Dealing with Deteriorating Pebble Tec

[DV211]

I am new here and have a couple of unorthodox, seemingly untested ideas for resurfacing the 25 year old pebble tec that has a few issues with delamination and spalling. In my 40 year masonry career in concrete, stone and tile I have worked with polymer modified thin sets that would permanently bond to any cementitious surface.
My first question is instead of piling up surfaces with another 3/8" and /or chipping all away, wouldn't parging the surface with a premium white thin set (1/8") that is used for tile in pools be a practical solution? 5 bags of white thinset @ $50 vs $10,000 redo. We would abandon the pebble look and be able to smooth the rough on your feet floor texture. Epoxy paint if necessary would make it only a $1000 +/-. The delaminations would have to be patched to ensure a suitable substrate.
Any thoughts to the cons would be appreciated.
Thanks,
D.V.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Even though a thin set might be rated for full water immersion realize that, in practice, the thin set almost never sees any water. It's covered by tile which is sealed by grout. So your asking a material to now sit fully exposed to water which in reality it never does ... I doubt even the hardiest of thin sets would last. As for covering the thin set with paint .... yeah, you can do that and it will last about 2 years before the paint surface becomes chalky and starts to disintegrate. Even epoxy paints get oxidized from chlorine and sun exposure over time. As they are oxidized, they begin to become very porous and disintegrate .... why do you think most homes in Arizona will only get about 5 years out of paint job before the sun completely destroys the paint? Now imagine submerging that paint in water that contains a strong oxidizer (chlorine) on top of all the UV it will see .... you'd be lucky to get 3 years. And, because epoxy paint is a nightmare to remove, you'd have to constantly cover it up with fresh coats that will not stick as well or do a lot of surface prep work (grinding and bead blasting) to get something to stick to it.

Isn't $10,000 a lot to spend on plaster? Yeah, it sure as heck is. But, if it's done right, it will last for 15-20 years before you ever have to think about it again. There are lots of excellent and qualified plaster companies in Arizona. You have plenty of options to choose from and can get good price comparisons. Sadly, there's a huge backlog of work out there and so you'll be waiting a while to get on their short-list. But, if you find a good outfit to do the job, it will be worth the expense.

 

[DV211]

Thanks for your view, especially about the paint. Key phrase, "if it's done right" The pool washed up fine for another year. I will give the hot tub a sponge float job with a skin thinset and white grout and see how that works. Pool remodelers are swamped as you said.
Thanks,
D.V.

 

[proavia]

If you do replater at some point, do a full chipout. And use a bonding agent prior to new plaster/pebble application. The delamination of the original surface will continue - even with a new surface over it.

No paint - unless you want to redo it every year or two.