Pebble Pool Finishes in Brushy Creek, Texas

Surface prep lessons from the Highland Horizon pool

Brushy Creek MUD owns and runs four public swimming pools: Cat Hollow, Creekside, Highland Horizon and Sendero Springs. In summer 2024 District staff found a crack in the Highland Horizon plaster running from the floor up to the wall. It was repaired in early spring 2025, more plaster problems followed, and the pool stayed closed through summer 2026 while the District assessed it.

The District's pool finish evaluation of March 16, 2026 found the shells structurally sound, but traced "widespread plaster delamination" to incomplete removal of the old plaster and poor surface preparation during the 2021 replastering, which let moisture in. It recommended taking the old finish off completely by a proven method such as hydro-blasting, followed by new plaster, tile and coping work, and gave a preliminary cost opinion of $130,000 to $160,000 to replaster both pools, a figure for a two-pool public facility rather than a backyard price.

Why a pebble finish needs a clean, sound shell

Pebble Technology International describes its remodel process as stripping off the existing surface first, then mixing, spraying, hand-troweling, exposing, letting the finish set and acid-cleaning before the fill. SGM's shell preparation removes every bit of loose material, including dripped thin-set, grout, paint, dirt and old patching, and kills algae, mold and mildew with a chlorine wash, because algae left behind causes discoloration and bond failure.

Thickness

NPT puts its StoneScapes pebble on evenly at 3/8 to 1/2 inch: too thin and it dries too fast, too thick and it sets slowly and can trap moisture that grays the finish. CL Industries applies its CrystalStones pebble about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.

MUD water, hardness and the drain rules

Brushy Creek MUD blends surface water piped eleven miles from Lake Georgetown with groundwater from three Edwards Aquifer wells, and treats it by membrane microfiltration. Its hardness report gives a yearly average of 184 mg/L for 2025 and 179 mg/L for 2026 so far. On the District's own scale, 120 to 180 mg/L is "Hard" and anything over 180 mg/L is "Very Hard", and the District says its water is typically hard to very hard.

Start-up targets differ by maker

Pebble Technology International describes a break-in of about 1 to 3 days, when the applicator finishes the surface before handing it over for start-up, and says the finish develops most of its durability in the first 28 days. NPT's start-up variant for StoneScapes raises calcium hardness slowly after Day 4, "not to exceed 200 ppm", while the National Plasterers Council's card raises it slowly from Day 4 to at least 200 ppm.

Draining and refilling in the District

The MUD makes it illegal to discharge filter backwash, chlorinated pool water or saltwater from a saline pool into a storm drainage system, or into a street that drains to a storm sewer inlet. Pool water may go to the District's storm drainage only when its chlorine residual is below 0.01 mg/L, the water is clear, the pool isn't a saltwater pool and the District has been told in advance; otherwise it goes onto a vegetated part of the owner's lot without runoff. For the refill, the MUD says never to throw the hose into the pool, which creates a cross-connection, but to lay it on the pool's edge to leave an air gap. Filling a pool during the November to February averaging months also calls for a Sewer Adjustment Form.

From ranches and lime quarries to Stone Canyon

Williamson County's profile says homebuilding began in the mid-1970s on land that had served ranches and lime quarries; the MUD followed in the late 1970s, and a subdivision boom in the early 1980s spurred growth. The MUD was created as Williamson County MUD No. 2 on October 27, 1977, grew to 2,210 acres with a 1983 annexation south of Brushy Creek, and took its present name on August 31, 1990. The County dates the first building in Spanish Oak Terrace to 1973–74, Great Oaks to 1973–75, Tonkawa Springs to 1977, Woods of Brushy Creek to 1985, Fern Bluff to 1986–87, Cat Hollow at Brushy Creek to 1987 and Stone Canyon to 1995–96.

The population went from 5,833 in 1990 to 15,371 in 2000, by the Handbook of Texas, and to 22,519 in the 2020 Census, the latest official count, since the Census Bureau makes no yearly estimates for census-designated places. Of the 7,147 housing units in its 2020–2024 survey, about 95.4% were built before 2010, with the 1990s the busiest decade at 2,831 units, and about 81.6% are single-family detached houses. Most of the community is in Round Rock ISD, with some parts in Leander ISD.