(upbeat music) - Real Life Homeowner Association professionals, the HOA Pros podcast. (upbeat music) - Hey yo, we're back. - We're back again. ♪ Another accredited podcast ♪ - Dude, we have so many. We finally hit the sweet 16. This is 17. - That's someone's annual renewal. - It is, so now you can completely recertify with the HOA Pros on the run. - Epic, while you're on the treadmill, driving around. - Fix and dinner, driving to a board meeting. - I love it. Well, this course is approved by the Community Association Managers, International Certification Board, KMICB to fulfill one hour continuing education requirements for the CMCA certification. Visit www.kamicb.org for any questions there. You will notice that as you listen to our super fun podcasts that we're gonna talk all the kinds of pool things today. You'll notice that there's a numerical code. - It's five digits. - Five, not four. - Not three. - All you have to do is write down that code and email it to
[email protected]. And we will quickly send you your certificate. - Yep, and I'm been a certificate master these last couple weeks. - You're doing how many hundreds a month? - About 400. - Geez. - Yeah. But at least I finally got a system down where I was able to write a Google script so that it actually will do the report for me. So I don't have to manually. - Let's go. - We're fancy. - We're practicing what we preach. - Oh yeah. - All this AI stuff. - Totally. - All this efficiency stuff. - I know. - On it. - I know. - All right, well, pool renovations for probes. - That's right. - Is proudly sponsored by our platinum guest sponsors. Sorry. 24HRC, global disposal. And Pacific Backflow, amazing companies that we'll have links for in the comments below. - Yep. - And our guest today is a repeat offender. (laughing) - I mean, return guest. - A repeat offender. That's funny. - What's up? Tell us who you are. - Wow. Well, repeat offender, I like that. - Yeah. - How long has it been? When did we do that last time? - Yeah, when did we last time? - The last podcast. It was fun. - Sailor was a baby because you made her a rattle. - Oh, that's right. - So I think it's been four years. - Sadie has that now. And both of everyone that sees it is perplex. - That's great. - Those rings on there. - Wow. - You guys are so ready. - Can we talk about that for the next hour? - Oh, would working? - Yeah. - That'd be fun. - You would do that. - Would working for pros. - I wanna see your woodworking setup. - Oh my gosh. - What do you got? - It is so cool. - How are you not covered in sawdust always? - That's a good point. - Hey, it's not sawdust. We call it man glitter. - He actually, he invited us over. And Andrew got to go in the workshop with him. And it was a sight. It is really cool. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, timeout. - It makes like why was it night? - Yeah, many times of Andrew had you on his podcast. - Oh. - Yeah, that's a good point. - Just kidding. But I love that stuff. I, all of my kitchen countertops are butcher block. Denim on myself. - Did you? - I butcher block everything. I just did my motorhome. I just do everything in butcher block. - He must have some tools in. - Enough to fake it. - Yeah. - Enough to fake it. Not legit. - No. - He built his own sauna. - Oh yeah, I gotta show you that. - Yeah, I, so you laugh at this because, you know, Austin Hardwoods. - Yeah. - Oh yeah. - So great place. - Oh man, it's Disneyland or Toys or Us for men. - And like Wood. - Candy store. - Candy store. That was a great thing. (laughing) - All of it. I stand by that. - Yeah. - You do have an edit button, right? No, I'll keep it. You're steep in there. So I got my Red Cedar quote about three years ago. Prior to inflation or whatever. And so I came in with my budget. I framed out the whole structure for the sauna and now it's time to buy the cedar. And I go in there and so I'm committed. The project's like, you know, whatever halfway there. And I go to buy the cedar and it's just triple. - Ooh. - I was like, I'm sorry. - What? - Out. - I was like, and it's gonna probably go up another 30, 40% in about two months. So I was just like, oh my God, okay, what other species can I use for a sauna? - Yes. - And you know the guys are Austin Harbots. - Yeah. - They're legends, dude. These guys are wood and cycle pedias. And the guy just goes, wouldn't recommend it. He goes, you can use, there's another species, I forget. - 'Cause it'll light on fire, right? That's why you have to use certain wood for a sauna. - Well, and for work. - I'm gonna guess you're gonna have a better answer to me. - More about the moisture. - Yeah, so they're really softwoods that absorb moisture and a sauna and repel it quickly, right? - Yeah. - I mean, that's the most accurate, you know. - You don't know what you came up with. What is it