard pebble isn't painful. The polished is about twice the cost of pebble.

Here are some pics with the sun. If you have a tanning ledge you aren't going to want rough edges. The other thing I would add is smooth is easier for you and your robot to clean.

Teslag said:

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We definitely want at least pebble. Plaster is out. We are between standard pebble and the pebble that's diamond polished smooth. But we aren't sure if the extra expense is worth it if the standard pebble isn't painful. The polished is about twice the cost of pebble.

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Regular is fine, at least for us. If you scrape against it with enough force (as with any stone surface) it can run a little rough, but it's not in any way a discomfort for usual wear/tear.

As for the color, we don't have a heater or chiller and in the middle of summer the water can get warm, so we went with a lighter color with the LED lights to give it more character at night.

We also went with the entire deck with travertine and it's great. Grip is fine when wet and doesn't seem to get as hot as the cement driveway or prior deck before we put the pool in.

Agree to be careful with the color being too dark. I was in Georgia but in the heat of July the pool water reached 90 degrees.

We've have the standard Pebbletec in our pool built about 14 years ago. Love the finish and not rough at all.

poolct00 said:

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Do what he suggest.

We have Pebble-tec midnight blue.

Enjoy our pebbletec pool. Will absorb more heat so keep that in mind. If full sun in texas consider a chiller or evaporative cooling solution to keep temperature in check. Edges are not rough at all. Never had an abrasion injury in 4 years. There is more debris as the pebbletec ages. You will see this in your vacuum. Best feature (imo) is that it hides dirt and stains well. Worst feature is that it seems to cling to CYA.

We did Stonescapes mini pebble aqua white with heavy Puerto Rico blend (blue hues of shiny pebbles) and abalone (white iridescent pieces) and love it. We were going for the almost hologram beach vacation look. We only got too hot 1-2 days this summer (83-84 hot for adults, kids didn't gaf) after multiple 110 days and we have no shade on the pool. It generally runs 75-77 consistently in summertime. It is 4 foot everywhere but goes to a 6 foot closer to the wall. Pics for reference, none filtered.

Fwiw, we've swam in pebble and mini pebble and the pebble always hurt the bottom of the toes of at least one family member the next days. Never had someone complain about the mini.

Sorry for the pic of the kid…wanted to capture the sparkle and it was a video of him

My pool was built in 1995. The PebbleTec still looks great. Really like the feel of it as well.

Teslag said:

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Rural parker county

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Dang, wish I could of gotten your business.

Anyway, as a builder I personally do not like pebble finishes, regular or mini. My opinion is it is too rough a texture if you are planning on playing any water sports in it fort an extended period of time (especially basketball) as it'll tear your feet up in an hour or two.

I like the polished finishes but they are expensive. Quartz would be a good compromise between the two. Enough texture to not get slippery if your chemicals get off a bit and smooth enough to not tear up your feet.

ETA

Just noticed you linked Wet Edge. I install Wet Edge too and would say the Stonescapes Pebble & Mini Pebble are superior to Wet Edge's Prism or Signature Matrix if that's what your leaning towards. Chances are if your builder's plaster company installs Wet Edge they do Stonescapes too.

But if you've got the $$$ I'd definitely spring for the Primera Stone. Looks great and it is as smooth as plaster. Additionally, you can re-polish it if it starts to get rough after a couple years if your chemicals get out of balance.

Definitely leaning to the Primera stone. What is your wait time on builds now? For example, if someone signed a contract on March 1st how long till you start?

Did wet edge primera stone Riviera and zero regrets. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Silky smooth. I cannot imagine having a rough finish & for those that say those "feel good" - well to each their own.

If you go with the primeros stone just know that different colors can have different prices. At least that's what I was told. I spent way too many hours comparing all the different blues that look practically the same; had I known some were nearly 2x I could've eliminated them right off the bat.

And yes avoid darks, buddie's pool gets into 90's all summer. Mine in the string of hottest days rarely gets above 88.

Good luck; you'll like whichever you choose.

The riviera is actually our favorite but we can't find a lot of pictures of it in actual water. Would you mind posting some of yours when you get a chance? We don't want something too light either.

We installed Wet Edge with our pool build on early 2020 and love it. The smoothness is so much better than the rough pebble tec. We have had so many guest mention how nice it is to the touch and how pretty it is. Can't remember the color name right now but we love it.

We had peeble-sheen. It's between the original peeble-tech and the glass bead pebble-fina.

We loved it. Smooth enough to not tear up your feet but had enough traction where you weren't constantly slipping.

Cortez finish over pebbletec here.

https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/pool-finish-and-color-viewing-room-tfp-member-sound-off.177943/

This website is amazing. Buy a good test kit and learn to test your own chemicals

The link above was created for this step of the pool building process. Color/finish selection.

My only regret is going with stonescapes over pebbletec. Mine was on the darker side of the spectrum and it has faded over the few years it's been in. I don't know that pebbletec is any better of a product but I believe the requirements to be a certified pebbletec installer is much higher. At least that was the case when I put mine in. That is really the only recommendation my pool builder made that he was a passionate about that I did not go with.

Teslag said:

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Definitely leaning to the Primera stone. What is your wait time on builds now? For example, if someone signed a contract on March 1st how long till you start?

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Depends, outside the city limits with no permits I can typically start within two weeks or less. Follow up with steel & plumbing stub, then shotcrete. I can typically have a shell in the ground within 2 weeks or less after starting. Then tile, coping, and plumbing/lights run, then decking, set & hook up equipment, then plaster.

ETA

Also to be completely honest if you are not already on a schedule for the Primera Stone you might be waiting a month or two. I know my plaster installer that does the Primera stone is typically a month or two out on that finish because of the labor involved to install it.

We did a diamond finish pebble this last year in Parker county. PM me if you have any questions. I will absolutely say I like it more than other friends rough pebble. Never one time all summer did any kid or parent ever say anything about their feet.

DeBoss said:

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We did a diamond finish pebble this last year in Parker county. PM me if you have any questions. I will absolutely say I like it more than other friends rough pebble. Never one time all summer did any kid or parent ever say anything about their feet.

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Was it called Diamond Brite?

The Pebble color was Sky Blue. I'm not sure of the finish but it took them an entire day to with hand sanders to get a smooth finish.

Any update?