Alright, so this is our first spring with our new pool, and upon removing our winter cover we had a clear distinction in the concrete between where the winter cover was and wasn't. I expected the part not covered to be dirtier, but this color difference doesn't seem to be dirt. It has a reddish/orange tinge to it. Power washing it with concrete cleaner seemed to make the darker area slightly less dark than before, but it's still obvious. I tried scrubbing on oxiclean... nothing. What is this?

 

I would have thought that the colors would have been reversed, ie the sun side lighter.
Is your pool deck just colored concrete or is it cool deck? You need to know before you choose the cleaning method.
Cool deck can be walked on in full sun without burning your feet.
I have not had a pool for a long time and when I did I remember using a stiff bristled brush to scrub and then pressure wash. You need something a lot stronger than Oxiclean to clean concrete. My pools were in Phoenix and all cool deck, cleaning them usually meant several times. Worse was tree stains from the overhanging branches. Some of those stains took 5-6 applications to get the color back.
Plan B time to recoat the deck. Deck paint is hideously expensive, and it is ALL about the prep, I had friends over for a Saturday and 6 of us cleaned then on Sunday 4 of us painted the cleaned dry concrete.


https://www.doityourself.com/stry/ho...ete-pool-decks

What is a pool? It is a hole in the ground where all the money goes a lot like a boat. (intended to be humor)

I enjoyed my pools but at my age, almost 70 do not think I could keep up with the cleaning any more.

 

Thanks for the reply!

Our deck is colored concrete. We live in NH so it it doesn't get anywhere near the heat/sun exposure that you see in Phoenix to warrant a cool deck. It's pretty new (poured just last June), so we're a bit inexperienced when it comes to caring for it.

Once the snow hits, we don't see the deck again for several months. Spring is when we get to see if it survived the winter. There wasn't any obvious cracking, so yay. I expected it to be possibly dirtier than the area that was covered, but while the concrete now seems pretty clean, the "stain" is still very visible. I originally used a concrete cleaner, let it sit, then pressure washed with a surface cleaner attachment. I used oxiclean thinking maybe it was organic (like from leaves or pine sappy-type debris). With that I scrubbed it in with a stiff brush and let it sit. We don't have trees overhanging, but they're all surrounding the pool yard.

Maybe I'm just not being persistent enough in my methods? I haven't yet used chlorine bleach (the cleaner I got through Lowe's didn't have bleach), but my husband is worried it might affect the concrete's color.

 

My 45 year old built in pool has the same issue. Cleaner under the cover. I power wash the area where the cover wasn't. From all the years of power washing.... the concrete has become rough. A lit bit erodes away every time it's washed.

I use a spinning 0 tip wand for cleaning...... no chemicals.
The video in the link illustrates the part. The home improvement stores carry them.
Rotating nozzle

 

I would not use Chlorine, I would find some TSP and try that first.

 

The OP tried a concrete cleaner. I don't think TSP will have the strength to clean that stain.
A product like muriatic acid would work but can be dangerous to handle.

When I clean my deck.... I don't use any chemicals.

 

Do you use a solid winter cover or a mesh one? I'm wondering if a solid cover could be trapping pool winterizing chemicals?

 

It's like any concrete surface, with time it's simply going to change color/texture/condition.

Having a portion of it covered is going to effect that area differently than the uncovered!

 

Perhaps you'd save some trouble by covering the concrete over the winter along with the pool. (Can't tell how large the pool deck is)

 

Sorry for the late response to this older post. We had the same issue in Upstate NY. I painted the concrete around the pool and pool house with a product called H&C Cool Seal, available through the Sherwin Williams store. You can get a variety of colors, it goes on easy, looks great, and has held up well for three years now. An added benefit is that it does actually make the cement around the pool cooler to walk on!