Hey Sumdood, pool question.

Have you tried scrubbing them? You could also dive under with the wand of a pressure washer and blast them.

Short of draining and acid washing there's a couple thing you can try. Have you tried wiring brushing the spots ? Start off simple right ? lol. You don't want grind a hole in the plaster obviously but it's worth picking a spot to see if that makes a dent. I'm not exactly sure what surface you have but if its smooth 80 grit wet and dry sandpaper might work, but only if the plasters smooth, if it's textured like a pebble surface you probably won't have any luck. 3M brand wet and dry seems to hold up better than other brands under water. You can also acid wash small spots underwater by taking a piece of 1'' or 1-1/2" pvc pipe and holding it against the bottom where the stain is and pouring acid in the end above the water, the acid is heavier than the water and will sink down through the pipe and put a concentrated dose on the stain. Just don't over acid the pool in the process. And there is a product called "Stainout"; or "super stainout" is the concentrated version, we've had some luck with that stuff removing stains after fires when a lot of ashes have gotten into pools and stained the bottom. I'd be leary of draining it until you're sure the surrounding dirt is completely dried out, they can "Pop" out of the ground if the surrounding soil is saturated. Like a bowl in a sink full of water, full of water it just sits there, empty it and it wants to float. Don't underestimate hydrostatic pressure. Hope this helps good luck !

Wow, you learn a lot on Vital.

Like, today I learned that when I get a pool I have a moto pool guy! How far do you travel, Dood? Have any clients inland? Temecula/Murrieta/ etc.?

TrailDigger wrote:

Have you tried scrubbing them? You could also dive under with the wand of a pressure washer and blast them.

I like the underwater pressure washer idea. We've pressure washed stubborn algae stains off of both smooth plaster and rough surfaces like pebble tech, but we did it when the pools were empty. Sounds like a worthwhile idea to try. You have a weight belt and kids that can hold their breath a long time ?

Falcon wrote:

Wow, you learn a lot on Vital.

Like, today I learned that when I get a pool I have a moto pool guy! How far do you travel, Dood? Have any clients inland? Temecula/Murrieta/ etc.?

My brother does pools in Murrieta/Temecula, and I think he even has a couple in Elsinore. If you want his contact info, hit me up.

Hey I got sidetracked during that first post, theres also a product from United Chemical called stain treat. Its a powder. They sell it in little bags called spotting bags, they work remarkably well.

https://www.poolsupplyunlimited.com/UnitedChemicalPSTC48StainTreat/105337p1?gclid=CjwKCAjw0ujYBRBDEiwAn7BKt30VQ_wCi4yNLphfLC1irN5wRHJPoEqLJcVUuYcUt_f6LWkcAZbSdBoClBgQAvD_BwE

You have to get them to lay right over a spot overnight, they are worth a try. They have a chemical called oxalic acid in them. They're worth a try

Falcon wrote:

Wow, you learn a lot on Vital.

Like, today I learned that when I get a pool I have a moto pool guy! How far do you travel, Dood? Have any clients inland? Temecula/Murrieta/ etc.?

Sully wrote:

My brother does pools in Murrieta/Temecula, and I think he even has a couple in Elsinore. If you want his contact info, hit me up.

San Clemente, Dana Pt., and San Juan Capistrano. Sounds like Sully's brother is the man for there !

Pic of plaster and you can see some of the light staining in the upper corner. Picked up some Muriatic acid , some sponges and a piece of PVC pipe this morning. Will tie the sponge onto the end of the PVC and see if I can scrub a few of the stains away. Also headed to the pool supply store to look for those stain remover packets for some of the bad spots.

Will report back...

Started with this



trying to get back to this

Yikes, looks like you made 15,000 gallons of coffee. I like your idea of zip tying the sponge over the end of the pvc. If that doesn't work try the spot bags, have had some success luck with those before too.

Falcon wrote:

Wow, you learn a lot on Vital.

Like, today I learned that when I get a pool I have a moto pool guy! How far do you travel, Dood? Have any clients inland? Temecula/Murrieta/ etc.?

Sully wrote:

My brother does pools in Murrieta/Temecula, and I think he even has a couple in Elsinore. If you want his contact info, hit me up.

sumdood wrote:

San Clemente, Dana Pt., and San Juan Capistrano. Sounds like Sully's brother is the man for there !

Right on, dudes. Sully, I'll hit you up when the time comes.

Shock shock shock. Scrub scrub scrub.

No magic potion.

Any progress ?

Doesn't anyone use just straight bleach anymore ? I've seen some horrible looking pools taken care of with straight bleach in the water.

sumdood wrote:

Any progress ?

Not really, tried the Muriatic acid through the PVC pipe trick on the bad single stain and it helped minimally. I ordered up a couple 2 lb containers of the stain treat you suggested so we'll see if that helps. There are stains all over so going to treat the whole thing. I may shut the pumps off and let it settle on the bottom and brush around for a day or so.

https://www.amazon.com/Jacks-Magic-Stain-ID-Kit/dp/B07BDNF1WS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529060265&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX195_SY281_QL65&keywords=jacks+stain+id+kit&dpPl=1&dpID=41s4tn6KN0L&ref=plSrch

Gives you a sample of 3 different stain removers. Put them in a tied up panty hose and let them sit on spot. See which one might help. Then you can buy the full size stain treatment. Unless it's a real oddball, one of these will help.

Looks like a smooth bottom pool. I’d tried wet sanding it with 240 and a sanding block.

How deeps the pool?

I just picked up this pressure washing attachment for patios that I guess spins as you wash and it’s a large scrub brush. Looks like the shape of a sanding disc and the pressure washer goes in the middle. Haven’t used it yet, but it may be worth a shot in your situation.

