raised water feature on new build...tile or stone?

[tonyaspool]

Hi! I hope I am posting in the correct place. I have a new build that is currently being done and the border tile just went in. We chose a large blue tile. We are doing he raised water feature ourselves, most likely with three 3' cascades, but I am torn on what to do for the finish and need to figure it out soon so that we can get it done before we fill the pool with water.

First option: Stone ledger panels- I am worried about how the existing border tile that is already in place will look at the bottom of the stone. Does anybody have this that could share their pictures? For those that have the stone ledger water feature, is it hard to maintain? Do you wish you had gone with tile? Our plan is to run the auto fill off of the soft water system so the calcite shouldn't be as big of an issue for atleast a few years and we could replace the affected stone panels farther down the road by using less mortar in those areas.

Second option: Tile- If I were to do tile, I'm not sure that I would want the same blue tile for the raised wall. I was thinking of using the same colored blue tile, but the 1x1s instead. Does anybody have pictures of their pools with smaller tile next to larger tile? Will they clash? I'm open to other ideas as well. Our house is a spanish style so maybe somehow tying in a few spanish tiles to mix up all of the blue?

The first couple of photos are our pool. The water feature will go on the long side along the back fence to the right of the spa. It will be atleast 24" high and I haven't decided if I wanted it to be all one level or a couple of different heights.

 

[kimkats]

HI! What a neat "problem" to have! FUN! So do you have an any inspiration pictures to show us what you like? I am not really sure of what you are thinking.

I LOVE to help others spend their money LOL so this is right up my alley!

 

[tonyaspool]

I do! It would only allow me to put the 2 photos in the original post. Let me see how many more I can add...

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How do I add more photos? It keeps telling me that I've met my quota.

 

[kimkats]

You become a supporting member (wellworth it because we will teach you how to care for you own pool without setting foot in a Pool$tore!) or you can use something like photobucket using the IMG code.

BUT I do have to tell you it would be hard to beat that one up there!!!

 

[tonyaspool]

I'm not even sure that if I don't hit "reply with quote" that you'll be notified that I responded. Sorry, forgive me for being so new to this kind of forum

HI! What a neat "problem" to have! FUN! So do you have an any inspiration pictures to show us what you like? I am not really sure of what you are thinking.

I LOVE to help others spend their money LOL so this is right up my alley!

 

[tonyaspool]

Okay got it! Thanks. Here are some more ideas.

You become a supporting member (wellworth it because we will teach you how to care for you own pool without setting foot in a Pool$tore!) or you can use something like photobucket using the IMG code.

BUT I do have to tell you it would be hard to beat that one up there!!!

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So there is the design aspect that I am still unsure about, but more confusing to me is whether to do all tile, or all stone, and if i should remove the border of tile from the bottom of the stone if i do decide to go with stone. Here are a couple of pics of the stone ledger with and without the tile underneath.

 

[kkertzman]

We just did this look with 6" x 3'ft distressed wood tile....

 

[tonyaspool]

oh that looks so good! I love how both the colors of the tile and the wood tile are muted. I think if I stuck with a different finish on the wall, the colors would have to be bold like the bold blue tile. Do you agree?

 

[tonyaspool]

If we do the stone ledger on the wall, we will match it to the stone ledger that will go on the columns of the sunken gazebo. Here is the basic idea.

 

[kimkats]

I'm not even sure that if I don't hit "reply with quote" that you'll be notified that I responded. Sorry, forgive me for being so new to this kind of forum

I use the "My subscriptions" method.........Any thread I (anyone) posts to adds that thread to their subscriptions. You can access it under My Search Links above. You can also ask for a notification to be sent to your email. I do NOT do that any more as I found it hard to go through my email as I have a *couple* of threads I post on LOL



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I like this one the best as for as form.

What color of plaster are you thinking of? I will think on the stone or tile idea.

 

[Geosage]

Check out my build (in my signature, stonework starts page 5/6 I think). We have stacked stone above blue tile, and I think it looks good (we like the look of it but we like bold natural colors/textures).

 

[lumpy19]

Here's my build thread New build - Buffalo NY

I'm not sure what page it's on but we went with waterline tile over the face of the waterfall. The deep end swimout has 2x2 blue tile up against 1x1 tile so you can see how that looks as well.

 

[tonyaspool]

That looks great! Thanks for sharing!

Here's my build thread New build - Buffalo NY

I'm not sure what page it's on but we went with waterline tile over the face of the waterfall. The deep end swimout has 2x2 blue tile up against 1x1 tile so you can see how that looks as well.

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I do love those bold colors in your stacked stone. That looks great! What did you ever find out about how the maintenance will be on it? I know you haven't had it long enough to really notice any calcite build up yet, but do you have a plan for when it does occur?

Check out my build (in my signature, stonework starts page 5/6 I think). We have stacked stone above blue tile, and I think it looks good (we like the look of it but we like bold natural colors/textures).

 

[Geosage]

The plan is to do a light scrubbing every once and a while, assure the pool chemistry is up to par, and we're going to be adding an 'anti scaling' chemical. We'll see how that goes... get back to me in a couple years hehe...