Cleaning Calcium From Tile

[BuckeyeMan]

I am draining pool to refill to drop CH levels. While draining, I was wondering about getting the calcium line off the tile. Looked at all the YouTube videos, like getting a paint stripping disc to put on drill, etc.
The guy that is loaning me his submersible pump said he had someone locally do his and charged him $500. Now his pool is just a bit smaller than mine, but he has a spa connected to his.
I called around this morning in Phoenix area for people who do this.
So I want opinions on the price I have agreed on, and what I am getting for that money.
The guy started out at $675, and we texted, and agreed on $500, for tile bead blasting, tile cleaning, seal tile and grout, chlorine wash of the whole pool to kill any possible algae spores that may be in the pebble finish, and he will leave me will some start-up chemicals.
What’s your opinion of the price/work?
Also, does anyone know of a good place to get cartridge filters for a Pentair 420 filter? Guy that is doing this job mentioned to me, a brand that you can get all four, for about $160. Sending me info later today.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I had tile bead blasting done in 2019. At that time, the charge was $4 per linear foot. The price you were quoted, along with the extra work, sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Swipter]

I used bullfrog pool tile cleaning and the cost was no where near that. I am in Phoenix, too. It was $225 two years ago.

 

[Spookie]

I'm in the same boat as you. I reached out to Rancho Cost-a-Lotta last week for a recommendation. I have all glass tile and the company he referred me to does not do glass tile. I found 3 other companies who quoted $1,246 + $109 for a sealer, $987 + 75 for sealer, and $850 (Includes sealer). Mr. $850 is coming next week. 158 linear feet

BTW Mr. Cucamonga, I was about to install board and batten in my bathroom during the time you were messaging me. While removing the baseboards, I realized the water line for my toilet was from my soft water system and the adjacent wall went directly outside and within 10 feet of my auto-fill. So I busted a hole in the drywall, made the connections, drilled through my house, put the drywall back up and didn't have to make it look nice because I installed the board and batten over it. Thanks for the advice and it couldn't have come at a better time. If it had been a week later, I would have had the bathroom completed and then would have to decide to tear down my work to put in the line or not.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

So I busted a hole in the drywall, made the connections, drilled through my house...

Very brave! I'm glad you were able to hook up your fill line to softened water.

 

[bob19]

I purchased a home with an as-is pool. Chemicals did NOTHING. I suspect it's been this way for many years. I am using an angle grinder with a 60 grit sand disc. It's working great with no damage to the tiles.

 

[mknauss]

chlorine wash of the whole pool to kill any possible algae spores that may be in the pebble finish,

That is a waste of time. But if he likes doing it, let him.

 

[Dirk]

I paid around $450 for bead blasting (which came out great, starting from a pretty neglected layer of calcium). That was an "add on" to other work being done at the same time, so they were already on the job. $500 sounds pretty good as a stand-alone service. And mine was about four years ago. With all the other work, too? I think that sounds OK. I would caution you to make sure that he is NOT going to do any sort of acid washing. We can talk about why if that is something he might do.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I purchased a home with an as-is pool. Chemicals did NOTHING. I suspect it's been this way for many years. I am using an angle grinder with a 60 grit sand disc. It's working great with no damage to the tiles.

Interesting. I haven't heard of anyone trying this yet. I wonder if @JoyfulNoise can comment on how tile and a 60-grit disc compare on the Mohs scale of hardness.

 

[bob19]

Here is a close-up of my results. Obviously, I need to regrout. Still not sure if I should attempt to seal. From what I've read so far, many people think it's a waste of time and that water chemistry is more important to keep scale at bay.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Interesting. I haven't heard of anyone trying this yet. I wonder if @JoyfulNoise can comment on how tile and a 60-grit disc compare on the Mohs scale of hardness.

60-grit is wicked course (I wouldn't even use that on wood beams) and can easily cut into the tile glaze. Once the glaze is cut, the swirl patterns are permanent and calcium will grow even more easily. I'm not sure I would ever do that to my tile.

Calcium carbonate has a Mohs hardness of around 4 but the scale formed from pool water tends to be mixed and mushy so it's not quite as hard as that in practice. Tile glaze has a Mohs hardness of about 7-8. If you pick the cutting media correctly, you can easily strip off the calcium without impacting the tile glaze much. Kierserite media has a Mohs of about 4 while glass beads tend to be around 7. The guy doing the job needs skill and experience to know how to test and adjust the airflow on a blasting gun to cut the scale at a reasonable speed without destroying the tile glaze or popping it off.

Dirty Little Secret #375 : "Tile Sealer" is nothing more than a gimmick that allows the guy doing the job to gloss up the tile and hide all the scratches he caused. A lot of these guys will break out a terry cloth and a spray can wrapped in paper to hide the fact that most of them are spraying WD-40 on the rag and wiping down the tile with it. When you ask them, they act all focussed on their work and just mutter that it's "tile sealer" and it will "keep scale from reforming" ... it's oil and it hides scratches long enough for the guy to collect his cash or check and be long gone before you'll ever see them show up a week later when the WD-40 has all washed off ....

Moral of the Story - Watch the guy doing the job and make sure he's being careful. After he does a few test spots, wash the tile down with some hose water and let it dry. Then inspect the work.

 

[Dirk]

@JoyfulNoise, my tile/stone guru has all sorts of nasty things to say about "pros" bearing sealer. Your #375 is likely all too common. It seems most any abrasion is going to impact the tile, to some degree. Do you think there is any type of sealer that would help repair, or at least fill, micro-abrasions? Or in any other way inhibit calcium from reforming? I'll run that same question by my guy...

 

[JoyfulNoise]

@JoyfulNoise, my tile/stone guru has all sorts of nasty things to say about "pros" bearing sealer. Your #375 is likely all too common. It seems most any abrasion is going to impact the tile, to some degree. Do you think there is any type of sealer that would help repair, or at least fill, micro-abrasions? Or in any other way inhibit calcium from reforming? I'll run that same question by my guy...

Short answer .... NO.

Tile glaze is exactly that ... a ceramic glaze applied to the tile when it is green and then fired in a kiln at over 1000F to solidify and harden it. Go find an ancient vase from the Ming Dynasty at your local art museum and take your pocket knife out and put a scratch in the glaze. Then ask the curator of the museum if there is some chemical you can purchase at your local Hobby Lobby to fix the scratch and make it look original again .... go ahead, I'll wait for you to tell us what happens ....

 

[mcleod]

All good advice @JoyfulNoise. To those who may desire to know a bit more...sealers are generally either film-forming or penetrating (sometimes called impregnating). That is they lay over the top of a surface or they penetrate the surface. Ceramic tile is a form of glass and thus creates a "slick" surface which makes film-forming sealers problematic when using. The SOP would be to roughen the surface before application which can be done but will lead to the more frequent maintenance in the form of re-coating. Best to try simple solutions first. I may amplify further in a later post.