Houston, TX Pool Build Diary - From Design to Dive-In

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Waterline tile went in today. Not 100% done, but most of it.




You can see the difference here between the gray and white thinset and then also what grout does.

In this order from top to bottom:

White thinset with white grout
Grey thinset with no grout
White thinset with no grout (yet)




It's really an amazing difference between them. My wife and I had a panicked moment that they installed the wrong tile because the one with the grout we thought was one of the sample sheets we ordered and that the rest of the tile was what the builder ordered for the job. We were greatly relieved to find that they are the same tile though. So it looks like it will all really lighten up more once the grout is applied.


plat.
 
Plat, that tile looks A.MA.ZING!!! Such a difference in the colors with the different thinset and the grout added. Your build is moving right along!
What's yellowish stuff on the spa? A waterproof membrane of some kind?
 
Nursenini said:
Plat, that tile looks A.MA.ZING!!! Such a difference in the colors with the different thinset and the grout added. Your build is moving right along!
What's yellowish stuff on the spa? A waterproof membrane of some kind?
Click to expand...

Thanks!!

Yes, some kind of sealer, still not sure exactly what. It's to help stop efflorescence seeping through from what I could get out of the mason. He said they typically only do this for glass tile. I'll ask the builder if I ever remember. He was here today and I totally forgot when we were going over some other issues.

plat.
 
So more materials showed up today. We got ledgestone and spa tile delivered. I got stuck in meetings for a few hours and next time I looked out back this happened.













The builder said this will have to be sealed, so they wetted some to show us how it will darken. I actually like the lighter natural color a bit more and also when it darkens it won't match the ledgestone we already have installed in the patio. We may decide to seal the patio as well after the fact so they match. Will have to see...

plat.
 
Marlahoutex said:
So why do they need to seal it?
Click to expand...

Builder is recommending because of salt and perpetual splashing from water features, but I probably should dig deeper into that. The ledgestone is quartzite, so I don't think it is necessarily prone to any issues from getting wet or from salt. It is a pre-fab material with some kind of adhesive to create larger bricks of it, so maybe that is a factor. I will ask.

Thanks
plat.
 

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platipus said:
Builder is recommending because of salt and perpetual splashing from water features, but I probably should dig deeper into that. The ledgestone is quartzite, so I don't think it is necessarily prone to any issues from getting wet or from salt. It is a pre-fab material with some kind of adhesive to create larger bricks of it, so maybe that is a factor. I will ask.

Thanks
plat.
Click to expand...

Is it Quartz or Quartzite? My understanding is that quartzite is the natural stone and unless it's being used as pavers on the decking it should be fine without being sealed. Quartz is a man-made product and should be sealed...? That was the understanding I got from my research.
 
twinkiesmommy2009 said:
Is it Quartz or Quartzite? My understanding is that quartzite is the natural stone and unless it's being used as pavers on the decking it should be fine without being sealed. Quartz is a man-made product and should be sealed...? That was the understanding I got from my research.
Click to expand...

It's quartzite (we're pretty sure, but it's been 4 years since we originally picked it out for the patio). Yeah, I think this is one where I need to ask more questions. Probably back to the supplier it was purchased from to see what they say as well. The darker look could also grow on me as well. Will need to wet down the entire wall once it is up.

That actually does bring up a good point too. When wet it gets darker, so that means that any areas that get splashed if it is not sealed will also look wet next to any dry areas so it might be better to seal it for that reason alone so it looks the same or at least more consistent when it does get wet.

We will also have one water feature that will have flowing water over a section of the wall and I am thinking that is a concern too in that unsealed stone there will be more prone to hard water staining.

I may have just talked myself into sealing it now....


Thanks!!!
plat.
 
All good points in favor of sealing. I wonder if once the sealer is fully dried or cured (whatever a sealer does, lol), if it would be a little less wet looking than it is when wet? I have some wood stuff we sealed that looked, well, wet, when we first did it but once it fully dried, it either lost that look, or I stopped noticing it. Can you get a sample to seal and see how it looks once it's dry? That could help.

When hours are potentially spent selecting finishes, we should be informed of anything that could change the look so much. I know that had to be frustrating. Sorry Plat!

And thanks! I'm going to be wetting all of my samples to make sure I like them wet as well as dry. [emoji5]


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My gut says that sealing it will be helpful in the future to keep scaling and water deposits from happening from the water splashing on it. To me it will be easier to clean when needed also.........sealing means a "solid" surface so will be easier to keep clean.

Everything is looking SO pretty!

Kim
 
For sure, wetting all your samples is a must! Although when we were looking at tile and coping, one place even brought out a spray bottle so we could see it wet before we asked for a sample.

Plat, I like the black, but also the gray. I know that's helpful! LOL! But it also wouldn't bother me if it was the gray and water splashed on it and it got darker. But either way it'll be beautiful!
 
Had a small hiccup today and it's all on us. We agreed that standard flagstone would be OK for the raised wall capstone. We picked out two palates of it a couple weeks ago just for this. The masons cut about 15' of it and had it laid out on the wall when we went out to look. It's just too random. We need something more consistent. So we called the builder and he asked us to let the masons to know to stop. The masons were not too happy I think. I'm pretty sure they think that we were unhappy with their work and not the look of the flagstone. We'll need to let the lead mason know this wasn't an issue with his crew. It was just two of his guys today.

I think we're going to need to find some kind of cast stone product or at at least some kind of saw cut natural stone in a standard size.

The perimeter overflow spa continues to get refined. Yesterday they broke out the theodolite again and a 3' level and put yet another layer of mortar/cement on the spa to get a more perfectly level base for the tile. My wife was concerned that they changed the levelness of the top of the spa wall (increasing the curve) so that you couldn't set a glass on it. (The HORRROR! Literally.) So I took a plastic tumbler and set it on it. The key takeaway here being that heads would roll and fire would fall from the sky if we couldn't set a wine glass on the spa wall. Crisis averted as it will hold a glass just fine with no risk of tipping. The spa wall makes a fine platform for beverages.


plat.
 
Seriously, total tear out and redesign would have been in order.

If you get big enough pieces of flagstone it can be cut to look less like flagstone. My PB was all about that. We didn't know then but we're glad he did. Check mine in build thread, you might like.
 

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