Fix the cause, not the symptom
Most pool problems show up on the surface, but the cause is often underneath. A patch that looks fine today and fails by next summer is a repair that treated the symptom. Our approach is simple: work out why it happened, fix that, then make good the surface. It’s slower than a quick patch and it holds up far longer.
This page is an overview of the repairs we do on concrete pool shells and surfaces. Where a problem has its own detailed page, we’ve linked it so you can go deeper.
Diagnose first
Every repair starts with an inspection. Before we quote, we look at the whole pool, tap the surface, check the tiles and coping, look at the ground around it and ask you what you’ve noticed. A phone price for a repair is a guess, and a guess is how jobs grow after they start.
Often the inspection turns up that what looks like one problem is two. A crack might be a symptom of movement. A patch of rough surface might be hollow render underneath. Finding that out before work starts is what lets us quote the real job.
The repairs we deal with
Cracks
Cracks come in two broad kinds. Fine surface cracking is often cosmetic, and structural cracks are a different matter. Telling them apart is the first job. We cover this in detail on our pool crack repair page.
Drummy render
Drummy render is hollow-sounding surface that’s lifted off the shell. It doesn’t repair itself, and painting over it only hides it. The fix is to cut it out and replace it properly. See drummy render repair.
Water loss and leaks
A pool that keeps dropping in level might have a leak, or it might just be evaporation. Working out which one it is comes first. If it is a leak, finding the source is the whole job. Our pool leak repair page explains how.
Damaged steps and edges
Steps and benches take the most wear. Chipped edges, rough patches and loose sections are repaired by cutting back to sound material and rebuilding, rather than smoothing over the damage.
Loose tiles and tired coping
Loose waterline tiles and cracked coping let water in behind the edge of the pool. They’re often best handled together, and we have separate pages for pool tiling and coping replacement.
Why the ground matters
A pool shell is a concrete structure sitting in the ground, and the ground moves. Reactive clay soils in parts of western Sydney swell and shrink with rainfall and dry spells, and that movement can crack shells and tiles. Sloping blocks, tree roots and groundwater all add their own pressures. A repair that ignores the cause can crack again.
That’s also why we’re careful about draining a pool. An empty concrete pool can lift if groundwater is high, so we check ground conditions and the hydrostatic valve first. If you want the background, read our guide to pool hydrostatic valves.
Repair, or full resurface?
A repair is the right answer when the problem is limited and the rest of the surface is sound. A full resurface is the better answer when the surface as a whole has reached the end of its life, or when there are repairs all over the pool. Doing small repairs one at a time on a failing surface can end up costing more than doing the job once.
| Situation | Usually points to |
|---|---|
| One or two localised problems, sound surface elsewhere | Targeted repair |
| Hollow patches spread through the pool | Repair plus resurface |
| Surface rough, stained or flaking all over | Full resurface |
| Sound shell, tired painted finish | Repaint, if it suits |
Our promise: if a repair will do, we’ll quote a repair. We won’t turn a small job into a big one, and we won’t patch something that needs more.
Things that look like repairs but are not
Not every pool problem is a surface or shell problem. Cloudy water, algae and some staining come from water chemistry and filtration, not a failing surface. If that’s what you have, we’ll point you in the right direction rather than quote for work you don’t need. Our guides on pool stains and the rough pool surface explain which is which.
What you get in the quote
A repair quote from us is written and itemised. It says what we found, what each repair involves and what it covers, so you can compare it fairly with any other quote you’re holding. If we find more once the surface is open, we talk to you before anything changes, and we don’t let the price creep up behind your back.
Access gets a mention too. Getting materials and equipment into a backyard through a narrow side path or down a sloping block takes time, and we’d rather allow for it in the quote than surprise you with it later.
Booking a repair inspection
We inspect, explain what we find and quote in writing before any work starts. Pool season opens in November and repairs are best done before it, so booking early gives you the widest choice of dates whether you want to swim by November, Christmas or later in summer. We work across all of Greater Sydney.
