We have cultured stone on a raised bond beam. You'll get mixed reactions as to whether or not it's a good idea.
So far we are OK. I have used mild vinegar/water mix to clean the cultured stone in a couple of areas where calcium deposits have shown up and it worked pretty well.

I honestly have more trouble keeping the tiles clean and calcium deposit free than the cultured stone.

Make sure that if you use cultured stone to have it sealed.

Calcium deposits and Salt deposits are two different animals.

I am not a fan of cultured stone. If you plan on covering the pool in winter with a Safety Cover, eye bolts cannot be secured to it. ASTM specs require them at frequent intervals, even if you use a cable or it will be deemed Non-Safe by the manufacturer.

calcium or salt will buildup on real or cultured stone. The problem comes if you don't take care of the problem early and let it get bad. You can clean real stone with much more vigor than you can cultured stone due to the cultured stone only looks good on the surface. If you had to sand blast that stuff it would look ugly but real stone would look like new.

One issue not posted in this thread is discoloration with faux stone. I forget the name of the company (a Paver guy recommeneded them), but the faux stacked stone (concrete based) I looked at would discolor if it comes into contact with pool water (installation documentation stated so)... chlorine was the main reason for discoloration.

So even though the faux stone is above your water line, the question is: will pool eater contact it? Salt pools still have chlorine in them.

Make sure you check the product's specs for any faux/cultured stone.

-Gorilla

We were given the same story as Gorilla x.....cultured stone is not a good idea in any pool...due to the chlorine. We added cultured stone to our outdoor kitchen and bar area, so it is not in contact with our pool water unless someone does a cannonball near the deep end and splashes it. We were told, if it really gets wet with pool water, just hose it down. The salesman at the stone store was making sure we were not using it in the pool where it would come in continous contact with the pool water.

Salt stains are not usually a problem, but the Calcium ones are. How much Calcium that is your water depends on where you live.

As far as bleaching, any time there is Chlorine in the water the colors will be bleached(just like you bleach your clothes).
This goes for colored cement(Pebble Tec and the like) and also Faux Stone which is colored cement. This is the main
reason for White plaster or light colored pool interiors. After a while(a couple of years) most of the colored finishes
will be bleached out. If you like water Blue water use a White interior, the Blue comes from the Green of the water and the Sky reflection.

Cliff s

GK5040,

With the cultured stone on your outdoor kitchen and bar area, when it does get wet, does it leave white deposits behind?
The cultured stone we're using will not be in contact with the water but like yours, will occasionally get wet when kids are splashing around.
Have you had any negative experiences with the faux stone?

-Steve

It does get wet, when the kids are jumping into the deep end.....normal play it doesnt get wet. I remember the salesman said splashing wasnt a problem, he just wanted to make sure we werent using it on a spillover spa, where it would be in constant contact with the water. We have no white deposits, really do not expect any...ever... but it was only finished the end of August. One day I did hose it down after the kids were doing constant cannon balls. No negative experiences, we love it. The b-bque installer did not suggest we use the stack stone on the other side of the island....he said you dont want to splatter grease while you are cooking onto it. If we did want to stone the inner side of the island, he suggested we seal it but he was hesitant to suggest that because he said it was a pain to do, it could change the color and then would require doing it every year. We also had the pillars stacked stoned and they look great. Here is a photo from when it was completed this summer. I will try to take another picture tomorrow.

Not sure why my previous message didnt show up as a post update, even though its in the posted question. I accidently hit back on my browser. I added this message, so you could see I responded.

Fake stone around a pool??? What are you thinking??? It will efflorensce, fade, and dissolve... even without the salt system.

What pool builder in their right mind would even suggect such a thing?

Oh yeah... the low bidder!

Natural stone can have the same deficiencies.

It has nothing to do w/ low or high bidder, most of the time it has to do with fitting a clients budget.

We would like to put the best materials on all pools, but most of the time projects are budget driven.

Ahhhh, so my thread isn't the only one that "whatareyouthinking" is trolling. Disregard that person's post/ posts, they are pointless, uninformed and placed merely to try and get a rise out of people. "Don't feed the troll" :-)

when the stone is going to be very near the pool (on the bond beam or a wet wall) we ONLY use natural stone....especially on salt water pools.

So was "whatareuthinking" referring to my pool where the cultured stone is on the grill area???? I hope NOT. I think my stone got splashed 3 times last summer/fall. I agree with natural one.

This thread is super helpful. We are using the stone for a sheer descent waterfall into the pool. The water doesn’t spill onto the stone directly but obviously will get wet when kids are splashing in the pool. So the overall consensus I think is to go with natural stone?

I had planned to use Cultured Stone many years ago on a project-maybe 20 years ago.

The appeal was the ease of the installation with it being a thin veneer.

I did however reach out the manufacturer and asked their opinion on installing it on a pool application.

They did not recommend it. We did use natural stone.

In the last 6-8 years or so, manufacturers offer thin stone veneer in natural stone. It installs easily and is real stone. One company was R Stone. They have a nice selection.

99% of our projects we use natural stone. Periodically patios are pavers.

The only time we used Cultured Stone was on a screen/wood frame structure to hide pool equipment.