Etched Bluestone

Hi y’all, long time!

A well-intentioned subcontractor on the house I’m building decided to clean up this 2200ft² bluestone pool deck before sealing it. I wasn’t onsite while they hacked away at it with a Ryobi pw, but was surprised when I came by this morning to see the entire deck scribble-fied.

At this point I’m wondering if a few slow passes with my SC could even it out, or if anyone’s had luck with an acid etch.

Doesn’t seem to be much in the search dealing with bluestone, so I’m here with hat in hand to see if any of y’all have successfully dealt with a similar oopsie.


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Bluestone is extremely soft.

Even soft wash tips will etch it.

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My advice would be to not make someone else’s problem your own.

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That’s always good advice, and welcomed. Just pulling the vines to see if anyone’s had any miracles.

We’re about 2 weeks from final inspections and the last thing I want is to stop work and replace $70k in bluestone. Probably an extra month lead time for delivery and then another month of install. It’s a terrifically brutal mistake

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I feel for ya man. That’s a real kick in the family jewels but if you go to messing with it then the onus is on you as the well-intentioned sub can say “It was NOWHERE near that bad and could have easily been fixed but now it’s beyond repair” or some other line of BS. If you can’t live with it, have him replace it on his dime.

But, maybe, just maybe there’s a feller on this forum that knows a solution to this. If so, bumpity bump.

I wonder if @Historic would happen to know of any possible solutions. Or maybe @gbattle.

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Maybe hit one with a belt sander as a ‘test spot’ to see if it can be resurfaced. My ole man used to rent big sanders with handlebars to smooth out newly installed hardwood floors. It’s definitely a pickle any way you slice it.

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Find someone that polishes concrete and see if they can polish the stone.

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Hi, I was hoping you would stop back in here and at least post up some of your jobs. I love seeing different takes on things. This job looks real nice with all the stone and the infinty pool?

I wish I had an answer for you, but maybe if you don’t find anything else, test a floor buffer with water and the bristle brush or the green pad (whichever is softer). I’m guessing, since that stone is soft you could probably hit it 1 time and go across it trying to even it out. corners would have to be done by hand.

Another guess, rent one of those ridable diamabrush floor cleaners like they use in HD and lowes if tear out and removal is the only option. Worth a try before someone is sued into oblivion.

My sister in law ruined her 25k smaller blue stone pool deck this way too, but she is rich. Lines all over. They built a new house.

Those are good ideas, thanks y’all. This is thermal bluestone (they run a torch over the top and it creates a pock-marked effect) so I might even get an excuse to buy more tools! Not that I wanna torch that much bluestone…

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Decided to play with the problem before replacing the bluestone. I did a few samples areas first with a 25° tip at 3,000 psi. Overlapped by half, careful to stay straight and stop at grout lines. Results were fine so I did the entire deck and now everyone’s happy.

I’m not saying this is the cure, obviously this deck should have NEVER had pressure applied to it. But it did save my masons quite a bit of money and a huge headache for me.

Replicate at your own risk, and do a sample first.


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You’re a brave man.