Cleaning phosphorescence off travertine

[aquaman]

Hi,

My in-ground pool is 5 yrs old and the travertine coping and slate walls have a milkiness to them due to calcium leeching thru the materials.

Is a dilute muriatic the way to clean it?

What concentration and what contact time?

Bob

 

[duraleigh]

Muriatic is the answer.

The strength needed can vary so you need to use just enough to have the desired effect.

I'd suggest starting with a 5:1 (water/31% muriatic) and if it foams up when applied.....that's good enough.

If it does not foam, slowly increase the strength until it does.

 

[aquaman]

Dave!

Thanks for quick reply - to the point of foaming - got it.

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Start weaker (say 10-1 water acid) and gradually get to the needed strength.

Scott

 

[flintstone]

Do you simply wipe it with the solution and rag then rinse with clean water? Is there a sensible contact time? Any problem with allowing the solution to drip into the pool? I have often wondered whether my high CH/scaling had anything to do with degradation of travertine coping. Don't contractors use muriatic acid to expose aggregate in concrete, so would I be inviting problems to the pool deck?

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

After brushing it, rinse liberally. Sprinkle some baking soda over the affected area, wait a couple minutes and rinse liberally. Repeat 2 more times, three minutes or more per. That should neutralize and wash away any residual.

Scott

 

[duraleigh]

You can be as cautious as you are comfortable with. My experience has been that simply rinsing the mixture off the surface stops the process dead in it's tracks with no further degradation of the masonry.

I have also tried a 10:1 mixture to start but never got a reaction (foaming) until I concentrated to about 3:1. I'm not saying you won't get a reaction prior to that....I've just never seen it.

If you use a rag, the rag will probably be damaged/eaten up by the muriatic. You can get an acid brush at home depot/lowes that will not react to the acid. (and it's easier to remove the calcium)

Use common sense. Full strength muriatic will damage a lot of stuff. Diluted properly, it is easy to control. It will have no effect dripping into your pool.