Welcome to the tile and coping phase of your pool build. This is where your pool begins to take on its finished look. Every single selection you make here is going to impact the style, the durability, and the safety of your pool project. So it's important to make good decisions. You should have at this point already made your material selections, but if you're moving ahead here to kinda see what's coming next, please revisit our material selection video in section two of our program so that you can make sure you're choosing the best materials for your pool project. Before the work begins, confirm that all materials are on-site. If you're providing those materials, make sure they're ready. That's your tile and your coping. If your tile or coping crew is going to be providing those, make sure they have the right selections and that everything is ready on the day you have scheduled them to come and do the work. It's really important to ensure that your tile is frost proof. This is gonna ensure that it can withstand pool chemicals as well as any dramatic weather conditions. You're gonna probably wanna avoid any glass tile unless you're willing to sacrifice a higher cost, a higher risk of cracking, as well as a longer installation time. If you happen to be doing a beach entry, you're gonna wanna choose a flag flagstone for that or a slip resistant tile for that beach entry. During installation, features really matter. Overflow line should be set into the gunite shell. The cascades and fountains are also going to be installed during this phase of the pool project. If you have any raised areas next to dirt like a planter or a sunken seating area, you're gonna wanna ensure that you're using a waterproof membrane. Products like Semco or Laticrete ninety two thirty five create a protective barrier that prevent efflorescence and ensure no shrinkage cracking. When it comes to coping, really consider the safety aspect and ensure that you're choosing something that isn't super slippery. If you wanna review different coping options, again, check out our selecting materials video in section two of your program. Remember that your skimmers and your autofill lids should also be finished with your coping material to create a seamless appearance. In most areas, you're going to have a pre deck inspection prior to moving to the next phase which is decking. So if that's required in your area, make sure to schedule it after the tile and coping is complete. And as always, make sure your sub is keeping a clean job site. And after this video, don't forget to download the checklist for your subs and for yourself and check out the FAQ section. Now let's join Mike in the field to see tile and coping installation in action. When they do the coping around your pool, depending on the material that you pick, this happens to be a porcelain, tile coping and it's about, an inch thick. You may pick a travertine that may be two inches. If it was concrete cantilever coping, that's more like three and a half inches thick. So it all depends on what you pick how thick this is gonna be. If it's gonna be cantilever, they're gonna actually form this up. They'll put up a board like similar to this and then they'll put their forms on that and pour into that to create the cantilever. What they're going with travertine, standard coping, flagstone, or porcelain tile, anything like that, what they're gonna do is they're gonna put up a straight board, which would be this side, and they're gonna mount this to the actual pool wall itself, find their level, and attach it, and then as it goes down, they're gonna continually make sure that it's level with the transit. And then that way, when they put their coping on, the coping is gonna go up to this so they have a place for it to sit down to so that that way they know the whole thing is level around the entire pool. They're gonna do what they call shooting it with the level, which just basically means they're gonna take their transit and hit all the points, make sure everything's nice and level before they start putting the coping on. So that's what they had done here. This was up underneath here. All the coping sat down to that point. That way it's all nice and level. And, as you can see here, this has pretty thin grout joints. That's gonna be a personal preference. Some people like them a little bit wider. That'll be up to you to decide with your contractor what looks best for your particular project. And you're usually gonna wanna pick a grout that goes in between here that complements the stone coping, whatever it is you're doing. Now if you're doing cantilever coping, that's poured concrete. You won't have any grout that goes in between, but they should be scoring the concrete cantilever almost like you see here about every eighteen inches to two feet. That allows some movement without cracking on that cantilever coping. So that's basically how your your coping and your pool is gonna look once they get it down and and get everything level to your pool. They'll put a thin set down to set these on. Again, as long as it's not cantilever, if it's a flagstone, a travertine, standard coping, or a porcelain tile, they're gonna use a thin set to set all these. And then once they're done, they'll be coming back to grout and all. Alright. Now, speaking about the tile. This is your waterline tile as we call it. It's a six inch band. This is pretty typical. This is a porcelain frost proof tile. Depending on the tile you pick, there's all different colors and varieties. It goes on to the gunite shell with a thin set. This particular one is VersaBond. There's many different styles and types. Talk to your installer what they feel is best and why, and you guys can make that decision together. But they're gonna mount the tiles onto the the pool shell itself with this board down here below. Some people call it a form board, some people call it a level board. Depending on what your contractor calls it, you'll be able to pick up on that pretty quick. But the same thing as when they did the coping, they're gonna shoot that and make sure it's nice and level as they go around the pool, and then they're gonna center these tiles to that board. So make sure it's nice and tight and nice and level. If there is to be any gaps, if there may be especially with cantilever coping because it's poured in place, there may be some variances. That variance is probably gonna be between the top of the tile and the coping itself, so that when you're looking out from the house, you don't see it. It'll look nice and level. It's kinda hard to get down underneath here and see that unless you're down in the pool, So that's where you want that gap to be if it's not exactly the same. They're gonna fill