I'm still a week or two out from having the interior guys pebble-tec the pool and I'm still undecided about installing Tile around the water line.

A lot of people I talk to say that the pebble-tec look tries to achieve a more natural, tropical, lagoon type of look and that tile kind of spoils that look.

Others say (most interior subs who happen to have a tile business on the side) that I absolutely need tile because of the water line staining on the pebble-tec.

The former group says that with or without tile, you will have staining anyways, so why spoil the look at the same time? They also say that staining is relatively easy to clean (which I'm not convinced of yet).

Does anyone have an opinion on this? If possible, I would love to see pictures of pools that have Pebble-Tec and Tile, so that I can see for myself.

I'm slated to go visit the tile sub's showroom in a week or so, but I want to hear from people who have been there, done that - and have had time to live with it for awhile. To me thats better than anything a tile sub can show me.

Thanks,
BenC

>A lot of people I talk
>to say that the pebble-tec
>look tries to achieve a
>more natural, tropical, lagoon type
>of look and that tile
>kind of spoils that look.
>
>
>Others say (most interior subs who
>happen to have a tile
>business on the side) that
>I absolutely need tile because
>of the water line staining
>on the pebble-tec.

Ben,

I have a PebbleTec pool. It is almost impossible to remove scale from the PebbleTec. It is possible to remove scale from tile. I use a pumice stone on my waterline tile occasionally to keep the waterline looking nice. I try to keep my Saturation Index close to 0 and I still get a scale ring because (I think) of the high evaporation here in Arizona.

My pool builder refuses to put PebbleTec at the waterline any more because it turns into an ugly mess.

If you want a more natural looking pool, pick a tile color that is similar to and blends in with your PebbleTec color. You will not hate yourself later when your beautiful lagoon pool has an ugly ring that cannot be cleaned

Good luck,
Kathy

Thanks Kathy -

I was wondering if you still get staining even though you have tile (e.g. above the tile due to splashing and water movement and below the tile - if thats possible)?

If so, how bad is it?

Thanks,
BenC