Houseful - I have a 2 year old granddaughter I'll put to work - great idea! (Wonder if she can scrub the tile with floaties on her arms...she LOVES the water, so we'll have to work something out. Teach them early and all. Ha ha.) Black327 - well, it's a So Cal view and it is kind of neat to see palms and pines both against the mountains. Unless it's smoggy and then all bets are off...;-). Update on the waterline tile - finally chose the tile and it will go in on Wed 5/16, the plaster will follow on Friday - God willin' and the creek don't rise. The tile is NPTG Espana Blue - texture and depth, but smooth. We'll see how it all plays out. Will post more pix along the way. Here is a link that might be useful: NPTG Espana

Thanks for the input. Kurt-Thank you. After I read that article about San Juan pools making coloured pools, I contacted our PB. He said that San Juan has stopped making the coloured pools due to fading from salt systems. He said that Leisure's warrantee on the gel coat says it does not fade, but since he has not personally seen a Leisure pool after 10 years, he can only go by what the manufacturer tells him. So we will probably be sticking with the light blue like you. Sharla-Your pool build pics look great. I will have to look into that pool cleaner. We currently have a Kreepy Krawly in our old pool and we find it does the trick with that, but maybe we should look into an upgade for the new pool. love2weed-I love the colour of your pool. It is so pretty. The water colour is so peaceful. We are hoping to achieve the same look with our concrete decking too. I wish our PBer did Viking. Thanks for sharing. Here is a link to the pool model we have chosen from mypoolspace.com It is the Manatee the size is 32'10'x14' with a deep end of 5'10' and a shallow of 3'6'. We are not putting in a fountain or waterline tile on ours. This model is white too. http://www.mypoolspace.net:80/?module=photo&action=zoom&ID=4047

reedpool, Manufacturers want to cover their bases in all aspects. I have installed grout and added water in less than a week without problems. Also, no one doing repairs of grout would leave it for 21 days to cure!

Using tile from Lowes would be a huge mistake. In the world of tile the stuff you see at big hardware stores is absolute bottom of the barrel - usually the stuff that was rejected or unsellable by tile wholesalers. Swimming pool tile is usually porcelain or glass, and is frost proof if you live in an area with colder winters. The top of the pool wall takes the brunt of the damage from staining as well as the most forces acting on it (which is why you need a thicker bond beam). To shortcut on this area of your pool would be a huge and costly mistake. If you have water permeating this area it will weaken the concrete underneath over time. Eventually the entire top of the wall will crack and you will be into an expensive pool rebuild.