Your gunite pool can be fixed. We do exactly that.
Cracked shells, worn plaster, popped tile, mystery leaks. We repair gunite and shotcrete pools across Jackson, Madison, Ridgeland, Brandon, and the rest of the metro. No new construction, no pressure to rebuild, published pricing.
Straight answers on the first call. If it is not worth fixing, we say so.
The problems gunite pools develop around Jackson
Cracks in the shell
Step cracks in the deep end, diagonal cracks from corners or skimmers, or a crack that opens every summer. In this soil, cracks rarely stay small.
Losing water
More than a quarter inch a day is usually a leak, not evaporation. Every day it runs, it costs water, chemicals, and sometimes the soil under your deck.
Rough or stained plaster
Plaster that scrapes skin, gray patches showing through, stains that come back after every acid wash. That finish is at end of life.
Tile and coping problems
Waterline tile popping off, coping stones loose or tilted, mastic joint split. Often the first visible sign the shell or deck has moved.
Hollow spots
A drumming sound when you tap the wall means plaster has separated from the gunite behind it. Left alone, it breaks through and spreads.
Skimmer separation
A gap or crack where the skimmer meets the pool wall. One of the most common failures on older pools around Jackson, and very fixable.
Gunite, shotcrete, and what that means for repairs
Gunite and shotcrete are both concrete shot from a hose against a rebar cage; the difference is whether the mix gets its water at the nozzle or in the truck. Either way, what’s in your backyard is a steel-reinforced concrete shell, usually 6 to 12 inches thick, with a thin waterproof finish (plaster, quartz, or pebble) troweled over it. That two-layer construction is why diagnosis matters so much: a problem in the finish is a resurfacing job, while a problem in the shell is structural work, and the two have very different price tags.
It also means most “ruined” pools aren’t. The finish is a wear item, designed to be replaced every decade or two. The shell underneath is the same class of concrete used in foundations and retaining walls, and with the steel intact it can be repaired more or less indefinitely. Vinyl liner and fiberglass pools fail differently and we don’t work on them; gunite is its own trade, and around here it comes with a soil problem attached, which is the next section.
Updated: August 5, 2026
Jackson pools sit on Yazoo clay. That changes the repair.
Much of the Jackson metro sits on Yazoo clay, an expansive soil that swells when wet and shrinks hard in dry summers. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Geology has documented the damage this formation does to foundations across central Mississippi, and a pool shell is just a foundation that holds water.
A rigid patch on a shell that moves twice a year fails by the second summer. Our structural repairs use flexible polyurethane injection and carbon staples so the fix moves with the soil instead of cracking beside the old repair. When drainage is feeding the problem, we tell you that too, because otherwise you will be calling someone again in three years.
The seasonal cycle
- Spring: heavy rain, clay swells, cracks squeeze closed. Pools look fine and leaks slow down.
- Late summer: drought, clay shrinks and pulls away, cracks open. This is when most Jackson pools start losing water.
- Every year it repeats: each cycle works the crack a little wider. Catching it early is the whole game.
Repair work, start to finish
Structural crack repair
Epoxy and polyurethane injection, carbon staples across moving cracks, full shell assessments. Built for pools on Yazoo clay.
Details and pricing →Replastering and resurfacing
White plaster, quartz, and pebble finishes over sound gunite, with a supervised startup so the new finish cures right.
Details and pricing →Leak detection
Pressure testing, dye testing, and listening equipment to find the leak before anyone cuts concrete. Written findings either way.
Details and pricing →Published pricing
Real numbers for every repair we do, posted on this site. You should not need three site visits to learn what a crack repair costs.
Details and pricing →What repairs cost in the Jackson metro
These are the ranges we actually quote. Your written estimate lands inside them unless the inspection turns up something unusual, and if it does, you see why.
| Repair | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic inspection (credited if hired) | $150 to $250 |
| Crack injection, per crack | $400 to $900 |
| Structural crack repair with staples | $1,500 to $4,500 |
| Skimmer separation repair | $800 to $2,500 |
| Tile and coping repair | $1,200 to $5,000 |
| Leak detection visit | $350 to $650 |
| Full replaster (white plaster) | $6,000 to $9,500 |
| Quartz or pebble resurface | $8,000 to $15,000 |
Full breakdown with what moves each number up or down is on the cost guide.
Five steps, no surprises
Call or send the form
Tell us what the pool is doing. Photos help. We answer questions on that first call for free.
Inspection
A diagnostic visit runs $150 to $250, credited toward the repair if you hire us. We test, tap, and measure instead of guessing.
Written scope and price
You get the findings, the fix we recommend, why, and a firm number. No pressure calls afterward.
The repair
Most crack and tile jobs take one to three days. A full replaster takes about a week plus startup.
Startup and walkthrough
We balance the water, walk you through curing care when there is new plaster, and stand behind the work in writing.
Three things worth knowing before any pool company visits
Run the bucket test first. Put a bucket of water on the top step, mark the level in the bucket and the pool level on the outside, and check both a day later. If the pool fell further than the bucket, that is a leak. If they match, you were watching evaporation, and a Mississippi summer can pull off close to a quarter inch a day without any help from a crack. Five minutes of setup can save you a detection fee you did not need to pay.
Photograph cracks with a coin for scale. A photo taken today tells us on the phone whether you are looking at surface crazing or structural movement, and a second photo in a month shows whether it is growing. Cracks that change with the seasons are soil-driven, and that single fact decides which repair method will actually hold.
Never drain the pool to have a look. An empty gunite shell in wet clay can lift out of the ground, and heave damage is often the one problem nobody can fix. Every inspection we do that needs a drained pool includes a plan for holding the shell down while it is empty. If another company suggests draining it and leaving it a few weeks, get a second opinion before they touch the pump.
Service areas
Based in Jackson, working the whole metro with the same pricing everywhere and no trip charges. Each area page covers what we see most in that town’s pools, because a 1970s Eastover shell on moving clay and a 2005 Flowood pool with tired plaster are different jobs that fail in different ways.
Tell us what the pool is doing
We’ll call you back, usually the same day, and tell you what the fix probably looks like before anyone comes out. Or call (443) 364-3676.