made out of? I gotta know. - No, I use red cedar. - Oh, you ended up with red cedar. - Oh yeah. - It was just three times the price. - Yeah, no, I was just like, son of a, the other one was not gonna remember. - What's the right? - But it looks good. - The red cedar's incredible. - Have you used the sauna? - Oh yeah, we used it every night. - Oh, you do. - The smell amazing. - Oh my god, it smells so good. I put a heater that is made for a thousand square feet in a 400 square foot sauna. (laughing) - Your skin on there, really? - It will. It broke my temperature thermometer. - Wow. - So it gets too hot. It also, the red cedar above the heaters, it's nicely charred. - Oh boy. - Yeah, it's not quite red anymore. - It's not quite red, it's a little darker. It's got a tan. - Yeah. - So yeah, I was just running full blast. - Well, that's impressive that you made yourself a sauna. I haven't heard that before. That's so, I love it. - Since 2006, 24 HRC has been the go-to for H.O.A reconstruction and restoration. With decades of experience, we handle everything from structural repairs to pool renovations, water proofing, concrete and more. Our skilled team and in-house trades ensure quality for projects big and small, from routine maintenance to multi-million dollar jobs. We've completed over 25,000 work orders and hundreds of large projects. Trust 24 HRC for all your H.O.A needs. - The first number is two. - It makes everything. - Yeah, I love to build. So, all right, well, let's talk about pools now. - On the boring stuff, right on. - No, no, no. - To the boring pool stuff. But wait, I don't even think you introduced yourself efficient. We just talked about wood. We're carried away. - So tell us who you are again. - Well, if I have to, my name is Kevin Koska. I work with Alan Smith-Pools, been working with him for 20 years. And in the industry for 30. - Nice. - Well, when I have here that you were speaker of the year in 2015, is that still true? - Well, that's the rumor. - That was a long time ago. - It was. - We got to get you back up there. - Yeah, maybe not. - Was it about pools? Was it a similar conversation? - Yeah, actually the whole thing was, I showed everybody how to build a pool. - That's cool. - And it all came down to the Mastic joint, an expansion joint around the pool. That's what the whole thing was about. But you had to learn how to build a pool before we got to that. - Wow, interesting. - It took me a really long time to know the difference between coping and mastic. I'd hear people talking about it. I'm like, I don't know what they're talking about. But now I know. - Well, also that everybody that's listening, those mastic, you can stick your finger down into it. It feels like a sponge. - Yeah. - Yeah. - The whole thing is. - It looks like kind of like pool caulking. - Yeah, yeah. - That's what most people call it. - It's like thick caulking. - Yeah. - Super caulking. - Yeah. - Here we go back to the wood again. Anyway. (laughing) - But you see that meme that says, I've never tried so hard. - You can take a vote if we can keep that in or not. - I've never tried so hard to pronounce an L in my life. - Yeah, it's a cool, that's funny. - Oh, man. - Okay, we'll keep it. - Yeah, I think it's funny. That's what people love about these. - I called for the record. - I know you did, but I'm saying that's what people love about these shows. - Yeah, they're not boring. - Well, recently I had someone reach out to me and she said that her husband didn't believe she was actually doing stuff for work because she's listening to the show and laughing. So I hope she listens to this and hears the shout out. - That is our goal. (laughing) - Goal. - I'm saying everything to that extra. - No, I'm saying everything to that extra. - Oh, I'm a strokeer. - No. - My goal today is everything with an extra. - All right, well, our talking points are common issues. So what are common issues is pull? What goes wrong with them? What's, how are the common issues? - There's tons of common issues. - Kind of what we're gonna be able to talk about today is why there's common issues. What happens to a pool? - Well, why is my grandpa's pool from 1960 looking pretty darn good? And the community that I just walked that was built in 2024 is completely eroding. - Oh man, that can't believe me. - The same reason why I still have a Malcom fillings and not the white ones, the same concept. - I can't even believe that you asked that question, 'cause that is an amazing question actually. - Okay. - And I love that question. There are some big differences in the materials. And also there's big differences in the chemicals that are used to keep Bather safe. You put those two things together and-- - Bather's meaning people's meaning. - Yeah, they call them Bather. - Oh really, it's not the technical term.
