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Three Rivers Flagstone question
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Posted by socalKC (My Page) on Fri, Jun 4, 04 at 15:19
| Hi all,
We have purchased 2" TR flagstone for pool coping and planter caps. The pool builder was concerned that there appeared to be a a lot of iron in the stone and worries if rust will be an issue. He admitted that he is not a mason, but seeing the rust on the cut edges makes him wonder.
We chose the Three Rivers stone beacuse it was not soft like other flags and the erosion would not be an issue. Now I am wondering if rust will be.
Also, will the mason have a huge labor issue cutting these slabs down to 12" wide coping size (they are huge slabs now)? The pool builder assures me the guy knows what he is doing...I guess we will find out, won't we? LOL
It is still sitting in a pallet on the driveway, I suppose we could find another use for it if we had to. We hope not to.
Thanks in advance for any input. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Three Rivers Flagstone question
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| Yes, you can expect that the iron in the flagstone will leach out and horribly stain the plaster in your pool. Even if all four sides are sealed the iron will eventually leach out, stain the mortar and migrate out to the pool . You have a VERY wise pool builder with an astute eye. I know of this first hand because of a lawsuit that faced a landscape designer and a contractor in Petaluma Ca.
The designer spec'ed the stone and the contractor laid it .
Soon there after the stone started leaching the iron and horribly staining the plaster. There was a big argument between everyone involved.
The contractor said he was only installing what was specified by the designer.
The designer said the contractor should have known better ( yeah right ! ) and should have alerted her to this potential problem. I'm not exactly sure what was finally done and who paid for what because I felt the designer was liable and should suck it up and take responsibilty for for spec'ing a material that she did not do adequate research on. ( Not the answer she wanted and I was no longer consulted ) Even if you seal the stone the sealers eventually break down ( especially around harsh pool chemicals ) and the iron will migrate. Play it safe and use the stone away from the pools edge, and if you do use it around the patio, know that the iron does migrate thru the mortar so if you use it as the patio surface and not as the pool coping make sure you install an adequate water proofing detail between the stone and the coping so that it doesn't migrate thru the mortar joints to the plaster. |
RE: Three Rivers Flagstone question
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| any other folks on the forum have this issue? is it exclusive to this type of flag, we are planning on using it for coping and for the shelf, PB said you have to LOOK at the pieces and see if it has the streaks -- sounds very inexact! I see so many people use it for pools, why would they if it has a propensity to cause major damage? |
RE: Three Rivers Flagstone question
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| The issue is the iron content of the stone. The reddish, brownish, and yellowish streaks are the parts that will stain. The purple doesn't run. Three Rivers doesn't have the highest iron content of all flagstones; there are other types of stone that streak much more, and some that don't streak at all. With a swimming pool you're dealing with not just staining the mortar but also the clarity of the water, and I think the chlorine affects the stone, too. It's just not a good idea to use Three Rivers on the edge of a pool. People do use it, and some might get away with it, but a lot of them don't. |
RE: Three Rivers Flagstone question
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| bump - what flagstones are best poolside? we want brown / earth tones... |
RE: Three Rivers Flagstone question
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| I have a great option for you if you have not already found stone for your pool. Call me 406-922-0262. |
RE: Three Rivers Flagstone question
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| We used Three Rivers Flagstone as coping around our pool with no ill affects. The only difficulty has been mortar cracking around the hot tub and stones coming loose because of it. Since it hasn't happened anywhere else around the pool we assume it is due to the temperature modulations. Hot Cold, Hot Cold... (My husband says it sounds like me :) Our pool is about 4 years old now. I'm very happy with our choice. It still looks beautiful. |
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