Swimming Pool Design

Why you need an expert swimming pool designer...

Value
A swimming pool designer will interview you and determine your needs, your changing lifestyle and your entertainment style.  They will plan and prepare your project for future modifications to accommodate those changes in the project's use.

Creativity
A designer can offer ideas and options that a salesman simply cannot.  If something is not on a company's menu, a salesman is not going to offer it.  Salesmen that attempt to deliver features that are out of their normal realm, more than likely they will not work properly.  I have seen a vanishing edge promised by salesmen to be a cascading waterfall, become nothing more than a spraying basin overshooting mess.

Money Savings
How can spending money on a swimming pool designer save me money?  Nothing is left for interpretation.  Thorough plans ensure that there is nothing omitted from the bids, that change orders are minimal and that the structural engineer has a clear picture of the intent.

Future modifications in the project, to meet lifestyle or use changes, can be incorporated.  This foresight can literally save you thousands of dollars by not having to rip out prior work that you paid good money for.

 
Paolo Benedetti, SWD Aquatic Artist, Watershape Consultant, Expert Witness, International Construction Management 
Contact the author at: info@aquatictechnology.com or 408-776-8220 
"Creating water as art."™ 
Aquatic Technology Pool and Spa© 
©www.aquatictechnology.com All rights reserved.

Glass Mosaic Tile Expert Witness Discolorations

You paid a pretty penny for the installation of glass tile mosaic in your swimming pool, spa, watershape or fountain.  Now you're seeing a discoloration behind the tiles.  

The installer it telling you that it's normal or from airborne mold spores during installation.  But you have doubts... and you are correct in your suspicions.

Source of Discolorations

Most discolorations are the result of installation errors.  They can be from any of the following installation mistakes:

• using gray cements or setting materials
• not keeping the tiles shaded until the pool is filled
• not protecting the work from rain or irrigation water
• allowing the bond coat to skin over (poor bond, voids)
• too thin of a bondcoat
• excess water in the bondcoat
• incorrectly using the direct set (two step) installation method
• leaving trowel marks
• grouting too soon (not allowing the bondcoat to fully cure)
• filling the pool too soon after grouting
• fielding mixing setting materials (results in unknown sheer and compression strengths, density and permeability)
• not using a waterproof membrane
• too thin of a bondcoat (allowing the membrane to shadow through)
• allowing ground water to soak through the pool shell

These are just some of the most common mistakes.  Individually or in combination, they can result in a beautiful pool turning into a hideous mess.

Industry Standards

Regardless of what the installation method your installer or the tile manufacturer recommends, there are acceptable industry standards.

Many foreign manufacturers are not aware that the tile industry in North America has performed significant testing and analysis if glass tile mosaic installation practices.  They have established acceptable methods of installing glass tile mosaics that apply to EVERY INSTALLATION in North America.  They are the GOSPEL for glass tile installations.

These practices are published under the ANSI A108.14, A108.15 and A108.16: Standards for the Installation of Glass Tile Mosaics.  They also make direct reference to the quality and performance standards for the required mortar beds, waterproof membranes, bondcoats (thinsets) and grouts.

The field mixing of mortar beds and setting materials cannot guarantee that they meet the ANSI performance standards.

Paolo Benedetti, SWD Aquatic Artist, Watershape Consultant, Expert Witness, International Construction Management 
Contact the author at: 
info@aquatictechnology.com or 408-776-8220 
"Creating water as art."™ 
Aquatic Technology Pool and Spa© 
©www.aquatictechnology.com All rights reserved.