Letting mould and mildew sit for a long period of time can leave hard-to-remove stains on surfaces, not to mention damage timber decking. We’ve put together some handy hints on cleaning and maintaining your pool’s surroundings, so head outside!
Natural stone needs cleaning products which are specifically made to suit its unique mineral composition, so the use of general cleaning products are not recommended.
These can break down any sealer you have used on the natural stone, removing its protective properties and leaving the stone or tile grout susceptible to stains. Worse yet, many cleaning products contain abrasives, lemon, vinegar, bleach or ammonia which can etch away the polish, discolour the surface, or even scratch your stone.
StoneTech® Professional has developed a new line of water-based sealers that literally bond with natural stone to prevent them from absorbing stains; 
sealers can help reduce the damage.
“The best way to prevent stains on stone is to treat it with a DuPont™ StoneTech® Professional protective sealer,” says Keri Sanders, manager of Swimart Gladesville.
“This is great news for pool owners with stone coping or decks. Natural stone can be very porous. Sealers repel spills on the surface, giving you time to wipe them away before they penetrate. Some sealers can darken your stone while others retain the stone’s natural hue.”
DuPont™ StoneTech® Professional protective sealer is available from selected Swimart stores.
Timber decking around a pool can look fantastic; however if it isn’t properly maintained it can rot, which not only looks bad, but means you will need to replace it at great cost.
A very important part of maintaining the deck is checking for dry rot at least once a year by pressing each piece of timber with a hard object. If the wood is soft when pressed, it is likely to be rotten inside. Boards with rot need to be replaced.
Timber decking affected by mould or mildew can be then cleaned with an oxygen bleach or oxalic acid based cleaner. Visit your local hardware store for advice on your particular decking material.
Like a timber deck, replacing cracked concrete and pavers is paramount to the aesthetic of your deck. This may take some time and work, but is well worth the end result.
Once these have been replaced, kill weeds and mould that are growing in the gaps between pavers with a commercial weed killer. Using a garden hose or pressure washer, blast away the chemical residue from the weed killer, along with any dirt and grime.
Forget using the garden hose to wash away mould and mildew from your pool decking; models from Briggs and Stratton’s pressure washer range are up to 75 times more powerful than a garden hose. In addition to making the job of cleaning your pool decking or concrete pavers much easier and quicker, these washers a designer to use only 1/5 of the amount of water a garden hose would to do the same job.
NZ
AUS 
