tiling a little pool

[osie]

Hi

We have a little kiddies pool attached to the main pool.  The little kiddies pool is 2 meters round and about 1 foot deep and is concrete.

Until know I have re-painted it each year as the pool paint tends to come off each year... The concrete is not that smooth.

Can I put some normal tiles down... I was thinking about those 30cm*30cm plastic meshed together things with lots of little tiles attached.

Do I need special tiles and/or special plastering for a pool.

Thanks in advance

Osie

[Théière]

Waterproof mosaic tiles should be fine, you will need special swimming pool tile adhesive for total water immersion which regular adhesive cannot take, like wise grout, epoxy grout is best likewise tile adhesive. Solid bed of adhesive NO notched spreaders.

You will have to let the whole lot dry properly before filling with water or it will leak like a sieve, you will probably find the pH will keep climbing for a while at least. Absolutely no copper based products should be used in the pool, the little blue flecks in multi action galets are copper based!

[osie]

Thanks Teapot...

In reference to the copper.. is that a general rule, or is that a rule if you have tiles?

Is it just while the adhesive is drying or all times...

The reason I ask is I do have the galets with blue bits in them... and so it may deter me from putting the tiles down...

[Théière]

It's a staining issue, vinyl liners don't seem to suffer as badly as plaster/tiles/concrete pools. The high pH of the plaster/grout makes the copper drop out of suspension and can cause staining of the grout at any time. The copper level needs to be around 0.8ppm and that is quite a lot.

[halfblind]

I have used this type of tile successfully on a homemade hot tub. Make sure you purchase the "anti-slip" type, they have been sandblasted to roughen the surface, the ordinary could be dangerous for little feet. I dont know where you are in SW france but I purchased my tiles through Zyke.