Most Sanur villas were built between 2005 and 2015, so their pools are now ten to twenty years old. Salt-laden sea air, relentless UV, and months of heavy rain quietly degrade liners, grout, pumps, and wiring. A renovation is not just cosmetic — small leaks left alone become structural headaches that cost far more later.
Assessing Your Pool Before You Spend a Rupiah
When you walk around an ageing pool in Sanur, start at the waterline. Run your fingers along the tile or plaster. If the surface feels rough, chalky, or you see hairline cracks running down the wall, the substrate is failing. Check the coping stones for lifting or gaps where salt-driven moisture has eaten through the mortar over the years.
Next, look under the deck if access allows. PDAM water here carries a fair amount of dissolved minerals, so calcium scale builds up on pipes, valves, and inside the filter housing faster than in softer-water regions. Listen to the pump while it runs — a grinding or whining sound means bearings are going. Inspect any electrical junction boxes near the pool for corrosion; if you smell burning plastic or see blackened terminals, stop immediately and call a licensed electrician before touching anything else.
What Usually Needs Replacing
In a ten-plus-year-old Sanur pool, the following components are the most common failure points. You do not need to replace all of them at once, but knowing which ones are tired helps you plan the job in one visit rather than three separate ones:
- Tile grout and underwater sealant (salt and UV break it down)
- Pump motor, impeller, and gasket set
- Sand or cartridge filter element and its housing O-rings
- Skimmer baskets, return nozzles, and drain covers
- Underwater lights and their seals
- Plumbing under the deck, especially flexible hoses that have gone brittle
- Chemical feeder / dosing unit
- Any exposed copper or aluminium fittings showing green or white corrosion
Send me a few clear photos of your pool on WhatsApp and I will tell you exactly what needs attention and what does not.
The Right Order of Work
Sequence matters because re-doing plumbing after you have already re-plastered the basin is expensive and messy. A typical full renovation follows this path: drain the pool completely, then inspect the shell for cracks, delamination, or pinholes. Repair any structural issues first — epoxy injection for hairline cracks, patch plaster for larger areas.
Once the surface is sound, resurface or re-tile as needed. Only then do you swap out the mechanical equipment: pump, filter, valves, and plumbing runs. Reconnect everything, pressure-test the lines, refill slowly while checking for leaks, and finally balance the water chemistry over a few days before the pool is handed back to you.
How Long It Takes
A straightforward refresh — new grout, pump swap, filter service — can be done in two to four working days. A full re-surface with tile replacement typically runs one to three weeks depending on how much drying time the new plaster needs between coats. Keep the rainy season (roughly November through April) in mind: open-air plaster work slows down when humidity sits above 85 percent, and a sudden downpour can wash out fresh mortar. If your timeline is tight, scheduling in the dry months gives you more predictable curing windows.
Budgeting Without Guesswork
The cost of a pool renovation in Sanur varies widely depending on the scope, the materials chosen, and how easy it is to get trucks and scaffolding into your compound. Some villas sit behind narrow gates where a cement mixer cannot fit, which changes logistics and therefore price. Rather than quoting from memory, I prefer to look at photos or short video clips of your pool first, identify what actually needs doing, and then give you a clear itemised estimate. That way you are not paying for work that does not need to happen.
If budget is a concern, we can phase the job: structural repairs and safety-critical electrical fixes first, cosmetic resurfacing later. You decide the priority; I will tell you honestly what can wait and what should not.
Questions
Can I just repaint the pool instead of re-plastering?
A paint coat over old, sound plaster can buy you another two or three years, but it will not fix delamination, active leaks, or crumbling grout. In Sanur's salt air the paint tends to peel faster than in drier climates. If the substrate is stable and you want a quick visual refresh before a full re-surface next year, it is a reasonable stopgap — just make sure the surface is fully dry and free of loose material before any coating goes on.
Do I need to shut off PDAM water during renovation?
Not necessarily. Most pools run off a rooftop tank fed by PDAM, so as long as the tank has enough reserve (usually 1–2 days of household use) you can isolate the pool supply line while work happens. If your villa relies on a well pump for the pool fill, coordinate with the technician so the pump is switched off at the right moment to avoid dry-running.
Is it safe to do pool work during the rainy season?
Mechanical work — swapping pumps, filters, plumbing — is fine in any weather. The risk is with wet trades: fresh plaster, epoxy, or sealant applied under heavy rain or sustained high humidity may not cure properly and can crack within weeks. If a storm front is forecast, we will pause those steps rather than rush them. For electrical components near the pool, any sign of moisture ingress means we stop and call a qualified electrician; do not attempt to open junction boxes yourself.
I'll reply with what's needed, a price and when I can come.
