Common Questions About Getting a New Swimming Pool

Look at a glass of water and it is clear and colourless. And yet the water in pools and the sea appear to be shades of blue. Why? It’s all about the light. Sunlight is a spectrum of colours, through the rainbow from red to violet. When the light hits an object, some of the colours will be absorbed and some scattered. For example, an apple looks red because it absorbs all the other colours in the light and scatters only red. Water absorbs different wavelengths of sunlight to different degrees, with the longest wavelengths with the lowest energy being absorbed first. Red is the quickest to be absorbed, then orange then yellow. The blue end of the spectrum travels further through water before being absorbed. The colours disappear underwater in the same order. The sea seems to be blue because it absorbs all the other colours and only the blue light is scattered or reflected. A glass of water is too small an amount for the reflection of the blue light to be obvious, but when you fill a white bath with water you will see a blue tint. Clean water always appears blue, and deeper water appears more deeply blue as more of the other colours of the spectrum are absorbed.

Whether it is a pool for your home of a hotel complex, we’re here to help.

Red 4.6m Orange 7.6m Yellow 10.7m – 13.7m Green 21.3m – 22.8m

Good reviews online are of course a nice start, but they may reflect a high volume of smaller, less involved pools. And many of these reviews can be gamed, to some extent. Ask for samples of work, and talk to neighbours or friends who own pools to see whom they used.

It is always a good idea to differentiate the edge of a step from the “going” (the flat part of the step). Water will distort what you see and a delineated edge will help with this. Older and more vulnerable people are especially susceptible to injury if they fall and land partially outside of the pool because of a misstep. For commercial settings this is a requirement. 

Due to the manufacturing process whereby a mesh of some description is applied to the back of the individual Mosaics to form a “sheet” the amount of surface area of the mosaic that actually adheres to the substrate when fitted can be incredibly small. In such a hard-working environment as a pool, spa or steam room, this can result in individual mosaics (tesserae) coming loose (de-bonding) from the mesh, leaving unsightly and potentially dangerous exposed edges.
As far as mosaics are concerned we only promote the patented joint point paneling system, which joins the individual tesserae by a small amount of inert mortar which allows up to 95 percent coverage of adhesive to the mosaic.

Water can reduce the level of friction in direct contact with a surface and effectively acts as a lubricant. Walking or running may resulting in “the shearing effect,” which can lead to slips and accidents. We follow the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) guide lines and test our ranges in-house using a calibrated pendulum machine that gives a value for the tile range.

High Slip Potential: 0-24 PTV
Moderate Slip Potential: 25-35 PTV
Low Slip Potential: 36+ PTV
PTV = Pendulum Test Value

Contact us to learn more about the PTV for any of our tiles.

Broadly, “safety first” is our Mantra for pool surrounds and integrated steps.

It is not required, but it can help clarify what you are trying to achieve, and it’s definitely recommended. Would you build a house without an architect? If your contractor is struggling with providing 3D renders, contact us. We have a very busy 3D modelling department that may have resources available (charges apply). 

Costs can vary widely depending on the location, the unique specifications of the pool, the tiles you select and a myriad of other factors.