for the industry, bathers, really? - You don't wanna call them swimmers, I guess not everybody swims. - True. - Sitting a spa there. - True. - More like a bather. But what happened was a long time ago, the materials were amazing. - Yeah. - And the chemicals were weak. - Interesting. - And you put those two things together and you've got stuff that lasts a lot longer. - Interesting. - And looks a lot better. There have been some changes in the chemistry to make them more harsh to keep people safe, but the materials, and we might get into that a little bit later as well. The materials just aren't what they used to be. - Right. - You hear that all the time. - It's true. - How about fridges, man? - Oh yeah. - What's up? - They don't last as long. - It's planned obsolescence, chapter 17. - No, seriously. We've got shrink flation, we've got planned obsolescence, like all that stuff. It's annoying. - I wanna promise you guys, we do not make chemistry harsher and materials weaker to keep us in business. I promise that. - No, and we know it's not what it does. - I mean, it's just how everything's gone. We can't use the spestus anymore. We can't use lead. We can't use all the things that really made things last because of the health implications. - I'm scared they're coming after blue dawn next. - Don't take my dawn, dude. - Well, the little duckies that get into the oil fields will be in trouble. - And dawn will clean them right up safely. - They do. - Zero on. - And as spestus, we used to use that pool plaster. - Oh, I'm sure. - Amazing. - Oh yeah. - Well, I mean, it's like fiberglass for concrete. - Yeah, my crib as a baby was painted with lead based paint. - That answers a lot of questions. - I really don't understand. And then, when I was a kid, I used to like hit the popcorn ceiling with a broom so it would snow. - Yeah. - So also probably contributes to me today. - Well good. - That's my consensus. - So, okay, but so issues though, what are all the big problems? - Well, the first thing that you notice is that the plaster itself, the surface, starts coming apart. And yeah, end up with what's called spalling, which is the top 16th of an inch coming off. - Yep. - What looks like holes in your plaster. - Spalling, spalling, spalling. - Some of it kind of looks like peeling paint sort of. Like if you painted a door and little sections of it are peeling off. - Yep. - That's right. I'm sure most of the people listening have if you've worked with pools at all, you know, quartz that were, you know. - Yep. - And that's an upgrade to pool plaster. You know, pool plaster is pretty simple stuff. There's three ingredients. And I'm gonna give you guys a quiz. - Okay. - What do you think those three ingredients are? - Water. - Water is one. - Sand. - Sand is one. Nice. - Plastic. - Plastic. - Lime. - What holds it all together? It is. - Glue. - It is lime. (laughing) - Glue. - Semen. - Semen. - Oh. - Yeah. - Okay. - Just a special kind of lime. - It's kind of, a special kind of cement. - Isn't it cement? - Yes, it is a special kind of cement. It's white cement. - Okay. - And other than that, there's nothing real special about it. But here's the thing is that the reason why that you've heard the word quartz is because we're trying to get better materials in about, I don't know, 10 to 15 years ago we started getting better materials. You know, how old was your grandpa's pool? You said? - 60s, I think. - Yeah, in the 60s, which is really when commercial pools started being built. It was back in the 60s. But what they used to use for sand then was silica sand. - Oh, and that's bad. They don't use that anymore, right? It was banned like five years ago. - Well, silica sand did it to you. - Yeah, I'm loving it. - The reason I know this is 'cause of Portola Springs because we had someone tell us we had to remove all the silica sand from all the playgrounds. - I think that might have something to do with playgrounds and stuff, but it's amazing for plowers. - Okay, good. - So here's what I want you to think of. Silica, if you melt down silica, you know what you get? Silica, you get glass. - I was gonna say that, take it. - Oh, I got you too soon. Okay, sorry. Yeah, you get glass. - I like silica. - It's a guessing game. Yeah, well, there'll be more. - All right, so silica sand, if you put that in acid, you know what happens? - Nothing. - Oh. - Nothing happens. - Oh, it sits there. - It's really tough. - It's really tough. - Yeah, so that will stand up to all these nasty chemicals in the water. - That's right. So silica sand was great. Well, what happened a little later, more like in the 70s, the builders wanted their plaster to look more white. And the builders don't care after a month. They've, you know, they've gotten their check and they're on and they don't care what happens. - I'm talking about the 70s. Do you think there's some 70s builders out there? - No. - They're listening. - Okay, all right. - But anyway, and so what happened is they decided they wanted more white so they started using, they told the pool industry to use marble plaster. - No. - You know what happens to marble plaster when you put it in that same acid? - It gets. - It dissolves in five seconds. - Five seconds. - Five seconds. - Thanks for talking. - Then why would they use it? That seems silly. 