My year-old (gray) grouting is turning white..some sort of deposit that has formed.

[three4rd]

Hi,

I wasn't sure if I should put this question here or on the "everything else" part of the forum so I guess I'll see what replies I get. My grouting is only a year old, and lately I've become very conscious of the grout lines but did not pay all that much attention to it since I've been battling other issues with water clarity, white water mold, etc. But upon closer inspection I see that virtually all the nice gray grouting has accumulated white deposits...REALLY tough to get off. I literally whittled down a few plastic scrapers to nothing and it didn't even budge it. It's very unsightly. Any suggestions? I don't want to use anything that will scratch the tiles, nor enjoy the thought of having to go around and scrape every single grout joint around the entire pool. Is there some sort of chemical that works well to clean grout that also would not damage the tile? Thanks for any ideas.

Keith

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Was the grout sealed?

Could it be efflorescence? I believe it can be cleaned with dilute MA

 

[three4rd]

I have no idea if it was sealed or not. Since I posted the inquiry, I've been researching on TFP and elsewhere. The possibility of efflorescence seems like a good one. I know with my old plaster and tiles by the end of the season I sometimes used to get a white, almost crystalline buildup along the shallow end, but that always scraped right off pretty easily. This stuff is entirely different. I have notified my plasterer about it so I'll see what suggestions he has. Good point about the grout being sealed. I will check on that. The only thing with efflorescence being the possible cause of my problem is that it seems to be more associated with situations where people have fountains and so forth - where the moisture if getting through a stone wall, for instance, and bringing calcium deposits along with the water. What I have is strictly just on the grout between the tiles. It is also on the grout below the water line but that seems to just brush right out. The other thing is that on some tiles it's obvious that the area is growing, i.e. extending out past the original grout and starting to cover part of the tiles, making for a really ugly appearance - as though the grout between the tiles is all different widths. I don't know how much more I can take! Most of my posts here - of which there have been many the past few weeks - all deal with biguanide / water clarity issues. Now I have a grout problem as well, and the pool refinish is only a year old!!!

There should not be calcium issues, being that my CH is only 230 (has steadily gone up gradually after being 165 back in May). Other readings are TA - 100 pH - 7.8 (keeps going up..have to add acid every week or so)

UPDATE: Just heard back from my pool plasterer that I need to work with acid to take care of the efflorescence problem. I'm not happy at all. This is only year-old grout. There shouldn't be any problems. I had my old grouting for over 20 years and never had anything like this. Somehow I don't think I should have to spend however many hours it will take - with gloves, a respirator, goggles, etc. - to do every grout line around the pool. An older pool that is in need of maintenance...sure..but not brand new.