What’s causing my stone to break down?

[Dilbydog]

Noticed that the “faux” stone veneer, or at least what I assume is veneer, is breaking down on either side of the waterfall feature from our spa to the pool. Any idea what would cause this, and how to prevent it in the future?

 

[mknauss]

Constant water exposure is not a good thing with most any stone.

Why not use your automation to only run the spillover for 30 minutes or so twice per day to keep the spa chlorinated? Then you can activate the Spillover in your automation when you want it for effect.

 

[Dilbydog]

Curiously the breakdown of the stone is outside the spillover “area,” and the stone directly under the spill over appears to be in good shape. To your point, unfortunately the only pool return I have is via an in floor pop up system. One of the zones is in my spa, so whenever I run the pump the spa spills over into the pool when the Caretaker rotates to the spa zone of pop ups.

Edit: Mknauss... In re-reading my response my first sentence comes off rude, my apologies as that wasn’t my intention. I was trying to convey that your observation was aligned with mine. I would have also assumed the stone under the spillover would erode or decay. It’s odd, to me, that the stone seems to be eroding from the edge of the spillover towards the outside of the pool.

 

[Dilbydog]

Bump. Any more thought? I want to repair this condition and prevent reoccurrence.

 

[mknauss]

The stone veneers are not designed for wet areas. Not sure what is going on with the stone right under the spillover. It appears different but that may be because it is wet.

Replacing it with ceramic tile will eliminate the issue with the stone.

 

[Jimrahbe]

DD,

Just want to make sure... Are you talking about the white chalk like stuff on the stone, or are you talking about the stone itself?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Dilbydog]

The stone itself. The stone just outside of the spill over has lost its veneer, and is breaking down. The “stone” seems to be a week pea gravel concrete mix that is crumbling into the pool now that the veneer is gone.

 

[Dilbydog]

The stone veneers are not designed for wet areas. Not sure what is going on with the stone right under the spillover. It appears different but that may be because it is wet.

Replacing it with ceramic tile will eliminate the issue with the stone.

The stone under the spillover appears to be the same material as the adjacent stone. However, we purchased this home with the pool and thus have no knowledge of what materials were used.