When it comes to choosing your pool’s interior finish, your options have improved quite a bit in the past several years. Today, you have almost as many options for the interior as you do the exterior. Traditionally, pool interiors have been plaster (known in the industry as marcite). And while the classic beauty of a white plaster finish is still extremely popular, over the next couple of weeks we’ll cover some of the other choices available to you when building a custom pool.
We’ll start this series with what’s known as a quartz aggregate finish since we laid a beautiful Montego Bay QuartzScape finish this week and posted it over on our TikTok and Instagram accounts. So let’s dive right in (pun very much intended).
What is Quartz aggregate?
Quartz aggregate pool plaster (also known as quartz pool finish or quartz plaster) is a blend of marcite, quartz aggregate, and various additives like silica that provide durability, strength, and an aesthetically pleasing finish.
The main component of quartz plaster is the quartz aggregate, which is, put simply, crushed quartz crystals that have been mechanically tumbled to be round and smooth. This aggregate is what gives the plaster its distinctive texture and appearance.
Why is it so popular?
First of all, the quartz crystals are available in various colors and sizes, so you’ve got a lot of room to customize the texture and color of your pool. Colors can range from deep blues and greens to blacks, greys and even sand colored. Finer quartz aggregates create a smoother finish, while larger aggregates result in a more textured surface.
Another reason aggregates have become so popular is because of their durability and resistance to staining, chipping, and cracking. Not only is quartz extremely hard, it's also highly resistant to chemicals commonly used in pool maintenance, such as chlorine. The quartz crystals add strength to the plaster while creating a non-porous interior, making it less prone to damage from normal pool usage.
Finally, in addition to its functional properties, quartz plaster is incredibly beautiful, due in large part to it's sparkling appearance. The quartz crystals reflect light, and create a striking effect in sunlight as the light refracts off the crystals through the water.
Quartz aggregate plaster finishes are applied to pool interiors the same way a traditional marcite plaster finish is applied, but with widely different results. If you're looking for a durable, colorful interior that allows you, for example, to match the aesthetics of your entire landscape (or if you simply want your pool to match the colors that occur naturally in Hill Country rivers and lakes,) then quartz is definitely worth considering.
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