It's here! The newly revised ANSI/PHTA/NPC/ICC-12 2025 American National Standard for the Plastering of Swimming Pools and Spas was published just this month, after almost a full year of rigorous reviewing, editing, discussing, and finalizing.
This undertaking was managed by the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) and a team of 18 volunteers from all sectors of the industry and beyond. These volunteers formed the PHTA-12 Standard Writing Committee (SWC), led by Chair Jonathan Dongell of PebbleTec and Vice Chair Jon Temple of Tempool, Inc. PHTA partnered closely with the National Plasterers Council (NPC) and the International Code Council (ICC) to bring this standard up to date.
The PHTA-12 Standard “covers the material and application for the plastering of cementitious finish coatings for inground swimming pools or other cementitious watercontainment vessels,” per Part 1 of the document. PHTA-12 was last revised in 2016. Now, almost 10 years later, significant changes have been made to ensure the standard reflects current industry best practices and requirements. There were also several sections that were rephrased to clarify the applicability to public or residential pools and spas. New definitions were also added to increase understanding and clarity around plastering work.
WHAT’S NEW
Kent Westfall, a member of the PHTA- 12 SWC and owner of Kent Westfall Pool Inspections, refers to the PHTA-12 Standard on an almost daily basis. The change to the 2025 version that he believes is most important is actually regarding who is responsible for filling the pool with water after the plastering is complete.
The new standard states in Section 1.8.6, “…the swimming pool or water vessel shall immediately be filled with portable water or source water approved by the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) upon final set. The water shall not be stopped until the finish coating is completely submersed.”
The reason for this change, according to Westfall, is that too many pools were left dry. When he worked for the NPC, he would receive calls from homeowners nationwide stating that their pool had been plastered but nobody filled it. “It’s a shame that the homeowner goes to the expense of building or remodeling a pool and then, at the very end, after all that time and effort put forth, the pool doesn’t get filled up,” Westfall says. “It seems like common sense to fill it. Now, to support that, the standard explicitly says it must be filled immediately.”
Shaun Goldberg of Burkett’s Pool Plastering, who currently serves as Chairman of the NPC and was part of the PHTA-12 SWC both for the 2016 edition and the new 2025 edition, agreed fully with Westfall. “The standard is meant to give clear-cut guidelines on who is responsible for what,” Goldberg says. “That’s only going to help everybody involved.”
Goldberg also noted some important updates to the language used within the standard, as well as the organizational structure of the document overall. “The last edition was a little choppy at times,” he says, “but now, we made sure the standard has clearer language.”
FOR THE PLASTER PEOPLE
PHTA-12 applies to a wide range of stakeholders: pool builders, manufacturers, plastering companies, pool service companies, pool designers, public health officials, consumers, and others.
Goldberg emphasized that this standard is especially useful for aquatic architects who build commercial pools, but it’s also a great resource for pool builders in order for everyone to understand who is responsible for which part of the pool construction process. “Every person who is plastering pools should have a copy,” he says.
Westfall explained that the standard goes beyond the installation process to also cover how to care for the pool and the water once complete. “It’s very important how the water is cared for,” he says. The analogy he used was, “When you buy a new car and you don’t know you’re supposed to wash and wax it periodically, that shiny new paint is going to suffer.” It’s the same for pools: You have to know how to take care of it, or the interior finish will suffer.
COLLABORATION
Goldberg and Westfall both appreciated Dongell’s leadership, with Westfall describing him as a “known expert nationwide” when it comes to cement.
“We have a shared goal, and that goal is to elevate the industry,” Goldberg says of the PHTA-12 SWC. “Collaboration makes for a better outcome. It’s awesome how we could get all of these people from different parts of the industry in a room and accomplish something like this. By the end of the process, everybody felt like their voice was heard.”
The PHTA-12 SWC had a diverse membership, which Westfall explained is very necessary in the standards development process, especially for the plastering standard. “One thing people don’t realize is that the way pools are plastered in Florida is completely different from how they’re plastered in California, or in the Northeast. You need to talk to everybody. You need to cover all the bases.”
Westfall noted that there has historically been some finger-pointing in the industry when a problem arises on a project. “People on the water side will say it’s an issue with the plastering; the plaster side says it’s an issue with the water chemistry,” he says. “But industry standards help to tone that all down.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF STANDARDS
“Having industry standards elevates the bar,” Goldberg says. “If one person, or one part of the industry, doesn’t meet the standard, it affects everybody. Standards elevate what we do.”
Westfall believes that industry standards serve two main purposes. The first is that standards give the pool professional (in PHTA-12’s case, the contractor) a benchmark to work towards. The second is that standards keep homeowners’ and property owners’ expectations in line.
Standards also serve as a form of industry education. In Goldberg’s experience with the NPC, he explained that the organization likes to teach these industry standards. “Standards provide the education that everybody needs to do business,” he says.
Westfall agrees. “Standards help inform the next generation of pool professionals the proper way to do their work.”
INDUSTRY GROWTH
As part of the ANSI standards development process, every PHTA standard is reviewed on a regular basis. This ensures the information is accurate, up to date, and aligned with other standards and codes. The pool and spa industry is constantly evolving, and the industry standards need to reflect that.
“When I started in this business over 50 years ago, you had white plaster or blue tile and that was it,” Westfall says. “Now, you have a multitude of tiles, finishes, and colors. There are pebble finishes, glass bead finishes, quartz finishes. It’s necessary for the industry to keep teaching the younger people coming in.”
He mentioned that the NPC, the Independent Pool and Spa Service Association (IPSSA), and other organizations have quality education programs. “Everybody is helping the industry learn to do things the proper way.”
This article first appeared in the April 2025 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