'Cause it's white. - 'Cause it looks pretty. - Very white and it looks pretty. - Does it though? - It does. - I guess maybe. - Well, white her, let's say. - Okay. - Can't you put a coating on top of your silica plaster? - Mm. - Well, you know what? Gosh, you're amazing. Are you in the pool industry? - No, I just think like a bather. (laughing) - That's because that's why you built your sauna. Hey, you know what, here's the thing. Three M, you've all heard of three M, right? - Yes. - What they did is they actually took silica pieces of silica sand and they coated it in white ceramic. So kind of like what you just said, they painted it. - White. - Sninky. - And so they tried that. That worked for a little bit, but then found out it didn't work so well. - No, still a wider pool. - Yeah, so you're right on it on that. But then what happened was we said, okay, let's get back to the tough stuff and they started using quartz. Are you a property manager looking to streamline operations? Check out MyPinPlus by GlobalDisposal. It's brilliant. PinPlus stands for Power and Numbers. Helping HOAs save with group discounted pricing on reoccurring services like trash, pest control, and landscaping. Residents can manage accounts, pay bills, and make service requests with ease. Fenders love the efficiency and HOAs benefit from flexibility without long term contracts. With MyPinPlus, you'll save time and bring value to your community. Visit MyPinPlus.com today to learn more and check out their episode on our podcast where it literally blew our mind. - The next number is nine. - Okay. - And quartz sand. - So what does quartz do in acid? - Same thing that Silica sand does. - No, nothing. - It just sits there. - Okay. - But it's nice and white and they mined it off of in rivers and beaches and things like that. So that's the sand part. We made the sand stronger, right? What's another part? Some in it. What do you do with cement to make it stronger? Askbestos. - Oh. - That was good stuff. You can't use that anymore for obvious reasons. And so what happened was that kind of gave rise to seeing this marble plaster with just regular cement, water and marble sand. All of a sudden when things started deteriorating you know, the problems that people were seeing, it's not lasting very long, like what you said. That gave rise to the plaster industry saying, we gotta figure this out. And so the National Plasters Council started and that was kind of a, just a time when all the plaster could get together and say, let's figure this thing out. Well out of that Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Alan actually was the guy that got all this going. He built 12 pools and two spas up at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. - Oh, I remember this story. - I remember this story. - Yeah, you told us this when you were on the show last. I remember, no, tell it again, no, but I, right when you said, I've heard this before. - Okay, so he built all these things and now you could, what you could do is you could put six different types of plaster in one pool and then fill it with the exact same water chemistry. - Oh, that's cool. - These different chemicals and he did this, there's 12 different pools doing this. Now here's the key, these were done by the PhDs on site. - That's cool. - So in other words, it's like a third party so that Alan and the rest of the plasterers could try to get their own agenda going on this. - Yeah, it was all done by the PhDs and we found out a lot of good information. - Like what works, what doesn't work. - What works and do. - That's cool. - And we found out a lot of stuff that doesn't work. - Interesting. - Shout out to Alan Smith. - Yeah, we go. - A legend, dude. - Yeah, he's always looking for new technology. As a matter of fact, we're gonna talk about that a little bit more as we get to some other things because what did we say about the cement? Now we gotta make that stronger. - Great. - What good is it if you have weak cement and you have great sand, what's gonna happen? It's gonna deteriorate the same way. - Right. - Right. - Well, that's the introduction of a new material. - Okay. - And this is a material that's been around for 20 years in Florida. - Mm. - And it's called microglas. - Oh. - If you haven't heard of, have you heard of microglas? - No, I just thought.
know what it doesn't acid. Some of the questions I have. - Was it in acid or in acid? - Well, oh, in. - Is microglass fun to party with? (laughing) - You're gonna have to find that out on your own. - Is it a party guy or a bathing? What are we talking about here? - Well, unfortunately microglass did not make it to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. - Oh. - Those impuels were actually taken away after a while because they just needed the land for the milk. - I was gonna say 12 pools is a lot of space. - Yeah, they're all right next to each other. - We could build some student housing here. - Yeah, pretty much. That's pretty much what happened. But since then, Alan went to Florida and found this stuff called microglass. And you can think of it as a cement densifier. And when something is super dense, then the chemicals have a hard time getting to it. - Mm. - All right. So this microglass is, well, going back to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, we tried different coatings, we tried different densifiers, and nothing worked because it would make things look splotchy. It would discolor and made it look ugly. The beauty of microglass is you put it on after you plaster. And it's not a coating. It changes the molecular structure of the surface. - Oh, wow. - Which is pretty amazing. And this guy was doing it for 20 years in Florida. Well, he's doing it for 15 years before Alan brought it here. We've been doing it about five years here. But we're finding amazing results. - Nice. - I've been doing this for 30 years. It is the most amazing technology that's come out in those 30 years. - That's cool. - Is it proprietary? Or everyone can use it? - That's a good question too. Anyone can use it. - Okay. - It could have been proprietary, but that's another thing. I don't want this just to be an advertisement for Alan, but I got to tell you, he looks at the industry as he wants the industry to be the best it can be. - Oh, I love that. - So he took it and he said, "No, we are not going to make it prep that word." - Yeah, that's hard to say. - That's a tongue twister. - I'm proud of myself. I got it right. - That was pretty good. - You guys see me when I went like this after I said it? - Did you