Help with coping erosion??

[gocubs418]

Hi,

I have OK flagstone coping with a salt water pool. For the most part, the coping has remained relatively unharmed from salt water. However, there is one piece of coping I noticed that is eroding or pitting and I want to try to stop it while its relatively small.

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Anything I can do to fill in the hole? I used DuPont sealant on it last year, however, I am not sure it lasted that long.

It was not the DuPont Salt Water sealant though, wonder if I should apply that sometime this summer.

 

[Jimrahbe]

go,

It is the stone, not the salt water... My daughter had a regular pool with the same problem.. two stones side by side.. one was effected by the water and one was not..

I can't help with the sealer... I was told that they really don't work, but I have never used them and have no direct experience with them..

Let's see what our other members have to say...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[gocubs418]

go,

It is the stone, not the salt water... My daughter had a regular pool with the same problem.. two stones side by side.. one was effected by the water and one was not..

I can't help with the sealer... I was told that they really don't work, but I have never used them and have no direct experience with them..

Let's see what our other members have to say...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

Thanks .

Yeah. The good news is this is the only one pitting/eroding. I wonder how much my PB will charge to replace the one piece of coping.

What did your daughter end up doing?

 

[Jimrahbe]

go,

She did nothing.. The good stones are still good and the bad stones still flake off a little at a time.. It has been going on for about five years and I suspect it will take another 10 years before we have to worry about it. It is not quite as bad as your issue...

Jim R.

 

[jimim]

bluestone is also like this. same with flagstone. some flakes easier and more. some pit more. some show rust staining down the road than others depending on where they were mined.

up here in the northeast my dad's best friend who is a mason for life has always tried to make sure blue and flag stone was under cover to prevent many issues. i know it's not always possible but he always tries to persuade you. it makes sense though and deff is true. my porches under cover are perfect still after 12 years. my neighbors sidewalks which are 2 years old are showing a lot of flaking and ware already. but again it al depends not he stone and only nature knows really. you can tell if stone is going to flake sometimes but you don't always know.

i never sealed any of my stone either. even a penetrating sealer i don't feel does anything. i sealed my concrete driveway. ya did nothing. nice wax kinda look for the first year. lol but that's it.

i think you need to replace the bad ones. that's what i would be doing.

just my 2 cents from what i have learned over the years.

i could have had all natural sone around my pool cause i can get it from my uncles neighbors fields for penny's. we live in bluestone country. it's everywhere. i have pavers cause none of the guys wanted to listen to me complaining down the road.

jim

 

[gocubs418]

go,

She did nothing.. The good stones are still good and the bad stones still flake off a little at a time.. It has been going on for about five years and I suspect it will take another 10 years before we have to worry about it. It is not quite as bad as your issue...

Jim R.

Thanks Jim. I reached out to PB, see what they think about fixing it.

bluestone is also like this. same with flagstone. some flakes easier and more. some pit more. some show rust staining down the road than others depending on where they were mined.

up here in the northeast my dad's best friend who is a mason for life has always tried to make sure blue and flag stone was under cover to prevent many issues. i know it's not always possible but he always tries to persuade you. it makes sense though and deff is true. my porches under cover are perfect still after 12 years. my neighbors sidewalks which are 2 years old are showing a lot of flaking and ware already. but again it al depends not he stone and only nature knows really. you can tell if stone is going to flake sometimes but you don't always know.

i never sealed any of my stone either. even a penetrating sealer i don't feel does anything. i sealed my concrete driveway. ya did nothing. nice wax kinda look for the first year. lol but that's it.

i think you need to replace the bad ones. that's what i would be doing.

just my 2 cents from what i have learned over the years.

i could have had all natural sone around my pool cause i can get it from my uncles neighbors fields for penny's. we live in bluestone country. it's everywhere. i have pavers cause none of the guys wanted to listen to me complaining down the road.

jim

Thanks for the insight. I agree, this will be my first and last flagstone pool. Obviously, this is a small blemish and the pool looks gorgeous. Other than spalling and having to vacuum up dust and sand from my pool, it isn't terrible.

 

[jimim]

i don't think it should be your last, just understanding what can happen makes it easier to accept i feel and understand when it does. i know with how my personality is that it would have drove me crazy so i avoided it even though i wanted it. those that know me here know i kinda worry a lot though and if something goes wrong i tend to worry a lot! lol

nothing is more beautiful than natural stone hands down.

jim

 

[gocubs418]

i don't think it should be your last, just understanding what can happen makes it easier to accept i feel and understand when it does. i know with how my personality is that it would have drove me crazy so i avoided it even though i wanted it. those that know me here know i kinda worry a lot though and if something goes wrong i tend to worry a lot! lol

nothing is more beautiful than natural stone hands down.

jim

More than likely, you are right. However, I can deal with a small fix every 2 years. Fingers crossed .

 

[Dirk]

This from my stone guy, when I asked him to remind me what I had around my pool:

"Flagstone is a generic term & would include bluestone, quartzite, limestone, & sandstone among others..."

