Glass Tile Mosaic Infinity Edge Pools

Famous vanishing edge pool designer Paolo Benedetti discusses glass tile mosaic pools.

It all about the glass!
Since a glass tile mosaic pools can consume a thousand plus square feet of material, everyone & his uncle are promoting their glass tile as suitable for swimming pools. They'll sell more tile for one pool, than they'll sell for showers and back splashes in an entire year.

But be forewarned, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

The cheap glass mosaics that you find at your local warehouse store are not suitable for outdoor applications, let alone swimming pools. Even worse, are the thousands of cheap Asian imports that are flooding the market.

Tile distributors and vendors in the United States, seeing the opportunity to make some money, have entered into private labeling agreements with these inferior Asian manufacturers. Some reputable furnishing companies have also put their names on some of these inferior tiles.

Almost no one from these United States companies has even bothered to travel to Asia to visit or inspect the manufacturing facilities. They have absolutely no idea how the tiles are made, the ingredients, whether the correct manufacturing procedures are being followed and the if there are even any quality control measures.

Limited Liability
In California for instance, a retailer is not liable if a product they sell is later found to be defective. That liability falls on the manufacturer.... do you see where this is going? The importer and retailer are free and clear!

You're going to have to sue the manufacturer in Asia to recover your losses when the tiles begin to fracture, crack, spall or disintegrate.

While you can sue the entities in the United States, they will claim that they have no control over the manufacturing process - hey, maybe that's why they don't want to go inspect the manufacturing facilities??? You think??

Poor Installation Practices
To top off the inferior tile, these Asian manufacturers are including installation instructions that do not meet international standard for glass tile installation (e.g. ISO, ANSI, TCNA, CTCA).

I was recently provided a set of instructions by a contractor in California, who insisted that the instructions included with the Chinese glass tile that he was selling were adequate. The Chinese instructions did not specify a leveling bed or waterproof membrane, nor did they even provide a list of tested and approved setting manufacturers. Their instructions said to mix "readily available white cement & sand" into a slurry paste to seal the concrete shell. A second coat of the same slurry was to be used to adhere the tiles to the pool shell. Finally, they stated that "any commercially available grout" could be used to grout the tiles.

Worse yet, the contractor ACTUALLY BELIEVED that this was adequate. And the homeowners and property owners he sold directly to bought into his horse & pony show.

If the going rate for the installation alone of glass tile is $55-$100 per square foot, then how can he provide and install glass tile for $20 per square foot?

Cheap inferior materials and inferior installation practices!!! Just follow the contractor's trail of unhappy customers and license revocations in other states!

I'd love to drive a Ferrari and only pay the price of a Yugo - but seriously, it isn't going to happen! Don't let your greed get the better of you!

Paolo Benedetti - Aquatic Artist
"Creating water as art."™
Aquatic Technology Pool & Spa©
www.aquatictechnology.com