Hey Sumdood, whatever happened to those kick ass vintage t-shirts? The one with your logo? Those things were awesome!

LoudLove wrote:

Hey Sumdood, whatever happened to those kick ass vintage t-shirts? The one with your logo? Those things were awesome!

These ones ? I need to order more

I’ll buy a shirt if you get some more printed.

Turned off the chlorinator and filter the other day to get the chlorine level down a little and have been treating the pool with ascorbic acid. Just running the waterfall and a submersible 2 inch pump to circulate the water. Sprinkled some of the acid across the tanning ledge area and it cleaned it up quite well. Put some in a sock and sank it to the bottom where I had a really bad dark stain. That cleaned up for the most part but may have actually taken some color out of the plaster. Will keep an eye on that. Other stains all over the bottom don’t seem to be budging too much.

If I may ask, what type of coating are you using on the slide? I have had trouble with durability. I was looking at smart seal products.
smartsealco.com

Not to derail, but good thread for pool owners. Any thoughts on heat pumps or traditional gas setups. Want to retro-fit our 13 year old pool that the previous owner didn't spec a heat option for (no thermal / solar on roof either).

I'd prefer an Electric option since we already have our electricity being supplemented with rooftop solar. It's a 16K gallon pool. Thanks.

LoudLove wrote:

Hey Sumdood, whatever happened to those kick ass vintage t-shirts? The one with your logo? Those things were awesome!

sumdood wrote:

These ones ? I need to order more

That's the one. The perfect use of old-school graphics with a casual blend of pool & surf. Relaxing just to look at, and not something you see everyday. I'm in for two if you print more.

I didn't realize we had a resident pool dude here.

Just had a pool built. There are a few stains in the bottom of the pool still from my build. They look like quarters. The pool builder said to give it some time to see if the chlorine washes it out. It almost looks like some dirt was on the surface and hardened in place. They're not overly noticeable but when I'm sweeping it, you definitely notice it.

Here is the pool I just finished. Still working on finishing the wrought iron fence. That's a ton of work to build and paint on your own. I see why they charge $20-30 a foot for this crap.

Any further landscaping is going to wait until next year. I'm done spending at the moment.

"The pool builder said to give it some time to see if the chlorine washes it out"

English translation - "Give it some time, like after the final check clears and I'm down the road and it's someone else's problem" Haha. It looks like white plaster ? Try 3M 80# wet and dry sandpaper on the stains. Also when you're working on the wrought iron fence vacuum the pool the second you're done for the day. Any bit of iron in the pool will leave a mark, and the "dust ?" from any grinding will settle on the bottom and leave rust stains too. Yard looks nice !

sumdood wrote:

"The pool builder said to give it some time to see if the chlorine washes it out"

English translation - "Give it some time, like after the final check clears and I'm down the road and it's someone else's problem" Haha. It looks like white plaster ? Try 3M 80# wet and dry sandpaper on the stains. Also when you're working on the wrought iron fence vacuum the pool the second you're done for the day. Any bit of iron in the pool will leave a mark, and the "dust ?" from any grinding will settle on the bottom and leave rust stains too. Yard looks nice !

Sounds like my original pool builder who came highly recommended. They left my gunite unplastered for almost two months before finishing the pool. It had dirt stains coming from every hole and rings around the deep end where the water would go up and down. They didn't bother to clean the stains before plastering and over the next six weeks you could see every one of them transfer through the white plaster. Ended up getting replastered much to the dismay of the pool company.

Keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse. If it is just some small areas you are dealing with, try some of the ascorbic acid that I used. I had one really bad stain, almost black in color that I treated and it appears to pretty much be gone. Put some of the acid in a sock or or some pantyhose and lay on the stain for a minute or two and see what happens. Sanding is a pain in the ass plus it takes that nice finish off the surface.

I turned my filter back on yesterday evening, will backwash and put new DE in tonight and start going back with chlorine. As soon as the cloudiness goes away we'll see just how much improvement I have.

sumdood wrote:

"The pool builder said to give it some time to see if the chlorine washes it out"

English translation - "Give it some time, like after the final check clears and I'm down the road and it's someone else's problem" Haha. It looks like white plaster ? Try 3M 80# wet and dry sandpaper on the stains. Also when you're working on the wrought iron fence vacuum the pool the second you're done for the day. Any bit of iron in the pool will leave a mark, and the "dust ?" from any grinding will settle on the bottom and leave rust stains too. Yard looks nice !

They definitely were tired of me at the end. They were dragging their feet and I started bugging the piss out of them. Finally they got it done 3 days before my wife's birthday so we had water in it. They still have to come out to do the mastic between the coping and concrete so I'll start annoying them when they schedule that.

It's a white plaster with 40% blue quartz in it. Still 80 grit sandpaper?

I'm not doing any building by the pool but I am squaring up the panels and welding them on out there. I am still brushing a couple of times a day to keep it clean but I'll make sure I do it after welding and working out there from now on. Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the comment on the yard. It was quite an ordeal to get the pool done. Had to reroute the underground electrical line and rented an excavator to dig the trench. Also decided to run water and electricity to the shed out there while I had it so you can see the line I dug. Still have a good bit of work to do out there but at least I can chill out in the pool in between working.

^^ yes 80# wet and dry. Doesn't have to be 3m brand, but 3m holds up good underwater. I'll be printing more shirts after (if ?) I survive my daughters wedding this weekend. I'll make a post about it before I do.

Hello, Spamulus. No one cares. How come you're leaving links out of spam posts?