I have sandstone. Absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely inappropriate as a pool coping (IMO). When I inherited the pool, at about four years old, it was like swimming at the beach. Basically no way to get out of it, or near the edge of it, without getting some part of your body covered in sand! Grit on the hands, grit and flakes on the pool bottom. What a mess!

He fixed the grit, and it wasn't sealer, and it wasn't cheap. It still flakes, though much, much less than it did.

My uneducated take: sealer will do some good for the stone, but won't stop the grit or flaking. My stone is basically compressed sand, and given the pool environment basically wants to return to its original state. The solution was a sort of penetrating binder, designed specifically to solve this problem. Just the chemical alone, probably at his cost, was in the $1800 dollar range. Like I said, it completely solved the grit issue (no more on the hands, no more on the bottom) and has greatly reduced the flaking problem. I get maybe a flake or two every week or three. Very minimal. He warned me that while this solution would be good for years if not decades, it would not stop the eventually degradation of the stone due to the flaking. I rolled the dice on the $1800 that this solution will get the stone to outlast me, as opposed to the, what, five figures a complete coping replacement would cost. (If I win that bet, then it'll be my heir's problem!)

If you're interested I can try to get my guy to divulge the product. He'll be moving to Texas sometime this year, maybe he could be persuaded into helping you with your pool, but I should warn you, you won't likely get the "friend rate" I was given.

Sealer will not solve the problem. Replace it or treat it properly.

 

[bmoreswim]

Yes, can be hit or miss but with stones all having their own propensity to flake. Our 120' of bluestone coping is 100% flake-free as are about 50' of bluestone paving stones. We are quite pleased with it though it's hotter than stamped concrete - I also don't live in AZ or NV. We do have the rust mentioned above - a natural characteristic.

I'd get a handfull of extra pieces. Let the set out by the pool for a few years. Then pick one with no flaking and have them install that one.

 

[jimim]

And again why stone is better under cover. At least up in our climate. I have had zero flaking with my 900 plus square feet of blue under cover.

Sealer only helps for stain penateation if u spill something on it It won’t prevent flaking period. If someone tries to sell u on that run. That’s snake oil. U deal pourous material to help prevent stains from going though. Won’t help to prevent them from coming out either. Some stone was formed with metals in the area and rust will come over enventraully based on where it was mined. That’s why a lot of our west mountain stone out by me is really cheap or really expensive cause the places know where it was mined and know the area and what the stone coming out is like year after year.

 

[Dirk]

And again why stone is better under cover. At least up in our climate. I have had zero flaking with my 900 plus square feet of blue under cover.

Sealer only helps for stain penateation if u spill something on it It won’t prevent flaking period. If someone tries to sell u on that run. That’s snake oil. U deal pourous material to help prevent stains from going though. Won’t help to prevent them from coming out either. Some stone was formed with metals in the area and rust will come over enventraully based on where it was mined. That’s why a lot of our west mountain stone out by me is really cheap or really expensive cause the places know where it was mined and know the area and what the stone coming out is like year after year.

Agreed. The product I was referring to seeps into the stone and binds the molecules somehow, it's not sealer. My guy sealed my stone in addition to the additive to prevent staining and repel some of the water, which is helpful to keep the water from doing what it wants to do, tear things apart!

 

[Dirk]

I'd get a handfull of extra pieces. Let the set out by the pool for a few years. Then pick one with no flaking and have them install that one.

I have the same sandstone throughout my yard. By far the majority of the problems I was having were only on the coping. Even stones a few feet away were fine. I'd have to keep "trial" stones right on the coping to see how they'd react. That wouldn't work for me "for a few years."

I wonder if enough stone would be left if the dimples were just ground out somehow. Might get a few more years out it? Or would that just blast the stone apart even worse? If replacement is the next option, it might be worth a try...

 

[gocubs418]

So I had the contractor who installed the coping come out to my house. He examined the stone and he was a little surprised by the mud like substance within the stone. He took a chisel and pounded out the mud-like stuff. He said I shouldn't have any issue with that anymore, if I do and/or want to replace the stone because I dont like it, it would run around $250 to swap it out. He said he has seen much worse coping and I should just let it ride unless it gets worse/ bother me.

Hopefully just a tiny blemish. I'm OK with it as long as it doesn't get any worse. He examined the rest of the coping and he said they are wearing nicely.

I have the same sandstone throughout my yard. By far the majority of the problems I was having were only on the coping. Even stones a few feet away were fine. I'd have to keep "trial" stones right on the coping to see how they'd react. That wouldn't work for me "for a few years."

I wonder if enough stone would be left if the dimples were just ground out somehow. Might get a few more years out it? Or would that just blast the stone apart even worse? If replacement is the next option, it might be worth a try...

He sort of did this. He pounded down into the stone and he felt like it was just defective layer? At the rate that it was going down, I thought it was going to just go right through the coping but he said I shouldn't worry.

Either way, $250 isn't the end of the world but I will let it ride until it just looks terrible or I want to spend the money. Not really taking away the beauty of the pool AND I already spent way too much on this thing. lol