Here are some things that may help you to decide. First and foremost, you must realize that acid is extremely dangerous. Professionals have been trained in the use of the acid. They know the protective clothing they must wear as well as proper disposal techniques of the used acid. Also, acid washing your pool is no simple chore, it requires that you work in small sections at a time, approximately 10' sections, and that you then go back and wash the acid off the walls of that section when you have completed that section.

Some of the protective clothing that you need to wear if you do decide to do the chore yourself are protective clothing, preferable a plastic type suit to keep the acid off your skin. The acid will go right through any cloth and start "eating" your skin. You really need to use some type of respirator, or breathing apparatus made specifically to counter acid fumes or the vapor from the acid could potentially burn your lungs. Eye protection is also a must as are rubber boots.

Once you have the proper protective clothing to do the job, you then need to think about how you are going to dispose of the acid-water that was used to wash the pool down. First, you need to neutralize the acid before you just dump it somewhere. The water should be pumped out to a location away from anything that can be harmed by the acid, or even down a storm drain or sewer drain. Please note: Before you start the process, you need to check with your local water authority to find out what the laws are for dumping this type of water. You may have to have a professional company do the work as your local water authority may require the water be transported to a special location for disposal.

Now that you know how you can disposed of the waste water legally, you are ready to start draining your pool. This draining can be done as you normally would as the chemical levels are going to be pretty low. When you are draining the pool, you want to remove as much of the "gunk" as possible. This includes any algae, leaves, dirt or other debris that may be in your pool. Scrub the walls down while you are draining the pool to remove as much of the "gunk" as possible. Once the pool is drained, you can then enter the pool and remove all the "gunk" and throw it in the trash.

The next step is to get suited up. Put on all your protective clothing, including the boots, eye protection and respirator.

Once you are suited up, you are ready to start mixing the acid mixture. You can use any plastic container for applying the acid wash to your pool. We recommend a watering can that you can purchase at any garden supply store. The ratio of acid to water should be a 1 to 1 mixture. So depending on the size of the watering can you have, or if you have a larger plastic container that you can pre-mix the acid and water in, you would use 1 gallon of water and 1 gallon of acid. Please note, you should ALWAYS add the water first, and then add the acid to the water. This will make for less of a chance of splashing full strength, or almost full strength, acid.

Now that you have your acid wash mixture ready, it's time to start the actual acid washing process. The first step is to turn on your hose and wet down the wall that you are about to acid wash. Leave your hose running in the pool as you work and keep it close for quick access. Once the wall is wet, you can then start pouring the acid mixture down the wall. Start at the top of the wall and work down. You can then use an acid brush to scrub the walls down where you have poured the acid. Do this quickly, as you do not want to let the acid be in contact with the plaster for more than 60 seconds if possible. This means that you should be able to do approximately a ten foot section at a time. After you have done a small section, grab the hose and start washing the wall down with the fresh water. Make sure you wash the wall thoroughly to get all the acid off the plaster. If you don't get all the acid off the wall, the acid will continue to eat into the plaster and can potentially create holes in the plaster, requiring that your pool be replastered. You also need to be careful to watch how the acid mixture you are pouring on the walls is going to the deep end. If you are not paying attention, it can create a channel in the shallow end and again, possibly create a situation where replastering is needed.

If you notice that the acid is not removing all the stains from your plaster, you have three options. First, you can acid wash the pool a second time. It is actually very common that pools are acid washed twice and not just once. The second option is that you can let the acid sit on the wall a little longer than you have have been and scrub a bit harder. Just be careful that you don't leave it on the plaster so long that it permanently damages the plaster. The third option is to strengthen the acid solution. Instead of a 50-50 solution, try a one third to two third solution. Rarely if ever is a one to two solution required.

One more thing about acid washing. If you have vinyl pool, you do not want to acid wash it. Vinyl pools are cleaned with detergents and conditioners. You have to be careful when doing a vinyl pool however, because resetting the liner can be difficult.

We recommend that you pay a professional company to come and do the actual acid wash of your pool. Because of the safety requirements and treatment and disposal of the waste water, it is easier to let the professionals who know the rules take care of it all. So how much will it cost? Well, this depends on many factors, so I'm not going to give you a hard price. I will tell you what will help determine the price. These include, but are not limited to: