So I have a salt water pool built in 2013 with flagstone here in texas and my stone is so bad I am back here researching and getting bids on renovating already.. to remove the flagstone its so bad... and we have sealed it... but we do love the salt water feel.... my neighbor has travertine and salt and its holding up very nice.....George.
Saltwater does not damage stone, otherwise the Atlantic and Pacific oceans would have dissolved the US by now...Sea water is 35000 ppm and saltwater pools are about 3400 ppm. About the same as your tears... Last time I cried, it did not eat my cheeks off..
The main problem with saltwater pools are the pool builders.. They have no clue how they work and were selling them on the theory that you turn them on and that they would run forever and nothing else needed to be done.. That is just not the case. All the SWCG does is to make chlorine out of the saltwater.. It is the same chlorine that you would get from tablets or from Liquid Chlorine. The pool owners still have to routinely test and make sure all the chemicals are in balance..
I have three saltwater pools and have had zero corrosion or erosion problems..
Tell us why you want an IFCS... Almost all of what their marketing says is just one word short of a lie...
Thanks,
Jim R.
Another New Pool in Frisco, TX
- Thread starter georgewillow
- Start date
Built my pool in 2013. Salt pool here in texas. Yes, I knew the risks.... did it anyway.. thought sealing it would prevent the issue... it hasn't. So, getting quotes now to replace coping.... thinking travertine.. my friend has salt and travertine and it looks great since 2014.
But, I am still looking for other options... cast concrete? NPT has one that is called rockface has chiseled look... still not as pretty as travertine, but I don't want to ever have to do this again.
thought about switching away from salt but we really love it... the feel of the water etc.
Any idea on cost difference between both products? We also have a raised wall that we were planning split face travertine.....
Thanks so much! KIM
But, I am still looking for other options... cast concrete? NPT has one that is called rockface has chiseled look... still not as pretty as travertine, but I don't want to ever have to do this again.
thought about switching away from salt but we really love it... the feel of the water etc.
Any idea on cost difference between both products? We also have a raised wall that we were planning split face travertine.....
Thanks so much! KIM
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,426
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Don’t just focus on the name of the stone. There is low quality travertine that will deteriorate quickly or high quality stone that will last a long time. Research where the stone comes from and select a high quality natural stone. With natural stone you usually get what you pay for.
TexG,
It is not the saltwater that is causing the problem, it is the poor quality stone.. Some flagstone just flakes apart, all by itself..
I have a pool with flagstone coping that was a tablet chlorine pool for about two years before we upgraded to a SWCG.. During those two years, the flagstone started flaking apart almost immediately... About 50% of the stones do it and the other half do not. I can see no difference in the the good or bad stones since we went with saltwater about 8 years ago..
Thanks,
Jim R.
It is not the saltwater that is causing the problem, it is the poor quality stone.. Some flagstone just flakes apart, all by itself..
I have a pool with flagstone coping that was a tablet chlorine pool for about two years before we upgraded to a SWCG.. During those two years, the flagstone started flaking apart almost immediately... About 50% of the stones do it and the other half do not. I can see no difference in the the good or bad stones since we went with saltwater about 8 years ago..
Thanks,
Jim R.
Kim,
I posted a reply to your other post about it being the stone and not the saltwater..
Jim R.
I posted a reply to your other post about it being the stone and not the saltwater..
Jim R.
Thanks.. how do I know if I am getting good travertine? Also, one builder uses travertine that is tumbled but has straight edge vs. rounded edge... I think I prefer rounded edge.. any thoughts on that?
Kim,
Sorry, I have no idea how to ensure that the stones you get, will be good quality stones... As I said about the above pool.. I have to assume all the stones came from the same quarry. Yet half of them flake but the other half do not..
I just know that I would not use flagstone again..
Jim R.
Sorry, I have no idea how to ensure that the stones you get, will be good quality stones... As I said about the above pool.. I have to assume all the stones came from the same quarry. Yet half of them flake but the other half do not..
I just know that I would not use flagstone again..
Jim R.
Take a gander at these pics....all artistic cement and I think they look fabulous!
amen to that!!!Kim,
Sorry, I have no idea how to ensure that the stones you get, will be good quality stones... As I said about the above pool.. I have to assume all the stones came from the same quarry. Yet half of them flake but the other half do not..
I just know that I would not use flagstone again..
Jim R.
they are! I am also looking at precast.. some are really pretty nice with colors etc... npt has one that is kinda chipped and looks like stone... I only saw white... have to see if comes in other colors.. but worried it may be more than travertine! We shall see... thanks so much.
Hello - I am in Allen and our last house had flagstone with no salt and I ended up replacing 20 coping stones or so. It was very sold arizona flagstone/sandstone and the hail did a number on it and then I made the mistake of pressure washing before sealing it....
What type of flagstone did you have? What type of deck do you have? Any issues with the deck? I am building a new pool and want to go with salt again but don't want to deal with the hassles of flagstone. We make end up doing the cast concrete option but I haven't seen that with a true freeform pool....
Anyway good luck with your renovation and sorry to hear that you have to replace the coping so quickly.
ours is a free form pool too.... so I understand the issue... we supposedly had oklahoma flagstone... but who knows. we also pressure washed before sealing.... we hired a stone sealing company and thats how they did it.... several times. Ours is so bad the stones on the side of where water flows over spillway of spa is literally almost eaten away...
we have spray deck and its ok, we just had it touched up, repainted last season... but I think that is normal...
I will most likely do travertine.. my friend has it and its holding up really well. I do not want to have to do this again.... I just saw something on here a custom concrete product... cant find it now... I will look again see if can find it. It looks like it may work for free form too..... not as pretty as travertine.... but not horrible.