The popularity of smaller garden swimming pools has soared, but pay attention to the advice below when choosing to tile a swimming pool.
Before you start tiling, it's essential to test the pool to ensure it's watertight – any repairs should be carried out using the appropriate methods. Tiling should not be viewed as a method of waterproofing the pool.
Tiling may be applied directly if the concrete shell has a smooth finish. Otherwise, it'll need rendering and screeding. Tiling may commence when the surface is clean, smooth, and free from dust and imperfections.
Fix the tiles with weber set SPF — or any of our other tile adhesives for swimming pools — and use the solid bed method, pressing the tiles firmly into the glue to ensure that there are no voids behind them. Back-buttering the tiles is good practice when tiling a swimming pool shell to help eliminate the possibility of holes behind the tile. It is also good practice occasionally lift a tile to ensure a solid bed. Finally, wipe away any excess adhesive from between the joints.
When choosing grout for swimming pools, you'll need to choose either an epoxy or a cement-based grout with a high level of re-dispersible polymers.
Although a cement-based grout may be used, it will gradually become damaged by corrosion from the pool water and erosion from water movement and cleaning. For this reason, it is better to choose a grout with a high level of re-dispersible polymer included in the powder, such as weber-joint premium (available in a wide range of swimming pool tile grout colours).
Epoxy grouts are also recommended for swimming pool tile grouts as their longer working life outweighs the higher initial cost. This is especially so for saltwater pools. Pools surrounding are particularly sensitive areas where the above requirements apply due to the alternate wetting and drying and high frequency of cleaning.