"Dry Treat" Natural Stone/ Flagstone Sealant

[divnkd101]

My pool will be a year old this coming week. I too, like many others, have shown a genuine concern with my flagstone coping and spa surround. I have enjoyed reading and providing information regarding procduts that I have used in the attempts to seal my flagstone without changing the appearance and texture of the stone. I tried a product called Diamond Bright natural stone sealant which had, in my opinion, no effect on sealing the stone.

Following several discussions with my PB and a combined concern from both of us regarding the weathering of my flagstone, my PB has provided me a quart of sealant to try. It was decided I would be a Guinea Pig of sorts in trying this new product. Well here it is.

DRY TREAT STAIN PROOF

I applied a coat of the product to one section of flagstone roughly 2 weeks ago. Like I've said in the past, I want a sealant that will seal the stone without changing the color of my stone and not change the texture. In past threads, I remember reading posts about the "Water-Beading" test. Take a look at the pics below and I will let you make your judgement.

Untreated portion of my flagstone. I poured 1/2 cup of water on it

Next, I applied the same amount of water on the treated section.

After 10 minutes, here is what they both looked like.

Here is a shot after 2.1/2 hours. The bottom section has soaked in and dried up.

As far as application of the sealant is concerned, I simply bought the 3" cheap little foam rollers and rolled it onto the stone (Top, Front, and bottom). I am impressed so far and will probably proceed forward and treat the balance of the stone. There is no noticable difference in the feel of the stone. If anyone has any feedback or concerns of what I am doing, I would like to hear your opinions. My thought at this point is that it can't hurt.

 

[Underwater Man]

I have flagstone coping very similiar to yours. I have been concerned about chipping/flaking, as I've already seen very small flakes coming off. Cracks in a few stones too. My pools was just finished this summer, and we're undecided whether to seal or not. I will be very interested in what you come up with. Thanks for starting this post... Dan

 

[Poolsean]

Hey Underwater Man,
How are you normally treating your pool? You said that you only use the tri-chlor feeder whe you need CYA. I'm interested because you mentioned your pool showing signs of flaking of your flagstone and even some chipping of the stone. Do you have a salt system? It is not mentioned on your list of your pool equipment.

 

[ktdave]

My flagstone was treated by my PB with something similar to yours Divnkd, but I don't know the brand. I just know that when water hits it, it beads up like that and there is no gloss to it (it looks "untreated"). I'll try and find out what product they used and post back.

 

[Underwater Man]

Hey Underwater Man,
How are you normally treating your pool? You said that you only use the tri-chlor feeder whe you need CYA. I'm interested because you mentioned your pool showing signs of flaking of your flagstone and even some chipping of the stone. Do you have a salt system? It is not mentioned on your list of your pool equipment.

I'm treating my pool with 6% liquid bleach... the full BBB method. My renovated pool is less than 3 months old, and the flaking seems to be a common factor of the stone, but nothing dramatic. I was told by several folks that I consider reliable to expect some flaking. As far as chipping, I should have left that word out. We don't have a salt system. We were planning on including it with the renovation but our pool builder talked us out of it. Same thing with a 2 speed pump. We were told by two of three pool builders that a SWG could cause problems with flagstone.

The PB opened the pool by adding calcium chloride, 2 quarts of No Mor Problems, 1 quart of Jack's Blue Magic, and filling the inline chlorinator with tri-chlor pucks. When my CYA hit 30, I stopped using the pucks and use only bleach as my sanitizer. All chemicals are added very slowly in front of a return in the deep end, then I brush the walls and bottom in that area to help with circulation.

I would love to keep my stone as it is for a long time. Any and all suggestions are welcome, and Thanks for your interest.

I'm very happy with the BBB method... Thanks to all for such good advice.

Dan

 

[zookeeper93]

divnkd101 (Mike)

Looking around the internet for a sealer for my 4 year old Oklahoma flagstone coping, in which I am experiencing spalling on a few pieces of stone, I found Texas Stone Sealers and low and behold, your photos are what they have on their website as the sample demonstration of before and after.
Is the Dupont Stonetech sealer available DIY?
Thanks,
Laura

 

[duraleigh]

Mike hasn't posted for a few years. This thread is five years old but he may still be out there.

 

[shuye]

We just had a pool built and our PB used DuPont Bulletproof stone sealer for our Flagstone - it is available on Amazon

 

[cody21]

We are going through a major overhaul of our (cracked gunite) Fiberglass pool .. All of the COping & Fiberglass have been removed, new Bonding Beam poured. Trying to settle on the Coping .. One thing for SURE - I will never go back to the (soft) Flagstone Coping that was there before. It's softness really caused issues for us -- you drag a pole over it (e.g., skimmer, et al) and it literally shaves minute amounts of the stone into the pool ... Also, cracked very easily in normal earth movement. My cartridge filter always showed signs of this grit. We are likely settling on Travertine this time around.

 

[ppmj]

Hi Mike, just wonder how your Dry Treat sealer is holding up? Dry Treat has a 15 year warranty, but I talked to a professional who told me that he really doubted that the sealer could last 15 years out in the sun. I know you haven't had the sealer for that long, but is it still performing well? Thanks, Peggy