How to get plaster off coping and tile

[TampaKathy]

My pool was plastered in Oct and the company got plaster all over the place...some was cleaned up but there is still plaster on the coping (mostly on the underside) and waterline tile. Can I use Muriatic Acid to clean it off or is that going to damage the coping and tile? I know I should continue to tell the plaster company to clean it but I just want this build done! I guess I could try cleaning one spot and see what happens but I figured I'd ask here in case someone knows of a better option.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

On the tile in particular, have you tried a very careful scrape with an old fashioned razor blade?

Maddie

 

[TampaKathy]

On the tile in particular, have you tried a very careful scrape with an old fashioned razor blade?

Maddie

I did try scrapeing (scraping?)...I don't know how to spell it...anywho...that stuff is stuck on there! Although I tried it with like a putty knife...maybe a razor blade would work better...I will try that!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

As long as the tile is ceramic or porcelain, acid will not affect it. The grout used between the tile is a different story. Most coping is made of stone or cement and both of those can get stained or etched by acid. So you can try cleaning tile with acid, but nowhere else. I would mechanically chip off as much as you can using a putty knife and a heavy rubber mallet (perhaps cover the metal blade with masking tape) and then use acid to clean off the haze left behind. As for the coping ... what is it made of?

 

[TampaKathy]

As long as the tile is ceramic or porcelain, acid will not affect it. The grout used between the tile is a different story. Most coping is made of stone or cement and both of those can get stained or etched by acid. So you can try cleaning tile with acid, but nowhere else. I would mechanically chip off as much as you can using a putty knife and a heavy rubber mallet (perhaps cover the metal blade with masking tape) and then use acid to clean off the haze left behind. As for the coping ... what is it made of?

Oops, I meant to mention that the coping was travertine.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Oops, I meant to mention that the coping was travertine.

Yeah, that's a huge issue.

Not only will travertine be destroyed by acid, it's a mechanically soft stone with very low fracture toughness. You absolutely need to be very careful with it or else you will chip it. No acid at all. Not even sure what you can do. Maybe use a pumice stone and just lightly rub at the plaster spots until they wear down to the point where it less conspicuous. If it's everywhere then you need to have a difficult conversation with the pool builder and have the affected coping segments replaced.

 

[TampaKathy]

That's what I was afraid of. I guess I should have stopped them when I saw they were not protecting the coping and tile but I stupidly thought that they MUST have a process for cleaning if they are not putting plastic down like pretty much every build I've seen on here. Was trying not to tell everyone how to do their job...my mistake, lol.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

That's what I was afraid of. I guess I should have stopped them when I saw they were not protecting the coping and tile but I stupidly thought that they MUST have a process for cleaning if they are not putting plastic down like pretty much every build I've seen on here. Was trying not to tell everyone how to do their job...my mistake, lol.

Wow. Yeah ... it's pretty standard practice to mask off the pool tile and coping when spraying plaster through a high pressure nozzle Is it something you can live with, ie, only you really notice it?

 

[TampaKathy]

Wow. Yeah ... it's pretty standard practice to mask off the pool tile and coping when spraying plaster through a high pressure nozzle Is it something you can live with, ie, only you really notice it?

For the most part, probably. But we're up to at least 3 things that "Only I'll notice" at this point! And then I think, "you know what, I'm the one paying $100k for this and it's my opinion that matters...and they should have covered it!" (One of the other "only I'll notice" items is also plaster related so I'm less inclined to give them a pass on 2 things)

 

[JoyfulNoise]

For the most part, probably. But we're up to at least 3 things that "Only I'll notice" at this point! And then I think, "you know what, I'm the one paying $100k for this and it's my opinion that matters...and they should have covered it!" (One of the other "only I'll notice" items is also plaster related so I'm less inclined to give them a pass on 2 things)

Well then, that might be the approach you take with the PB. You send him email on all the things that "only I notice but drives me crazy nonetheless" and you see which one of those things he's willing to address. At the end of the day, with a pool build costing as much as yours did, if he wants to have you as someone who will give him a positive reference for all the future potential $100k pools he might want to build, then he should be willing to make the fixes that will make you happy. Never hurts to ask and, as my dad used to say, "you'll get more bees with sugar on a stick than on a stick ..." (... and, no, that was NOT chocolate soft-serve ice cream he was referring too ...)