Ah, off to Florida for some fun in the sun...So I thought. I was driving through georgia when my cell phone rang.

"Hello, Mr. Stone Detective?" the gravelly voice on the other end said. "I have a unique problem that no one seems to be able to figure out and was wondering if you could come take a look at it."

I asked him what the problem was and he went on to explain that he has a travertine deck on the back of his house that is about three stories high. All along the sides of the deck about six inches over the side there is this white deposit that was dripping down.

He proceeded to tell me that he has sealed the travertine and had gutters installed and he can never seem to get rid of the white deposits. His house happened to be in Florida, so I told him I would swing by on my way.

Luckily for me, or should I say him, his house was on my way right off the interstate. I pulled off the interstate and happened to see a Stuckey's. I remembered these stores when I was a kid; they were all over the place and I couldn't believe they were still open. I had to stop and buy some taffy and, of course, get a cup of jo. I also filled up the ole Woody and noticed that the side of the Stuckey's had a white residue on the sides near the roof line. Funny, I thought since this is what I was expecting to see when I did my inspection on Mr. Gravelly voice's home.

I pulled up to a gated community and told the guard I was there to do an inspection. This guy was your typical "I wanted to be a police officer but couldn't make it, so I became a security guard" type personality. He must have asked me 20 questions.You would have thought I was asking to inspect the White House.

I finally passed his integration and was off to the house. I pulled up to a home that looked like a giant tree house. You know, those ones you built or wish you had when you were a kid? The house was on stilts and was about four stories high. I pulled in the driveway and the home owner was there waiting for me. When he spoke, it was unmistakable that he was the man who called earlier. His voice literally sounded like he had swallowed a bag of gravel. He was smoking one of those short, smelly cigars.

He walked me around the back and pointed to the third story of his house where the deck was. Sure enough, there were white dripping marks all along the deck. "I see," I said. "Let's go take a look at the deck." We walked up the twisting three stories and on to the travertine deck.

The installation looked flat with no puddling but, on a closer look, I noticed some grout missing. I took out my Acoustical Sounding Device (a golf ball) to check the installation for hollowness. It was sound with hardly any hollow areas.

I next looked over the sides to get a closer look at the white deposits. I noted that all the deposits where just under the gutters near the gutter anchors. Several of the anchors where protruding out.

My suspicions at this point were confirmed. The installer did not take into consideration that if water got into the installation it would have nowhere to go and cause calcium and salt deposits from the setting mortar. In other words, he didn't put any type of drainage system in. I suggested that he have weep holes installed to allow the water to escape and to replace the missing grout.

Weeks later he had the work done and the problem of white deposits dripping was gone. Another case solved and now I can finally work on my tan.

The Stone Detective is a fictional character created by Fred Hueston, written to be entertaining and educational. Frederick M. Hueston is the founder of Stone Forensics (stoneforensics.com), a nationally known stone consulting company, and also the technical director for Stoneandtilepros.com.

He has written over 33 books on stone and tile installations, fabrication and restoration. He also serves as a expert for many legal cases across the world. Email comments to him at fhueston@stoneforensics.com

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