BENEFITS OF A WORM STAIN SHIELD

If you have reddish-brown stains in your in-ground plaster pool, they’re probably from worms that get into the pool over the winter and end up at the bottom in the deepest end, where there is less light and it’s warmer. The problem is that they can’t get out, but they also cannot breathe down there, so they eventually suffocate and die. When they die, they release an iron-based fluid that causes rust-looking stains that permeate the plaster and are extremely hard to remove. It’s also pretty gross. By the time you open your pool in the spring, you could be looking at a pile of dead worms sitting right on top of your drain. There are three ways to deal with the stains; however, the first two methods are not very efficient and can be very costly in the end.

1. Buy a pumice stone, which is relatively inexpensive ($20), but only if the stain is very small and very light. The reason is that the pumice stone will scrape away the plaster. If you scrape away too much and see concrete, the only repair is a full plaster renovation, which will run anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000.
2. Next you can buy a quart of powdered stain remover, (About $40-$50) pour it in a sock, tie it to your sweeper pole and hover it over the stain for an hour or so. That usually doesn’t work for moderate to heavy stains, so you’ll need to buy another quart (About $40-$50) and repeat the process. If that doesn’t work (Especially on heavy stains) then you could repeat this process again or put about 25 Lbs. of shock (About $135-$150) in the pool and over a month or so the stain should disappear. Between the stain remover and the shock, you could spend more than $200 and wait a month, and you may have to do it all over again next spring.
3. Purchase a WORM STAIN SHIELD (About $140) to place over the drain when you close the pool. The Worm Stain Shield will prevent the worm fluids from permeating the plaster. Since the worms end up in the deepest part of the pool, they collect right around the drain, which is exactly where the shield sits. It covers the drain and almost 2 feet of the surrounding plaster, so the worms settle on top of the shield instead of on your plaster. It keeps debris out of the drain, so you won’t have to deal with a clogged drain line either. It lasts for years, so you can use it year after year, and you won’t have to spend all that time and money removing stains.

When it’s time to open the pool, just lift the shield out, rinse it off, and put it away until you close the pool in the fall. No scrubbing, no socks, and no bags of shock. Put it in at closing and forget about it until opening. At about $140 for a shield that lasts for years, it’s cheap insurance against costly stain removal, a clogged drain, or a $5,000 plaster job.