all this in with a grout, in between here. We suggest the top line to have a silicone bead, so that way you're allowing movement between the coping and the tile without any cracking. You get a little bit less grout cracks if you do it that way because there's actually no grout here. It'd be silicone. And do make sure they use a good water grade silicone. It's two to three times more expensive than the standard stuff at your Home Depot, Lowe's stores, but it's much much better. It's gonna last longer. It's not gonna peel off, and it's worth the extra investment. And then when it comes to the grout that goes in between the tiles, that's gonna be up to you and your contractor to pick something that you feel complements the tile the best. Some people wanna pick, a grout that's gonna really close match the tile. As you can see, this particular tile has many colors, so you could pick a lot of different colors in this and it'd probably work. Other people would want to pick a grout that's closer to the plaster color. That'll be up for you and your contractor to discuss and see what you think is gonna work out best for you. Alright. I wanted to show now where we have all the grout installed, in between all the tiles. On this particular job, they used a sanded grout, which is pretty standard in the industry. This one happens to be what it's called warm gray. You're gonna wanna talk to your particular tile contractors and get a color choice of what either they normally use or have you pick a custom color. It does come in very many colors, so you're gonna wanna pick something that coordinates with your project. So I just kinda wanted to show you that. And then also on this dam wall, typically, it would be tiled and tiled on the top and then on both sides. On this particular job, they went ahead and used the same porcelain tile cap on the dam wall itself. So you can see that. And on this particular job, it is slanted backwards. It gives it more of a vanishing edge look, if you will, because the water is actually gonna come up to about right here, and then it's just gonna kinda flow away, so you don't really see a distinct line as much. This is using a porcelain tile, which is your standard in the industry. If this was a glass tile, you're gonna use a different grout than the standard sanded grout. You're also gonna use a different thin set, for the tiles themselves. It's a special thin set just for glass tiles. It takes longer to cure, so they can't put the thin set up and tile the same day, so they'll usually have to come back. Because of that, that's why one of the reasons that glass tiles are more expensive is because of the extra procedures it takes and the different materials it takes to put them up. And especially with glass tile, you're gonna wanna choose a thin set that doesn't show through the tile. So if you're using lighter tiles that are almost see through, you're gonna wanna pick a very light thin set and a very light grout. This one being a medium gray grout might be a little too much if it was more of a clear glass tile. So depending on the tile you pick is also gonna depend on the grout and the thinset that the contractors are gonna use when they're installing it. On a raised spa, you're gonna wanna have a cantilevered edge on both sides. Now, this particular job, it's bullnosed on each side of the coping that they've decided to use, which a porcelain in this case. You could be using a travertine, all kinds of different materials, and whatever material you pick, you wanna make sure that they do have enough material width wise to cantilever it on the inside edge so that it looks clean with the tile on this side, and it also looks really nice to have it cantilevered the same amount on the outside edge. If your spa is level with the pool, then it's gonna look just like it does on the rest of the pool. It's only gonna be the width of the bond beam itself, and you don't need to have the cantilever on both sides because it's down level with the pool. Alright. Here we have, some raised bond beam rather high in this particular job, with the cascades in it. What I wanted to show you here is the cascades. Some people call them sheer descents. This is the way it'll look once it's set in and done and grouted in. It'll only have maybe a quarter of an inch sticking out so that when the spillway comes out, it does come out away from the tile. But now this has a little protective cover on it. This protective cover will come off, and when it comes off, it'll be really harder to see that there's an actual, fountain here. It'll almost disappear, especially these. These are the clear Hayward cascades, so they kinda almost disappear when they're set back like this. And these have not been grouted in yet. I wanted to show you. This is the little protective cover that comes with them. And let me see if I can pull this off. They come pretty tight from the factory. There we go. So when the protective cover's off and this is set back in right where they wanna get it, so it's at the right height and the right distance and just the right amount out from the tile. You don't really notice it a whole bunch because of the clear face that's on these. These Hayward ones are clear. Some are white, some are beige, and some are gray. Okay. Pro tip. When it comes to tile, always order extra tiles. At least five percent, maybe even up to ten percent extra tile because you're gonna have some tiles that are gonna have chips. Some of these chips happen from shipping, some of them when they're cutting the tiles to fit on your job. They may not cut exactly perfect, and of course you want it to be as perfect as possible, so you're gonna want them to discard that one and use another one. So you should always order some extras. Plus, it's really good to have some on hand, so in the future, should you ever have a problem with the tile, one cracks, pops off, whatever, you have the exact same dye lot that was in your pool originally by having those extra tiles. So a good idea, pro tip, order some extra tiles, keep them on hand. If your construction company doesn't use them, if your installer doesn't need them, that's okay. Put them aside in case you ever do need them in the future. Pro tip on the tile, especially on a straight line pool like this one, and you have a focal point like this dam wall, I suggest having the tile guys start with full size tiles right here. They're gonna have a grout joint that goes in between them, but that way you don't have any cuts all the way down on either side. Let them do the cuts on the opposite ends where it won't be as noticeable, but have nice full clean tiles all the way down. That way you don't to worry about any cuts, any jagged edges. It's gonna look a lot better.