Salt Water causing slow deterioration of limestone retaining wall

[dawill]

I have a salt water pool in my backyard and I'm not gonna lie, I love the minimal maintenance and complete lack of algae. Sure I have to pour in acid on a regular basis, but beyond that the pool mostly takes care of itself.

Downside is my limestone retaining wall (picture below) is starting to really show some wear. There are some stones that have holes in them all the way through. I'm not concerned about structural integrity as the limestone is just a veneer in front of a concrete/cinderblock but I'm curious what my options are. Wall is about 13years old, so this is nothing that has happened rapidly. However I've only been the owner for the past 2 years. So I'm not sure if anything has been done to mitigate this damage. I know I haven't done anything though.

I'm tempted to just have new limestone put in where stones are worn real bad. There are plenty of places that show no wear though. Then I'll just have to keep doing this every 5-10 years. However I also thought about just replacing the veneer rock with something else or stuccoing the limestone (if that's even possible). It's hard to tell in the pic but this wall is REALLY long. Its about 90ft or so with ~40ft directly in front of the pool. So I'm a little reluctant to throw in the towel on the limestone, but wasn't sure if anybody knew of any options?

Has anybody else had to deal with this kind of premature stone wear from salt and have any ideas?

 

[TexKSAH]

In the part of central Texas I live in, our pool builder did not recommend SWCG because of the lime locally quarried and used in so many concrete products plus the limestone we have all around our decks and house. But last year when I was trying to decide, many here talked about using a sealant to protect your rock work. I didn't like that idea since some said the sealant could make the rock slippery when it's wet, so I didn't go with a SWCG. The sealant could work well in your case though with the vertical wall nobody will be walking on.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

Only took you 3 years to make your first post

Please add your location (City, State or City, Country) to your profile and pool details to your signature as described HERE as it will help us help you.

I agree that sealing might help in your case. Maybe others will have a thought.

 

[Jimrahbe]

My question would be is the salt the problem or just water in general? I know it is not the same, but the Grand Canyon doesn't have salt water yet it has eroded a bunch of rock. I suspect that any water near limestone, for 13 years is going to have some impact.

Is there a tile line at the water level or is that limestone also?

Jim R.

 

[dawill]

Welcome to TFP!!!

Only took you 3 years to make your first post

Please add your location (City, State or City, Country) to your profile and pool details to your signature as described HERE as it will help us help you.

I agree that sealing might help in your case. Maybe others will have a thought.

Alright I threw what I could think of in my sig. I'll fill in further details later.

 

[dawill]

My question would be is the salt the problem or just water in general? I know it is not the same, but the Grand Canyon doesn't have salt water yet it has eroded a bunch of rock. I suspect that any water near limestone, for 13 years is going to have some impact.

Is there a tile line at the water level or is that limestone also?

Jim R.

I thought the same thing, but all the areas of wear are right up against the pool. They are also mostly centered around the center fountain that is in the pic. The rest of the retaining wall (50ft not behind the pool) is fine. Additionally a lot of the stones up against the pool are fine as well. Oddly enough some of the stones that are in the best shape are directly under the waterfall where they are getting constantly bombarded by splash from the waterfall. If I had to guess, the stones that are the worse are the ones that might get a little bit of splash or water spray from wind/etc, but don't get regularly wet. The stones that are worn down are actually very chalky and are dropping sand/rock dust into my pool.

My coping is hard tile. It has some damage to it but very minor. I've noticed no increased damage to it while I've owned the pool. I suspect the minor damage/pitting it has is from somebody spilling acid and not cleaning it off rather than damage from salt. I know I've got some acid splash on it myself, but I also make sure to wash it off immediately.