What paint is best for a pool feature wall?

[Grant123]

Hi,

Any guidance on what paint (undercoat and topcoat) to use for a pool feature wall would be much appreciated. 

For reference, I have included photos of the wall (1.5m high and 4m long), which rests on top of a pebblecrete pool. The wall is subject to splashing from pool chemicals and the lower section of the wall (up to 5 cm) is generally under water.  The wall was last painted at least 6 years ago. I am hoping to use a paint colour that Bunnings's paint matching service has assisted with in the past when painting my external fence.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Grant 

[EricL]

Hello @Grant123 

Thanks for sharing your question about your pool feature wall. I've been in contact with our paint suppliers, and they don't have a paint product in the decorative range that can withstand the pool water and pool chemicals in the water splashing on its surface. I therefore suggest engaging the services of a swimming pool specialist. They will be able to assess your wall, and they might be able to suggest a paint product that can be used near your swimming pool.     

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @Grant123 

Rats! lol I was hoping to find a paint as well. My back up paint is going to be to use the same concrete paint (left over paint) I used to paint my concrete balcony. I have removed all the flaky paint off my bessa blocks next to the pool. I will let you know how it stands up

Dave

[Grant123]

Thanks for following up Eric, much appreciated.  Back to the drawing board ;-(

[Grant123]

@Dave-1 Yeah, this seems to be a bit of a challenge to be honest.  I will visit a local pool paint supplier this weekend and let you know how it goes....  Cheers, Grant

[Dave-1]

Evening @Grant123 

I actually went with a local industrial paint supplier when I was sourcing my paint If you have a wander through my project you can see the industrial pain that I ended up choosing. It does have some limitations but may be worth investigating. The Bunnings crew have loads of paint information (and the ability to understand it) I was just lucky that I have a crew at work I can ask things about and went with their recomendations (they had used it for work)

Patio renovation using paving paint 

Dave

[Grant123]

@Dave-1  Hi Dave, I read your post on the patio renovation - excellent job indeed, well done 👏👏

I followed up with a couple local specialist paint suppliers and their recommendations are to use pool paints, which tend to be Epoxy based paints or Chlorinated Rubber paints.  I've done some further research comparing the two types and it appears there are pros and cons to both such as price, application, flexibility and durability.  They would do the job I'm sure, however, I have decided to give my existing paint a go for the following reasons:

• I have surplus to hand, which is more than required. The existing paint covering the feature wall does not appear to be anything special to be honest and, given that it has lasted for at least six years (since before I moved into the home), I figure I can give the paint a go and repaint it when need be or upgrade to a more suitable product if required. Naturally, I will do the usual prep before painting, i.e. metal brush, undercoat etc. I would have no hesitation using the NuTech paint you referred to in your earlier post given it appears to be a good quality.  Interestingly, NuTech also supplies pool coating products
• I wish to paint the feature wall in the same colour as my existing exterior walls.  The specialist pool paints on offer cannot be colour matched whereas Bunnings's paint matching service does a great job
• I only require paint to cover a small area but would have to buy at a minimum a 4l or 10l tin of pool paint (some colours are not available in 4l tins)
• I aim to keep the pool water line below the painted area going forward such that the paint will only be subject to splashes and not be constantly under water. 

I would let you know how it goes but hopefully won't have any issues for at least a year ..... and hoping for at least 5 😁

Good luck!

Grant

[Dave-1]

Evening @Grant123 

I like your thinking and reasoning And lets hope we are still renoing or projecting in 5 years time! Looking forward to seeing what happens timeline wise!

Would be an interesting project to post this time around, there are a lot of people in the same situation and seeing someone else have a go, good or bad helps imensley

Dave

[Grant123]

@Dave-1 .  Challenge accepted.  I'll post a pic when I finish painting and provide an update after a year or so. The immediate problem I have is that in order to prep and paint I will need to get into the pool which is FREEZING 😂

Good luck with your project and looking forward to reading about progress at your end.

[Grant123]

@EricL 

@Dave-1 

So I finally took the 'plunge' and got into the pool lol 😁

I scraped off the chalking paint, gave the wall a good sanding, brush, and washed the wall with Selleys sugar soap. 

Once dry, I applied the surplus paint I have: two coats of Dulux undercoat (1Step Prep Primer, Sealer & Undercoat) followed by two coats of British Paint (4 Seasons exterior low sheen).

The result looks great, particularly given the paint colour matches the fence in the background (as mentioned in an earlier post, the British Paint was colour matched by Bunnings's paint matching service).

Now to see how long it stays that way - I'll provide an update in a year or so.

Cheers,

Grant