Why would regular mosaic tile not work in a diy situation?

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12mustangdude

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Feb 21, 2014
79
dfw tx
Best thoughts happen while drinking. Or at least the most random. Finished a shower install and was wondering why can't you do the same thing in a pool.

Assuming the plaster is in decent shape why would putting some aquadefence or redguard down in 3-4 layers thick .4-.5mil thick. Mortar. Mosaic tiles. And some epoxy adhesive on top.

Is it the way pool chemicals react to the epoxy and mortar? Fish can survive in redguard/ aquadefence fish tanks so I doubt its that.

Is it cost?

$1k for redguard

$300 mortar

$1-3k for tile

$1k for epoxy grout

What am I missing? Wouldn't this last way long than conventional plaster?
 
No, there are such things as tiled pools. There was a user on here from Hawaii that had one. I can't speak to the material costs, but the labor of installing tile and doing it on curved pool surfaces while maintaining a proper grout line is what drives the cost so high. Sure, I can tile a shower myself and do an ok job (I'm sure my lines wouldn't look good) but, on a large pool surface, any deviation in the grout lines will instantly pop out to the naked eye and look horrible.

Chemistry-wise you'd only have to worry about the pool water interacting with the grout and, as you say, you can use an epoxy grout which would be practically inert.
 
I'm no expert on tile work and would wholeheartedly pay someone to tile my shower before doing it myself, but I'm pretty sure you'd need that epoxy underlay to act as an additional water proofing barrier. I could be wrong but I think plaster still requires something to be applied to the gunite before plaster is put down.

Labor would cost more than materials. I seem to remember the tile masons that did the work on my pool (waterline tile, spa tile face towards the pool and stacked stone veneer on the deck side of the spa) took about 2 to 3 days to complete the job and that was a peak crew of at least 5 guys - 2 guys to lay the tile and 3 guys to do the grunt work. So think about a crew of 5 or 6 guys doing the tile work in your pool and probably needing a solid week to complete it....that's a HUGE labor cost.

So I think the answer to your question is just one of cost.
 
We just got back from 2 weeks in Maui and the condo we rented in Kapaula had three community pools. All 3 of them had 100% 1x1 mosaic tiles with the 4'x4' Kapulua logo (butterfly with a pineapple in the center) in the shallow end. The condo in Wailea had the same thing! Now that I know something about building pools - I was eyeballs popping impressed....Man, that must have been expensive.

It must be a Hawaii thing?
.
 
All the technical issues of installing ceramic tile as a pool finish are pretty easily overcome. There are many tile pools in Europe.

You simply need to have your wallet ready......really ready.

Pooldv is probably pretty close but it may be even more than that.
 
Right! I do know of one pool that tiling was an extra $40k! I didn't ask why, I don't need to know these things. Even if I had 40k burning a hole in my pocket it would not be spent on pool tile. :-D
 
A point of concern using a "random" tile is some are pigmented with metals which may leach. Stay away from the purples & reds as the lower end products are colored with iron & it doesn't play nice with pool chemicals- unless manufacturers OK for pool install.
 

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tcrote5516 said:
I've noticed you tend to see them in places/countries with lower labor rates which pretty much clears up the reason you don't see many in the US.
Click to expand...

These same countries are mostly doing form & pour or monolithic poured pools, with out access to rigs for shooting the concrete.. Poured pools are much easier to tile completely as tend to be very linear vs shot pools, a huge cost savings.


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