I just have a few spots near my fountain that look like this. It looks like lime leaching out of the mortar or grout? I can clean it off with muriatic acid, but it seems to just come back.
Calcium bloom on tiles. What causes this?
- Thread starter TheBigBlueFrog
- Start date
Thanks. So it looks like I'm stuck with it. I just wonder why it's only right there around the fountain. Maybe there's a leak somewhere in the fountain plumbing?
- May 23, 2015
- 25,693
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Moisture will always follow the path of least resistance and find its own level. If that waterfall wall is constantly running and getting soaked or that spot in the grass behind your coping is watered regularly, then water and moisture is simply making its way to the grout and coming out wherever there is the least resistance. It’s calcium scale and efflorescence.
Was the bond beam and tiled waterfall wall that is vertically above the water line properly sealed with a moisture barrier BEFORE the tile was placed? My guess is it wasn’t or there was insufficient material coated on to the gunite shell. So now your cement wall is basically a big sponge that will hold and emit water as conditions permit.
Was the bond beam and tiled waterfall wall that is vertically above the water line properly sealed with a moisture barrier BEFORE the tile was placed? My guess is it wasn’t or there was insufficient material coated on to the gunite shell. So now your cement wall is basically a big sponge that will hold and emit water as conditions permit.
That's what it seems like. We live in South Alabama, one of the wettest places in the contiguous USA. I also suspect that there may be a slow leak in the fountain plumbing. We don't run the fountain very often, though. Most of the year it's shut off. So it's probably just water in the gunite.
I dint remember them putting any kind of moisture barrier at all.
I dint remember them putting any kind of moisture barrier at all.
anthonypool89
Gold Supporter
glad you posted this. I have the exact same thing. As you say, removable for the most part, but comes back.
How do you clean the efflorescence with muriatic acid? Pour some in a bucket diluted with water, use a scrub brush, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse with clean water? I have a few spots that need to be addressed and haven’t done it before. Thanks!
Yes. I dilute it, splash it on the tile, and then wash it off with pool water. I usually do it when I'm adding acid to the pool anyway, which is every couple of weeks.
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