just step out of the sauna? You're very relaxed. - Yeah. - I'm on it. - Prepar. - Foss check. - So if that would have been an L in it, I would have freaking nailed it. - And that's true. - I am old. So he opened it up to everybody. Everybody can use it. I am excited for the whole industry to use it because it does amazing things to plaster. - Yeah, so, okay. So microglass is then mixed in with the plaster and no, or it's coated off. - Seriously, you haven't listened to my talk before. - I see. - 'Cause that's perfect. - I've got questions. - What's the third ingredient? - Acid. - Oh, no, that's. - Water. - Water, water, water. - Water. - Well, that microglass added to the water to mix in is something that we've started. And it actually helps in making the plaster stronger and denser also. So yes, it is mixed in. However, the real way to use microglass or the normal way is once the plaster is laid, then you spray it on and roll it on. - Interesting. - And then you fill it with water right after that. - Interesting. - And it really does, you know, remember I said microglass? Here's the reason why it's called microglass. If you guys ever seen a pool that's just been plastered and filled. - Oh, yeah. - And what happens? - There's a dust that's created, a lot of dust. - Really? - Yes, a lot of dust. And it clouds everything up. - In the water? - It's on the surface of the plaster. - So then when you're filling it, it like fills the water with the dust or you see it rise like out of the pool? - It's crazy. You actually see it laying on top of the plaster. But then if you brush it, it makes everything milky. So here's what that is. That's something called calcium hydroxide. I'm going to try to stay too far out of it. I'm not going to get too far into the weeds. But here's the thing. Calcium hydroxide is plaster dust. - Okay. - Calcium hydroxide is so weak that even if you have a tiny bit of acid in the water, it will dissolve. So not just putting it in acid. If it's just a little bit low on the pH, it will dissolve. - Wow. - Our per million. - Well, here's the problem. When you lay plaster, you have little mix and crannies all through it. It's not perfectly smooth like you think. It's got little nucks and crannies. Well, those nucks and crannies fill up with calcium hydroxide. So what happens over time? That calcium hydroxide dissolves. Now you've got these open nucks and crannies. - Oh. - And that's where the harsh chemistry that I was talking about before can start deteriorating the plaster surface. So what microglas does is it gets that calcium hydroxide and it changes it into calcium silicates. - Oh. - And we talked about silicates. - Yep. - And what's silicon? - Or silica is silica sand? - Glass. - Glass, microglas. - Okay. - That's why I got the name. So it's actually changing the calcium hydroxide into calcium silicates. And now you've got a strong barrier against that harsh water. - You're gonna trip out. - You're gonna trip out of trip. - So it is a trip. - The next number is zero. - Pacific Backflow is on a mission to protect our community drinking water by delivering the most respected, responsive, and reliable backflow service. 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[email protected] for your backflow service today. - Okay, so what is hydroblasting? Let's talk about this. - That's the next part of these new technologies that have come into the pool arena, especially commercial pool arena. And think about it, like we said before, that pools kind of started being built in the 50s, 60s, 70s, HOAs in the 80s, all that kind of stuff. That means that they've been around for a long time, or probably been a replaster a few times. Well, there have been a lot of different ways to prep a pool when you're replasting it. You have to get rid of the plaster, right? So it started back in the 50s, you'd use a hatchet and chip it off, believe it or not. - Wow. - A lot of work for these guys. - Yeah, where are some glasses? - Yeah, then they started getting into using chipping hammers, jack hammers. And jack hammers are great. It got rid of the plaster, but it also got rid of part of your shell, too. - Yeah, the pool. - Rebar doesn't like jack hammers. - No, you get closer and closer to that, especially if the pool was built, let's say, in the 70s, maybe you've replastered three times since then. Well, if each time you're getting rid of a little bit of your shell, just like you said, you're getting close to that rebar. Once you get close to the rebar, you get cracks, then you get rust, you get a weak shell. It's real bad for the structure of the pool. And sometimes we've had to go in and put a shell inside the shell that's there. - Oh. - Interesting. You think that costs a little bit of money? - A little bit. - It's very expensive. - Sure. - I know Andrew and I have talked about having a pool someday, and I'm like, "You know, I'm going to be really careful, and I'm sure you know." It's just, they can be very expensive if you don't treat them right. - You can have mine. - But there's your answer. - Mars is a big dog dish now in the backyard. - Oh, man. - Now that our kids have moved out. So the thing is, okay, so that was jack hammering. It was really disruptive, made little micro cracks in the shell. It's really bad for the shell. And so then what companies were doing is just putting a coating, a bond coat on the old plaster and plastering on top of that. That has its own problems. And just real quick, one of the problems is, is that the bond, there was bond loss. It wouldn't stick very well. Well, here's another situation where Alan looked at the industry, and I'm not going to give him credit on this one because there were a couple of other companies that were using Hydroblast method, and he just decided this is good for us too. So think of a pressure washer that you have in your backyard. It's got about 3,000 psi, right? A Hydroblast machine has 40,000 psi. - Geez. And we talked about the pressure washer. - Yeah, he takes skin off of his foot every time he uses it. - And that's just a regular one? - That's just a 3,500, 4,000. - He's got it. - Maybe 5,000. - Is it gas powered? - Oh yeah. - Oh yeah, so that's what we're trying to call him in. - Yeah. - Let's drink or something. - Mine's a luxury. - You have a Tesla. - The one I bought for a year. - Oh man, I've got a Duramax. There you go. There you go. So when our guys in Hydroblasting is a way to use that 40,000 psi,
