Tile Cleaning

[matthewnadeau]

Our pool is about 10 years old and we'd like have the tile/grout that's above the water line cleaned to remove white deposits on the tile. About five years ago, we had the tile sand-blasted by a tile cleaning professional and it ran us about $400. Is there an effective DIY method that will be just as effective?

[waterbear]

Can't say it will be as effective but a mixture of tile soap (sold in gallons at the pool supply) and muriatic acid (proportions should be on the jug of tile soap but is usually one part acid to 4 or 5 parts tile soap), a scrubbing pad (also from the pool store) and a bit of elbow grease (ok a whole lot of elbow grease!) IS a low cost way to remove scale deposits from tile at and above the water line. IF there are any localized depostis of scale that are very thick a pumice stone (also from the pool supply) might come in handy. Total outlay should be well under $100 for everything and you don't have to drain the pool to do it!. In fact, you can work on small areas at a time while in the pool!

Plain tile soap is getting harder to come by but there are products on the market desgined to remove scale on tiles such as PowerBlue and Biodex. IMHO, these are just premade mixutres of tile soap and acid for a higher price but they do work.