Are the tiles at the waterline necessary? Like keeping the pool finish below the water line. Or are they installed strictly for aesthetic reasons? I'm wondering if I could omit them all together.
Do I need tiles at the waterline?
- Thread starter mlawrence17
- Start date
Most pool finishes are designed to be kept underwater. Can't think of any that aren't, but I'm not a pool guy. You'll need something at the waterline and tile is probably the least problematic and easiest to clean. Some people use flagstone (like me), but you'll need to be very careful if you choose a natural stone as, depending on its composition, it could deteriorate.
I've seen pools with pebble finishes with no waterline tile. It makes it very hard to clean.
sorry, it would be gunite. Sounds like everyone agrees it makes it harder to keep the finish clean.
When we were shopping, one PB offered that as an option with a pebble finish. He showed us some pictures, and it looked pretty good. Different, but in a good way.
I like the way it looks with the pebble tec all the way up. I think its called rolled bond beam? But we went with the hind sight of other pool owners and had the water line tile installed due to cleaning issues.
I have a pool on my route that was diamond brite all the way to the coping. no waterline tiles. water got under the coping and the pool finish is falling off and the patio is all cracked up. Of course these builders did not seal properly between the finish and coping but best to install waterline tiles. it looks better and diamond brite will eventually crack up in the sun if exposed above the water. we did do a waterfall and some finish is exposed at the very bottom but we keep the waterfall on as much as possible to keep it wet. we only did this on the bottom as the pool owners ran out of tile and wanted the tile section of the fall centered. they were using some old tile they had left over and no one manufactures it anymore..at least we could not find it anywhere. it's been 2 1/2 years and all is still good with the finish.
but best not to cut corners and get the waterline tiles.
but best not to cut corners and get the waterline tiles.
after a few years pebble tec will crack if it has been installed above the waterline. I did this on my old pool and it cracked horribly.
