Not sure what this is on my stairs and walls and it does not want to come off.

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S

Smehltrett

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May 17, 2017
74
Gilbetsville, PA
I am in the process of draining and figured id give everything a good rinse down with the pressure washer. To my surprise even after a thorough spray down I am left with what almost looks like sand spots? I tried using a metal bristle brush on it too but it still doesn't seem to come off. Can anyone help me identify what exactly is going on here? I am using one of the gentler nozzles on the pressure washer as I was worried about damaging the plaster. How do I clean this mess? :cry:
 

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Oh boy I don't like that sound of that it sounds expensive. I took some close in pictures the best I could. Upon getting in there up close I realize its not a "raised surface" like it looks when you stand back. It feels smooth you can't feel anything. We literally just bought the house and of course in this market can't get away with doing pool inspections heh
 

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Have u tried any of the stain tests?
www.troublefreepool.com

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
See if any of the above mentioned stain tests help. My guess is you have scale and staining from years of chemical abuse by the previous owner. It’s probably all cosmetic in nature and I doubt you’ll be able to do much to resolve it. That said, your pool will need to be replastered at some point in the future. Expect that to cost somewhere in the ballpark of $8k to $12k depending on the plaster type and upgrades. Any additional changes to tile or coping will make that price go up.
 
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Best to clean it and get it filled back up, run a SLAM and then balance out all your chemical levels. After the water is clean and stable, you can worry about the stains. There’s nothing you can do about them when the pool is empty.
 
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Really appreciate all the feedback so far! We have city water and the previous owner had a water softener installed in 2019. I am not sure if that would play into this at all though. The house is about 20 years old so the pool is somewhere between 20-15 years old I would guess. If this does end up need to be replastered is it something that can wait a season or two or would that be foolish?
 
Sorry about the mess 😥 - We’ll be right here waiting when u get it refilled.
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& get u some fresh regeants for your k2006c or tf100/pro if u have one - if not order one now so u can tackle this.
 
If the previous owner used a lot of calcium hypochlorite or if your water is very hard that would lead to the calcium scale Joyful Noise was talking about. The water softener tells me you may have hard water issues. Water softeners are usually plumbed to supply the house after or bypass the outside spigots, since usually no one cares if they water the lawn with hard water.
 
If they are cosmetic stains, they will not do you any harm. As long as the pool holds water and doesn’t leak and the equipment is in good working order, you can use the pool. Then you can start planning for an eventual renovation of the pool that might involve tile, coping and/or equipment upgrades along with a new interior finish. That will cost lots of money that I’m sure you don’t want to spend right now so it’s best to get the pool water straitened out and then start planning for the future. As you get to know your pool and equipment, you will start to figure out what changes you want to make to it. TFP is happy to help with that process.
 
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Smehltrett said:
Really appreciate all the feedback so far! We have city water and the previous owner had a water softener installed in 2019. I am not sure if that would play into this at all though. The house is about 20 years old so the pool is somewhere between 20-15 years old I would guess. If this does end up need to be replastered is it something that can wait a season or two or would that be foolish?
Click to expand...
Obviously you have a lot on your plate with moving into a new home and trying to figure that out in addition to pool. Since you have a water softener that indicates the water supply may be hard water (high calcium). Based on what the previous owners did (or didn't do) you now have this issue with the plaster. As indicated by others you can swim once you get the pool chemistry correct.
You will need to purchase a test kit - see Test Kits Compared

while waiting on your test kit I would suggest you try to figure out how your water softener is connected to your plumbing. Mine softens water to both the house and the external hose taps but my sprinkler system is connected before the softener so that is all hard water. If the previous owner left you some test strips (they would be in a little jar about size of large prescription bottle).
1) Test your inside tap water and read what it states for Calcium (it should be very low or even zero if the water softener is working.
2) Test your outside hose tap and read what it states for Calcium (does it match to your inside tap reading or is it much higher?)
3) The final test will be to test your water that fills your pool. Not sure if it is auto fill or does it have a separate line to the pool or do you need to fill the pool with a hose? Compare that to the other 2 tests.

Good luck.
 
The line for the spigot is definitely bypasses the water softener the plumbing is visible on that side of the basement. My intention was to just fill the pool from the garden hose as its cheap and im not in a rush. With the possibility of hard water should I maybe reconsider and have it trucked in?

On a side note my brother suggested potentially painting the pool until I can do the replaster. I am not sure if this is worth the effort or not seems like it could be a massive pain in the butt to do. Does anyone have any experience with the "pool paint" ?
 
Figured that might be the case. I tried leaving some liquid chlorine on one of the stairs for a few minutes then rinse it didn't change anything. Thinking its there to stay for the year. Pump is still chugging along hoping to be able to get in there today but maybe not at this rate. I wanted to atleast pull the hydrostatic plug on the shallow end if there was one but still can't see the bottom
 
If there is a hydrostatic plug it will be in the deep end.

Take a sample of your tap water and test it for calcium hardness. If you don’t have a test kit yet you can run it but the pool store to be tested, just don’t buy anything from them! You need to keep calcium levels between 250 and 450. Anything above 450 increases your risk of developing calcium scale. Once you get your pool filled, keep the ph around 7.0 and if this is calcium scale you should see the stains start to lighten after a few days.

Consider getting a good FAS/DPD based test kit. It will allow you to take control of your pool and prolong the life of your plaster and equipment.
 

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