How does well does stone resist salt attack from swimming pools?
Natural stone has a history of holding up well beside swimming pools but the resistance to salt attack depends on how close to the water the stone is fixed and how frequently it gets inundated. Pool aprons that remain relatively dry will suffer least but pool coping on modern pool designs will be far more vulnerable because of their extremely close contact with the water and inundation from frequent lapping and splashing. No stone is completely “salt safe” because all stone is porous and absorbs water but some types of stone perform much better than others. Granite and quartzite perform extremely well when used as pool coping – our Grey Gum and Sofala quartzites experienced only 0.05% weight loss when exposed to salt attack in laboratory conditions. The benchmark guide for resistance to salt attack around salt water pools is a test result for weight loss of less than 0.1%. Sandstone is quite variable in porosity and density so care needs to be taken in the selection of the stone. Our W
