# Leuders limestone deck problems, ideas?



## rtilghman (Oct 3, 2014)

Did a pool recently with a natural cut leuders limestone (buff) coping and deck. It's been a long project, and over the course of it my crew has - despite my instructions - messed up the deck a little bit. Power washer marks/lines, thin set drips, etc. 

The net is that, at this point, I need to refinish the deck, wondering if anyone can provide some solid experience on the best way to do it? Hand sanding? Orbital? Floor sander? The client is fine with sanding, but wants to retain as much of the "soft" look of the natural cut as possible (not finished or smooth). I'm assuming a fairly rough grit, like 80 or something?

Thanks in advance for any help, haven't had a problem like this before and not looking to redo a $15-20k deck. 

Thanks,
Ron


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## Kniggit (Apr 11, 2013)

Did you try a wire brush? The Lueders that we get here is awfully soft, can't imagine using it on a pool deck. I have seen it break down in a planter installation


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## rtilghman (Oct 3, 2014)

We used a combination of Jasco, a small wire brush, water and a sanding block (120) to effectively remove a good amount of the epoxy and other materials. Basically you gel it with the Jasco, agitate it with the wire, then knock it down with the sanding and water.

However, it isn't practical for the power washing marks, and I don't think it would be effective since that's actually damage to the stone. Basically I'm assuming we'll need to sand off a thin top layer everywhere, hence the question about grits and tools.

Thanks for the response, hopefully someone out there has some experience sanding down natural cut limestone like this.

Best,
Ron

P.S. On the softness, this is Buff, which is harder (different mineral content) than Cream (crema) Leuders (which breaks down too quickly).


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

rtilghman said:


> Did a pool recently with a natural cut leuders limestone (buff) coping and deck. It's been a long project, and over the course of it my crew has - despite my instructions - messed up the deck a little bit. Power washer marks/lines, thin set drips, etc.
> 
> The net is that, at this point, I need to refinish the deck, wondering if anyone can provide some solid experience on the best way to do it? Hand sanding? Orbital? Floor sander? The client is fine with sanding, but wants to retain as much of the "soft" look of the natural cut as possible (not finished or smooth). I'm assuming a fairly rough grit, like 80 or something?
> 
> ...


If it was me I would use my wet polisher with 50, 70 or 100 grit, depending on how bad the damage is and how the stone responds to the pads. But if you have stone with a lot of lines in it, I doubt there's any practical way to fix it besides total replacement. You're going to have to take the whole surface of the flagging down with the sander to get it on the same plane To get it to look right.

How much damage is there?


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## concreteexperts (Jan 5, 2015)

*stone resurface*

You can rent a diamond polisher that is basically a buffer with a flexible diamond pad that attaches to the white pad. Probably 100 grit will do. You need the flex because you wont even touch much of the stone as it is not a perfect plane.
Then I would seal the entire project with Tru Block. It leaves the stone looking natural, stain resistant and doesnt make it slippery.


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