Not every crack is a leak. Not every leak is a crack.

A hairline crack in plaster is usually cosmetic, an artifact of curing or minor surface shrinkage. A crack that runs continuous through the plaster into the gunite shell, especially one that steps or shifts on either side, is structural. Skimmer trouble is its own category. The skimmer body sits in the bond beam at the pool's edge, right where deck and shell meet, and that joint moves every time Brazoria County's clay swells or dries. We treat these as separate problems because they usually are.

How we repair it

1. Confirm it's the leak

   Dye testing confirms whether this specific crack or skimmer is actually pulling water before we touch it. A crack that isn't leaking doesn't need a repair, just a note in the report.

2. Classify structural vs. cosmetic

   We check for stepped displacement, width, and whether the crack runs through the gunite shell or stays in the plaster layer. That decision changes the whole repair method.

3. Chip and prep

   The crack gets undercut and chipped back to sound material. Skipping this step is the single biggest reason patches fail within a year.

4. Structural repair

   Active structural cracks get epoxy injection or hydraulic cement worked into the full depth of the gap, not just the visible surface line.

5. Skimmer body, collar, or faceplate

   Depending on where the skimmer is failing, we replace the gasket and faceplate, the collar, or the full skimmer body if it's cracked below the waterline.

6. Surface finish and cure

   Plaster or pebble patch matched to the existing surface as closely as the batch allows, feathered at the edge, then cured before the pool refills.

7. Retest

   Once cured and refilled, we re-run dye at the repair point to confirm the fix holds before we call the job done.

What makes this harder?

• Deck-to-shell separation. When the deck settles at a different rate than the pool shell, which happens often on expansive clay, the skimmer collar tears loose from the bond beam even though nothing looks obviously broken from above.
• Skimmer body cracked below the faceplate. A patch on the visible faceplate does nothing if the body itself has a crack lower down, which only a dye test at the throat will reveal.
• Plaster color match. Marbelite and pebble finishes weather and lighten over years of sun exposure. A new patch will match texture closely but rarely matches faded color exactly for the first season.
• Old patch stacking. Pools that have been patched two or three times over the decades sometimes have layers that have to be worked through before we reach the actual structural gap.
• Hard freeze stress. Brazoria County rarely freezes, but the February 2021 freeze event cracked plaster edges on pools across the Gulf Coast that hadn't been winterized, and some of those hairlines are only now becoming active leaks.
• Skimmer set at the wrong height. If the skimmer was never leveled correctly after prior deck settling, a fresh patch can fail again within a year unless the height and pitch get corrected during this repair.

Common questions