Pool tile should last an average of 5 to 10 years if the water chemistry is well maintained and the pool is cared for. However, it's important to consider factors such as the type of tile and overall pool maintenance when estimating or trying to determine the expected useful life of your pool tile.
Lining a pool with tiles has long been regarded as the premium finish for swimming pools. Tiles are regarded highly due to their appearance and superior durability. On a practical level, they are easier to clean than cement based rendered surfaces such as pebblecrete used in concrete pools and require less maintenance.
To withstand the extra stress, pool tiles are coated with a specially formulated glaze that makes them acid and fade-resistant.
It's usually recommended to seal pool tile grout every three to five years. This extra protection for your grout will help your tile to look its best, not to mention staying in place.
Tile Finishes
Though tile is the most expensive pool finish and takes longer to install than plaster and aggregate, it's the longest lasting pool surface. With proper application and minimal maintenance, tiles should never need to be replaced. Tile pool finishes come in ceramic, porcelain, glass and stone.
Regrouting allows you to remove mold that may have accumulated between pool tiles. You can do this yourself and save a lot of money. It is a simple, straight forward task, but quite time consuming, so leave plenty of time to work before you want to use your pool again.
In most cases, well-kept pool tiles can last around 20 years before a full re-tiling is necessary. Here are a few good places to start before you commit to the investment of a total pool tile replacement.
Part 1 of 3:
If you're only replacing a couple tiles along a top edge, you'll only need to drain enough water to expose the area and keep it from being splashed. If you're redoing your entire pool, drain all of the water and let it sit for a day or 2, until it's fully dry.
Yes. The thinset and grout used to install the new tile will fall onto the pool surface. This is not easily brushed off. The pool will likely have to be pressure washed and possibly acid washed after the retile if you are not replastering the pool as well.
Tiling your pool has numerous benefits over other surfaces. Tiles are generally much more durable than other types of surfaces. Tiles are also easier to replace and repair. If your plaster surface develops significant cracks, you may need to resurface the whole pool.
All concrete pools require some sort of tile or stone edge vertical border around the top perimeter. There are hundreds of tile options to choose from, including: porcelain, slate, ceramic, granite, and glass. However, not all are advisable to use in certain regions where frost climates exist during winter months.
A tile that will either add a pop of color to the pool or a neutral color that blends into the surrounding environment. To enhance the pool's water color, a blue or teal colored tile is best. For a more natural look or to compliment the pool deck, a tile with colors found in natural stone works nicely.
Every five years or so, older pools need regrouting. You can usually tell this is needed because in the summer you will notice black marks appearing on your floor and walls of pool - black algy, it grows in all the tiny spaces between the tiles where the grout is missing.
It costs an average price of $25 per linear foot to replace waterline tiles, with respect to the additional cost of materials.
Step 3 – Tile and Masonry
This process can take anywhere from 1 to 3 working days.
Epoxy grout is durable, waterproof, and requires no sealing. For these reasons, waterproof epoxy grout is a great choice for swimming pools. It's resistant to staining, cracking, and crumbling, making it ideal for areas where there is a likelihood of high traffic.
Freezing weather causes a surface to contract and hot weather causes it to expand. Apply that concept to the area where your tiles are applied and you have a solution. This problem most often presents itself when ice builds up underneath the pool.
Glass. Glass tiles are a luxury tiling option with an average cost of $7 to $50 per square foot. Glass is less durable and more expensive than other tiling options, but if you have a generous budget, glass tiles are a great way to make your pool stand out.
Use a hammer and chisel to remove any damaged tiles. Place the tip of the chisel in the joint of the cracked tile, then tap it with the head of the hammer to break the tile away from the mortar. Keep tapping until the whole pool tile design comes away, then repeat on any other damaged cement tiles.
If there are sizable cracks, enlarge them and remove any loose material with a disk grinder or chisel, and fill them with hydraulic cement (if deeper than 1 inch) or EZ Patch #1 (less than 1 inch). Fill in any holes to create a flat, even surface for the new tile.
The grout between your swimming pool tiles can be prone to algae growth. To remove algae, start by scrubbing the grout with a stiff brush. Once you've scrubbed the grout clean, rub it with a chlorine tablet. Finally, shock your pool to prevent regrowth.
Starlike Grout is high performance waterproof grout that's designed to hold up under the most demanding conditions. Starlike Grout is not only waterproof grout, it has outstanding durability, which makes it the perfect waterproof grout for any tile project.