P.O.C.I. to take the plaster off. That's gnarly. Our guys have to wear Kevlar, those bed to toe because it will cut your leg clean off with much past. Oh my gosh. What? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We have 40,000 P.O.C.S.I. You should see what we were doing when we were testing it out. What's your insurance? Right. So what's your insurance? That's terrifying. Yeah. So they wear the Kevlar and the 40,000 P.O.C.I. It sounds like it's so destructive, but it actually much gentler than having jack hammers with the pulses going on. Yeah, I've seen that. Yeah. How cool. What's that machine look like? It's a whole truck. It's a big trailer. Wow. Wow. And it takes a lot of upkeep. How do you get it into a pool? Do you have to remove some of the fence? No, it's out in the street. And then the hoses are 100 feet. So they're 100 feet. Pretty strong hoses that they carry. Yeah, 40,000 P.O.C.I. Ding. Yeah. Kind of hoses that. And so what that does is it doesn't even take you all the way down to the gun I usually you can. If you just sat on it and used it for 10 seconds on one spot, you'll get all the way through the shell. But there real quick on it. And what happens is there's still a little bit of plaster and there's gun I the whole shell is left. Well, here's the thing. Some people complain about that. So you didn't take all the plaster off. Oh. And I don't tell you if that plaster can handle 40,000 P.O.C.I. I want that in my journal. I don't care. Yeah, that's tough. Strong. That's true. And it also leaves a really good profile for the new plaster to stick. So we've found that this is the best way to go. We have engineers, structural engineers that have given letters to sing its praises that this is the way you need to do it. That's really smart. It makes total sense as far as the bond, the new bond with the new plaster. It kind of reminds me of Stucco. You don't cut a perfect line. You know, roughed up so that the Stucco has a nice bond and weighted here. So that makes total sense to me. Cool. What a trip. So that's how you more or less remove the existing plaster. Yep. So if you remove it the right way, then the new stuff, if it's good, strong stuff, you're going to have a good, a better mouse trap. Okay. Cool. So I want to go back. I want to go back to the first one. - Yeah, now you can open your eyes. Hey.
So so remember we talked about we talked about materials aren't what they used to be right So now I'm gonna tell you about cement. Yeah, and so cement was great and And then the a QMD got involved with some it's like that friend that got married You're like dude you were so fun No, you got a bunch of holes in you You're falling apart between you and your drain You're rated a party with microglass aren't you what is going on dude cement you suck So cement It's just regular Portland cement it the a QMD came around about I don't know it's time flies spent 10 years or something like that And they said you know what cement is a big polluter making cement That's a lot of pollution and you know what it is a harsh Oh, yeah, but it's everywhere dude. I worked is everywhere. I worked with cement for like a week in or two when I was 16 And I just had a covered on me for like eight hours. Yeah two days and my skin was just literally peeling I know I did no one told me yeah, I was just like gross. I don't know why and I got the gnarliest burn. Yeah from the lie Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah, it is gnarly and the thing about cement is in order to make it it takes a lot of Machines and everything that that caused pollution and then there's no way of getting around it and like you said It's everywhere So think about it this way if it's everywhere and it it really is and it causes a lot of pollution then But the what the a QMD did is they said from now on out of a hundred percent cement We want you to have 85% and 15% fillers That don't cause that don't cause that that pollution Splash plumbing is a full service plumbing company specializing in HOAs across Orange County and Los Angeles From slab leaks to hydro jetting to trenchless sewer repairs if water goes through it they do it Known for exceptional Unification and 24/7 emergency response splash plumbing is large enough to serve and small enough to care With a growing team of 30 pros they're dedicated to keeping your community running smoothly Trust splash plumbing to handle all your plumbing needs visit splash plumbing dot com today So so when you think about it you go that's just 15% big deal But like you said cement is everywhere concrete is everywhere So that really did make a big dent in how much pollution is created by by producing cement products so They tested that out on you know Overpasses and bridges and things like that and they placed a test it on well They found out that it worked. It's fine those fillers didn't cause the strength to go down Okay, what they didn't test much is or at all is what does pool chemistry do to that same cement with all those fillers in it now Those fillers are super weak So if you have if you have water chemistry running across that cement that has all those fillers It's gonna eat it up interesting. So it ain't what it used to be so I have a community This is totally not pool related, but it is concrete related We went out and we did a walk recently and the the sidewalks and the curbs are literally starting to erode and you can start to see like