Keeping the White Stuff of Your Pool Tiles after a Professional Tile Cleaning

If you’re seeing white stuff on your pool tiles, it’s likely due to the buildup of mineral deposits. This can be caused by hard water or high levels of calcium and other minerals in your pool. Not only is it unsightly, but it can also be a breeding ground for algae and other bacteria. To remove the white stuff from your pool tiles, you can use a tile cleaner specifically designed for pools. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and use gloves and eye protection. You can also try using a mixture of vinegar and water to help dissolve the mineral buildup.

After you have invested money into a professional cleaning of your tile, there are many things you can do to help prolong the life of that cleaning and to help prevent rapid build-up of calcium deposits. One of the most important pieces of information you need to know is how your water can affect the calcium build-up in your pool. Keeping your ph levels balanced between 7.2 and 7.5 is always helpful. The overall hardness of your water can negatively affect your ability to control the ph levels. You can get your water tested at most local pool stores for free. When doing this, the number to pay the most attention to is your parts per million.

If you have had your tile cleaned, but have never drained your pool water, it is always a good idea to at least do a partial drain to your pool to get rid of the heavily saturated chemicals in the pool water. This allows you to start with fresh water and be able to keep a better measure of your alkalinity and hardness levels in the water. There are water conditioners available that are meant to keep your water perfectly balanced, but when using these it is very important to follow directions carefully or make sure if you are having your pool service person add this to your pool. With proper usage, many people have seen the benefits of adding a conditioner as it does help improve the ph level in your pool and keeping it steady.

Another very simple option is to buy yourself a standard pool brush. A hard bristle or plastic is okay, but do not use metal or any other abrasive material that could scratch your tile. Once every other week, go around with this pool brush and lightly scrub the tiles just to help prevent the light build-up that starts. This will greatly reduce the build-up of dirt, mold and other small particles that start to cling to the pool tile over time.

If you find that you have a very light build-up, there are a couple of household tips that you can use to help clean it or lighten it up and possibly make it even look better for an event or if you’re having company over and would like to spruce up the tile a bit. Here are just a few tips and tricks you can use to clean light build-up of calcium, dirt and suntan lotion from your tile. The first one is using a magic eraser. These can be found at your local grocery or hardware store and are also available online. They are inexpensive and they are effective when cleaning a very light build-up on ceramic pool tiles as well as bringing back a bit of the shine. Another option is to use is distilled white vinegar and a rag or a soft bristle brush. Do not use stones, wire brushes, belt sanders or anything of that nature. They might remove build up, however they do so by lightly sanding your tile, which causes scratches. No matter how minimal the scratches, dirt and calcium build-up get into the groves and provide a foundation for these build-ups to anchor themselves, making future cleanings and maintenance of your tile much more difficult. Another issue that can happen as a result of cleaning with rough abrasives is that once you do get your tile professionally cleaned you tile will show these imperfections even more because now your tile is clean and the scratches that have been put on by sandpaper stone and/or wire brushes with become visible. Another more aggressive at home cleaning tip is to get a little bit of your pools muriatic acid, water it down with some fresh water and use a soft bristle brush to clean grout lines and smaller build-ups by letting that combination of acid and water sit on the calcium and break it down while it is still very light.