To Seal or Not? Lueder Stone Coping

[mfork00]

My pool was finished in 2021. After 3 seasons of dealing with LC, I just had an SWG installed. Vacations were just a pain to keep it from turning green (in the middle of a SLAM right now ....).

My question is if it is really necessary to seal the stone around my pool, especially the Lueder Stone (which looks like just limestone) coping? I have read all the threads that, general consensus, it is the water that destroys rock, not the salt as most LC pools are close in salinity anyways. However, when I searched specifically for Leuder, there were a few 10+ year old threads that said it was a bad idea to have Leuder by a pool. Not sure if anything has been learned since then. Would especially love to hear from others with Leuder around their pool on how it has held up?

Thanks.

 

[needsajet]

This thread has gone unanswered for a while, so I'll give you my two cents. Leuder looks like a brand name as opposed to a geological classification. There is certainly good and bad limestone, and if they're a long-established company, it seems logical that their limestone is fine.

Now on sealing limestone. In my humble experience, sealing makes the stone stay clean longer and be easier to clean when the time comes. I've gone periods with fresh sealer and no sealer (the sealer wears out after a couple of years). Quality sealers are expensive and worth paying for, however after the first coat, they go a very long way and are easy to apply. I still have enough for two more coats in a 5-gal bucket after doing the original heavier first coat and a second coat, plus two more re-coats (350 square feet). I'm not crazy about breathing the fumes, so I do it on a light breeze day, and a weekday so there's less chance of kids in neighbouring yards.

It looks nice after sealing, but that could be a bias. It reduces traction a little bit (water will bead on it; takes longer to dry), but limestone is pretty good for traction, so that doesn't worry me. No running jumping kid has fallen under either condition.

Before sealing, I get the limestone as clean as possible, I acid wash it (4:1 muriatic). I have stainless steel fittings under the pool fence, so I precoat those with mineral oil first, and also rinse after the acid wash like crazy. I do it in shorts, bare feet or flip-flops and hose my feet and legs off every now and then. I protect my eyes 100%. I'm not concerned about losing microns of stone and grout thickness. I have also pressure-washed it which works very well, but just warn to be careful around imperfections. A strong pressure washer hitting a vulnerable spot can lift flakes.

TLDR: sealing makes it a touch easier to clean and may make it look nicer.

 

[DreadPirate99]

I'm in a similar situation so I'm watching your post closely. I switched from LC to SWG in June and the Lueder coping seems to be discoloring more after the switch than it was before. I plan to have the coping sealed, but the boss is concerned that sealing will make the discoloration permanent. The color change and pitting is more pronounced in higher traffic areas than in more remote areas of the pool.

 

[needsajet]

Can you see any pattern related to where water contacts the stone more than elsewhere? For example where people get out of the pool? Or is it more where people enter the pool? Have you tried pressure or acid washing? I'm quite curious as well. How old is the build?