Mike the Poolman

Swimming Pool Rebar Information

Rebar Stains and Rebar Bleeds

A rebar stain in a swimming pool or spa is a serious issue. Pool-Rebar-08
Rusting rebar will continue to corrode within the pool structure until all corrosion is removed. Although the bleed-through stain may be small in size, the corrosion beneath the plaster (in the gunite) is 
always larger in scale (see photos for examples).
Left untreated, rusted rebar will eventually rust the entire pool.
There are two methods to properly repair rebar stains:

  1. Underwater (without draining the pool, using scuba gear and special tools)
    We used to do this but do not anymore. I do not know of anyone in our area who does this kind of work underwater.
  2. Dry
    Drain the pool and expose the rust with chipping and jack hammers. The only people that I know of who are doing this kind of work are the plaster companies when you resurface the pool.

Rebar stains occur in swimming pools and spas when the rebar is not properly encapsulated in Gunite (aka “Shotcrete”). Lack of gunite coverage over rebar and/or poor workmanship work are common causes of rebar corrosion.

This is an excellent article by pool engineer Ron Lacher about gunite workmanship issues.

Pool owners frequently ask if resurfacing will solve the problem. By itself, no it will not. THE CORROSION HAS TO BE REMOVED WHEN RESURFACING OTHERWISE THE CORROSION WILL COME BACK, BLEEDING THROUGH THE NEW SURFACE.

We no longer repair rebar issues but there is limited information on this serious pool issue and this page draws a lot of out-of-state (and even international ) attention so I’ve left it up in hopes that it can help people. I won’t benefit monetarily but if you want to help me you can Like my Facebook page. Thank you.

See below for videos and photos of rebar bleeds I’ve worked on.

Customer Testimonials

All testimonials are written by actual real-life customers

  • We bought a spa heater and had Mike install it. Mike is great to work with. He’s very knowledgeable and takes care of his customers. He is a hard worker and did a great job for us. We would recommend his services and will use him again. Thank you Mike!

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  • I've had pools serviced in various places I've resided; Davis, Encinitas and Folsom; Mike The PoolMan (Mike Stinson) has been the best service provider that I've experienced. Mike's made complete repairs that most Pool Servicers won't touch. Mike is the complete service provider for regular maintenance, equipment repair/replacement and starting your pool back up after you've had it resurfaced! Mike's been outstanding and Victor has performed in an excellent manner with my weekly as part of Mike's crew! Thanks Mike!

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  • We needed a hand rail installed in our older pool.  Mike was consistently very responsive.  He offered a fair price and was always punctual.  He was especially helpful when we ran into a challenge installing the hand rail due to the age of the brick surrounding our pool.  His quick thinking enabled us to get the much-needed hand rail installed.  I can't recommend him highly enough!

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  • I can't say enough good about Mike the Poolman.  When he came to my house to evaluate my pool issue, he first did a thorough review of my pool physically, looked at my pool controller settings, made several recommendations to me about how to take care of my pool better, and adjusted my pool controller settings right there on the spot for me!  Most importantly, he fixed my issue quickly and took great care in his work.  Mike's very friendly and reasonable in his rates.  Highly recommend!

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  • I was made aware of Mike's pool company by seeing one of his service trucks in my neighborhood and thought to give them a call. I recently moved into a new home with a pool that had been neglected over the past few years, and needed advice on how to bring it back to life.

    Mike immediately got back to me and let me know he would personally stop by my property to give it a look. He let me know what was needed for repairs, and what wasn't necessary in the short term. He never tried to up-sell me, just gave me an honest answer and good advice.

    I ended up having Mike install a new filter and variable speed pump. The equipment purchase was made through him, and along with labor, the price was incredibly fair. After the install, Mike gave me a full rundown on the new equipment, and provided several suggestions and advice on maintaining the pool.

    All in all I was very pleased with his professionalism and service. Will be calling him again if needed.

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  • Julie EllingsonMeticulous Workmanship

    I am very happy with my experience with Mike the Poolman. He was responsive to my emails and went into depth to help me choose the rail ultimately installed in my pool.

    While there was a wait for the custom rail to be made and shipped to him, it was not an undue amount of time at all. Once he had the rail in stock, it was installed within a week. It was a quick, neat job from there and my father now has a good, stable means of support when exiting the pool. I highly recommend that you contact Mike the Poolman. He has good people working for him and is meticulous about making certain the job is done right.

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  • Thank you for the AMAZING pool service you and your team provide us. Your customer service is top notch. I really appreciate the attention to detail on our pool and the quick communications anytime you guys detect the slightest of issues with our pool. It is a great peace of mind knowing your team is servicing and monitoring our pool each week. I highly recommend your services to all my friends who have pools. Thank you Mike and Team for everything you guys do for us!

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  • Our pool heater hadn't been working for the past two years. It was time to replace it so I didn't hesitate to contact Mike. He had installed a variable speed pump a few years ago and did an excellent job. He had also done other equipment maintenance over the years. Mike was going to take a look at the heater to see what was wrong but I decided to just replace it as it was about 21 years old and continued to breakdown. Mike made a recommendation on a model and just finished installing it. He had to redo some plumbing to adjust to the new heater. He did an excellent job. He even repainted all of the plumbing pipes so it looks new.

    I can always rely on Mike if I have a swimming pool issue. He's friendly, kind and most of all very competent with any swimming pool issue. I can trust he will do the right thing and he always does. He even removed a few automatic valve actuators and converted them to manual without charge.
    I am grateful to have someone who I can trust in the swimming pool business who does outstanding work.
    Thank you Mike!

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  • I cannot say enough good things about Mike! We had him install a new pump and controller and he was upfront and honest every step of the way. He gave us lots of good options for our needs and the quality of work was top notch. Most importantly, I felt that Mike was one of the rare ones out there that truly knows his stuff. His expertise and friendly demeanor made us feel very comfortable with the whole project. We will definitely be calling Mike whenever we have our next pool project!

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