the pebbles coming through and I was talking to the board member and I go what is this and she goes we have hard water I go but it's eating the concrete like that's crazy But I wonder if it was a lot of the fillers were used for this particular project because I've never seen it Where the aprons and like the edges of the curbs are literally just coming apart Yeah, there's there's two things going on there One is those fillers I was telling you about so the cement is weaker The other thing is if you do have hard water you have a lot of salts in your water What happens is if especially when they have too much irrigation which Happens a lot. Yeah, the irrigation water gets on there every single day and it gets wet dry wet dry wet dry It's not that it's wet all the time that would be okay, but when it's wet dry wet dry every time it dries Do you know what's coming out of that water? H2O you know what's left All that stuff you're talking about hard water So what happens is that that that water that's full of stuff gets down into the nooks and crannies of that that concrete the H2O releases through evaporation The salts are remaining and not only are they they corrosive but they form crystals and when those crystals expand they break the concrete Oh my gosh, and they well not not all the way through they make the surface Yeah, that concrete and that's what that erosion is interesting and it really starts deteriorating the surface I closed my eyes again, and that was so beautiful. Did you like the way that happened? I could picture the cement Slowly breaking apart It was beautiful. Did you guys give me acid? Okay, so but what can we do to preserve concrete then what tell me it's microglass? Yeah, yeah, actually yeah there they Microglass is is actually a product that is taking off in the pool industry just because it got brought here and used is that however It's a and and I'm not even gonna tell you all it does because you wouldn't believe me, but where do you get this stuff? I know it's it home depot Put it this way. I'll just tell you one thing that it does We took a Christmas tree that was you know I think it was in March and so how dry was this Christmas tree? It was brown and dry, right? We sprayed it microglass on half of that tree Then we lit it on fire The side that didn't have microglass burned up in an instant just burned up completely The part of the tree that had microglass on it wasn't touched Not can I paint my house in it then let's put it in every year Yeah, yeah, I don't want to tell you too much because you'll start you know you start thing. Oh, it's a dessert topping You know, I mean it's it's gonna put everything on my house My concrete okay, tell me it preserves concrete. It's got it right does it does You know microglass to save the day the last number is three H.O.A. Maillars is here to save community managers time by handling all your mailing needs statements coupon books Violation notices newsletters annual meeting notices secret ballots and more if it fits in envelope They've got you covered H.O.A. Maillars makes your job easier with top-notch service and efficiency Click the link below to learn how they can simplify your life and take tasks off your plate The first thing you might think of is okay, well then why don't they use that in those big Big airplanes that drop on Yeah, we love that yeah, yeah, yeah, well this stuff isn't red, but it would We get it also Is it really expensive though in that quantity? In that quantity it would be pretty expensive. It's very hard to make and it's very hard to keep stable because the The chemistry of microglass is it's got silicates in it, but it's it's H.2.0.5 Oh, and you know what H.2.0 is I do and then H.2.0.2 is I think that's hydrogen peroxide Maybe that's H.2.0.4 you know it goes all the way up to H.2.0.4 and then Anything beyond that is just super unstable So you have to do a bunch of things to it to keep it going By the way, it's all patented now. We couldn't tell you that information a few years ago, but it's patented But anyway, yeah, so it's amazing stuff and you can you can lay down your concrete Sidewalk or or driveway and then put the microglass on it the same way it soaks in it It makes those silicates So that could help love it I learned so much and it's not a coding so you don't have to reapply it It's it's something that changes the molecular structure of it all right So we're scientists today. I like it. I'm sorry about that. No, I love it That's the stuff that makes me wake up in the morning and I know it's cool There's no all that stuff. Well, yeah, so far beyond just someone that's out there trying to educate you really understand And have a good understanding of how to communicate this to boards and I mean I've been doing this 29 years And I've never heard this before so it's interesting good. So like she's the community management nerd. I'm the construction nerd You're the pool nerd there you go. I like it. It's awesome. I like it. I don't mind being a nerd by the way Oh, you could be like Mike Mike microglass man or something. That would be great Yeah, let's see the three of us would know what I was I know I know I'm like, what are you? Yeah, I protect pools bitch Get any sign Okay, so what we talked a lot about plaster and concrete. What are some fun things in pools innovation stuff like that? Well Yeah, the biggest innovation is that that microglass, but you know what's amazing is oh I looked back at my career and looked at all the different reasons why I would go and talk to Communities and to managers and and there have been a
