Waterline Tile or Not?

[ehorn]

I'm in the process of deciding on weither I want waterline tile in my pool or not. I'm building a 90' perimeter pool, gunite IG with pebbletec finish. One company wants to put in waterline tile which looks pretty cool and says that it makes it a lot easier to clean from the calcium due to evaporation.

Just want to find out what people's opinions are for using tile or no tile with pebbletec.

Thanks,
Eric

[joelq]

We decided to go with waterline tile just because we thought it wouldn't look finished without it. I'd also assume that any calcification would be easier to clean off tile than it would pebble, but haven't had to do any of that yet.

[breckens]

I have a 9 yr old pebbletec pool without any waterline tile. I think the lack of tile make the pool look unfinished and white calcium deposits at the waterline have built up further detracting from the appearance. I've been told by two pool tile installers and by Pebbletec themselves that tile should not be installed over Pebbletec although none have had actual experience doing it. They propose chipping out the Pebbletec and then installing tile. Has anyone tried putting tile over it?

[medfordman]

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the best thing to clean the waterline tile? I've read the Mr. Clean sponge works well. But doesn't it disintegrate quickly on the tile?

[waterbear]

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the best thing to clean the waterline tile? I've read the Mr. Clean sponge works well. But doesn't it disintegrate quickly on the tile?

If there is no scale use tile soap. If you have scale deposits on the tile use a mixture of tile soap and muriatic acid. You can get tile soap in the gallon at most well equiped pool supplies. It works the best, IMHO.

[cschnurr]

I have a vinyl pool without a waterline border installed 2.5 years ago.

We really liked the clean look when it was installed. However over time the wall below the waterline looks much cleaner than the wall above regardless of how well I try to clean it.

The fading and scum above or at the waterline is much more noticable without a border. When this liner is thru, I think next time we'll probably have a simple border put in place.