pool pavers - porcelain tiles or travertine?

6 years ago

We are renovating our 17-year old in-ground pool with the Jewels 4 Pools FC50 finish. Replacing the paver copers and surrounding paved areas is not an easy choice. These are on concrete slabs - approx. 30m2 around the pool plus an adjoining 60m2 under an oiled timber deck.

We like the look of travertine for the copers and surrounds but think a similar looking external porcelain tile (good quality like Aquitaine or Danimarca) under the deck would be easier to keep clean and reduce risks of decking oil stain, wine, etc. which we understand could not be removed from travertine. The original claypave pavers under the deck also showed some minor efflorescence.

Advice from a trusted landscaper is that we would find travertine a problem with stains and upkeep around the pool, let alone under the deck, so we are wary. We are told that using dry treat sealer on travertine should give 15-years protection, but don’t see how this would help if moisture leads to efflorescence. This has made us consider a porcelain tile for everything, and mean extra cost for the mitred apron on the coper tiles.

The counter-argument is that we have heard of problems with porcelain tiles on/near pools with chipping, staining and marking.

So we would appreciate comments and guidance from anyone who has used these choices in similar situations. Thanks for any contributions here.

Featured Answer

mluh
Original Author

5 years ago

Hi, we could not find a tiler who would place tiles around our pool so we opted for the travertine paver and look alike travertine exterior tile for under our deck. We are very pleased with the result. We learnt tiles are difficult to lay and may not give a clean straight line around the pool edge; there can be no overhang so the interior work must be perfect! A paver can hide small imperfections. Hope this helps with your decision-making.

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Comments (6)

PRO
Granite Works
6 years ago
Hi mluh

You've obviously done your research on these products, so it's most likely going to come down to personal preference.

As you've mentioned, a natural stone is going to come with an amount of maintenance but the beauty of Travertine is within its variation. Once sealed with a good quality sealer (I recommend Guard Industry), the maintenance is really quite low and most spills are lost within those natural variations. 99% of spills can be cleaned up without too much trouble.

Porcelain, on the other hand, can be quite difficult to clean once it's been marked. That said, the external porcelains have a great non-slip texture and are very hardy when used as paving/tiles. I'm personally not a fan of using them as pool coping, but many people love it.

Again, both have their advantages and disadvantages so I would recommend using the product that you're happy looking at for the next 10-20 years.

- Jordan
mluh
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for the insights Jordan. This helps, particularly about travertine and sealing it. We are still investigating and weighing it all up. Cheers Richard
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Hi Jayne. I'm currently in the process of selecting finishes for our new pool. I've considered the graphite Quartzon too, as I like the water colour a grey interior produces, but I've decided against Quartzon as I've been told it is a high maintenance product. I'm now considering jewels4pools "pearl" glass beads (which look a bit silvery) in a grey cement base (instead of the usual white base) with a grey mosaic waterline tile or possibly stretching the budget to fully tiled in grey mosaics. I like dark coping also but am hunting for a suitable mid grey colour because I'm concerned the dark coping will be too hot underfoot. I was aiming for a natural stone paver but no luck finding the right thing so far, so at this stage my favoured option is a structural porcelain paver called "outdoor 20" in colour "Bluenorte Gris". Good luck with your selections.
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Hi Emma. As mentioned above, you can select a porcelain tile that is suitable for outdoor use. This can then be installed as your paving, coping and waterline similar to below. I would suggest 100-150mm of waterline tile as below. Otherwise we have installed pavers such as Anston or Stone Outdoors and then matched the colour with a porcelain waterline tile. https://www.anston.com.au/products/pool-coping-step-coping/ https://www.concreteredefined.com.au/pool/ Good luck with your project!
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M B
5 years ago
mluh - just folllowing up on this thread - did you end up going with porcelain pavers. My friend suggested I look into this for our house build - but I can't find any personal experience of porcelain pavers.
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2 years ago
your either a natural stone person or not, I don't like fake, outdoor porcelain tiles are a nightmare to keep clean, and will need to be high pressure cleaned regularly, my preference is Himalayan natural stone, doesn't get hot or slippery, has a beautiful texture, which is very subtle, and easy to maintain, if it starts to get grubby at all, simply get the chlorine out 50-50 with water broom it around and then hose off approx 15 to 20 ins later, you find any mold etc. will start in the grout joins first, that's because the grout is so much more porous than the stone, easy.
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karimi stone
3 months ago
Karimi Stone Company Natural Stones Supplier

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pool pavers - porcelain tiles or travertine?

mluh
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Granite Works

mluh
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pool pavers - porcelain tiles or travertine?

mluhOriginal Author

Comments (6)

Granite Works

mluhOriginal Author

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M B

Rodney Frost

karimi stone

COMPANY

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CONNECT WITH US

mluh
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mluh
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