There have been a bit of a list of things, you know, think back on LED lights. Remember when those became something? Oh, yeah. They weren't that good or bad? Awesome. Awesome, right? Because they last forever. They last 10 years instead of 10 months. Right. They use 45 watts rather than 500 watts. And as you know, community pools need to be on from dusk till dawn for the most part. And so that saves quite a bit of money. Oh, yeah. That was a good technology, a new technology that came out that was real good to the community. Yeah. Okay. I love it. Well, we're just about to hit an hour. No way. I feel like we've been doing this for 15 minutes. Yeah. I know. So we should close out with compliance and sustainability. So is there anything that managers need to know from a compliance standpoint? Because we're always doing all of these manual assessments and checks and things and that. And we want to make sure we're doing things the right way. Yeah. Well, you know, there have been some things that the health departments have made requirements that either weren't requirements in the past or they were not enforced in the past. What are some of the new ones? Yeah. One of the new ones that they're really on now is emergency shut off switches for spas. Oh, okay. Every spas has to have one and unfortunately they're very expensive. To put in after the fact that you have to run all of the wiring for it. You've got to run it. And, you know, sometimes you don't have to run that much because the equipment is pretty close. Yeah. So, you know, now all of a sudden the equipment itself, the switches themselves have become very expensive. Oh, wow. And so you're looking at, you know, $5 to $7,000 to get one and for a day. For one? Yeah. Ooh. Yeah, they're pretty expensive. So now sometimes you can get away with something a little bit cheaper, but it just depends on what's there already. At the March Group, we don't just manage reserve funds for communities. We help build firm financial foundations. With almost 50 years of hands-on experience, our proprietary needs-based analysis and structured asset management systems process helps associations and managers preserve and grow reserve safely provide liquidity when needed all while maximizing returns and mitigating risk. The March Group puts your needs first, helping fulfill fiduciary obligations with integrity, innovation and independence. Your communications, transparent policies and customized investment strategies. See for yourself, we actually wrote the book for CAI on reserve fund management, building firm financial foundations for your future. Visit the March Group dot com to learn more. So and that just emerges the sheds off the jets? It's got to shut off both the jets and the circuit pump. Kids getting sucked into the filters and trapped in their water. And if you didn't know, we had a drowning less than a year ago and the health department, at least in Orange County, the health department, all of a sudden became very interested in, okay, what are we going to do about this? So if you remember the unblockable drains, those channel-looking drains, Orange County doesn't allow them anymore. Oh, really? So they have to be split. That's an expense. That's a big expense. Oh, wow. It is. So if you have two booster pumps and a circuit pump and a spa now, you're looking at like $2,200 for each one. So that's $6,600 to split all those things. And so I guess what I'm trying to say is, unfortunately, now when people are replastering their community pools, they will probably end up having the health department require some things that are going to be kind of more expensive. Okay. And the reason why a lot of those things, now some of those things are seen up front. Some of them aren't because you really don't quite understand what the individual inspector is going to require. They might look at one and say, you know what, we can't have you change that. It would be way too expensive or it's not needed in this case. We don't want to make that assumption that, you know, we're going to stick this to you too. Well, we wait for the health department to stick it to you. But it's a good idea. We all know that regulations are constantly evolving. So it's a good conversation to have with your pool vendors like, hey, what's new? What should we be budgeting for? I mean, I always think back to Portola Springs. I mean, they have 12 pools. And some of them were built in 2007 and some are brand new. And they have those big, huge equipment rooms. So I mean, I back to the shut off valve. I remember if they hit the emergency shut off at the spot because they thought that's how you turned off the jets, shut down the whole pool equipment room. So there's a lot to know about pools. And it's really important to partner with the right vendors, but also to be educated and get in front of it if you can. And you know, it's frustrating from a manager's perspective on the permits and everything those annual fees, like their invoicing system is not great. And it usually says swimming pool. And then it says swimming pool again, but you know, that's where the spa. And you know, we've seen invoices get rejected by boards and then we get fined. It's like, there's a lot of stuff to managing a pool. And you know, it's, I mean, we've just barely cracked the surface today. So. Well, and there is a lot to it. And I don't expect managers to not to know everything there is to know and also to keep up with the new regulations. Right. And so, I think that's why there's many of us in the industry that are happy to help in those situations. It's great. Awesome. Well, thank you, Kevin. Thank you. Always a pleasure. Well, it is a pleasure to be with you guys. Yeah, come back. Oh, did I pull the wool over your eyes? I love it. No, you know a lot of stuff about pools. Well, yeah, I love when I didn't know any of that. Honestly, I didn't really knew. I didn't know micro glass. That's really cool. Much about plaster. So it's fun. We really, really do get to learn every week. I appreciate it. We did well on the quizzes, too. Oh, thanks. We tried. We got lucky. All right, guys. Well, thanks. Thank you. And see you next time. Thank you. Real Life Homeowner Association professionals, the HOA Pro's podcast.
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