Don’t forget to take a look at our “Before & After” tile cleaning examples before you leave the website. I have seen tile cleaning methods from the questionable to the ridiculous, most of which claim to be easy or cheap.  Have you had similar experiences in your field of expertise? Perhaps you have heard, “cheap things are never good and good things are never cheap.” Here are a few of the tile cleaning methods I’ve run into – Some good and some not so good.  See if you can pick out the good from the bad: Muriatic acid cleaning, Good or Bad? Pumice stone cleaning, Good or Bad? Wood chisel or razor blade, Good or Bad?  Glass bead or aggregate blasting, Good or Bad? Soft wire brush and slow RPM Drill Motor, Good or Bad?

All of these methods will clean your tile! Additionally, anybody who has used one of these methods for the first time will consider the one they chose to be very good. And just look at all the money you saved! Consequently, they are now an absolute genius, at least for the moment.

So let’s check with them in 6 months shall we? What we will find is that all of these tile cleaning methods are very bad for the long term. Acid will stain your plaster. Pumice is an abrasive which scratches tile even underwater. Chisels and razor blades were used to carve Mt. Rushmore I think. Blasting glass beads at 5,000 psi is almost as effective as blasting buck shot from a 20-gauge shotgun. The difference is, the damage from one is visible only under magnification but still very real. If you have rusty metal, get out the wire brush and drill. Do not beat up your tile in this way! Any of these methods will scratch your tile, enabling calcium and other minerals to latch on tighter than before you started. Long term, calcium degrades plumbing, pumps, filters motors and even the tile itself.

So what is the best way to clean pool tile, safely, effectively and very economically when amortized over a span of time, and can I do this myself? You’ll be happier letting Arizona Pool Restoration do away with your pool tile scaling for you! We will bring our low pressure calcium terminator (50 psi), and enough “Crystal” to terminate all the clinging calcium (Crystal is similar to baking soda but will not increase alkalinity or add other undesirable stuff to your water).  To keep tile looking fresh and clean for a longer time, we will coat it (not unlike waxing a car) to place a barrier between it and the calcium lurking in your water.

You’ll also like the fact that we bring our own vacuum/filter to clean up after ourselves and a second man to run that device. While we work, we will gladly let you watch the home movies of the do-it-yourselfer writing checks to us as he finally decides he wants his pool to operate in such a manner that it can be enjoyed by all. Or, you can just grab a lawn chair and watch us while we make your tile smile.