At Wholesalers USA, our largest customers are always the people tiling their pools. These are usually huge projects involving the purchase of greater than 1000 square feet of glass tile. As you can probably tell, these customers are making a huge investment<img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-99" style="float: right; margin: 8px;" title="Florida Swimming Pool" src="http://glasstileblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/swimming_pool_2-300x225.jpg" alt="Florida Swimming Pool" width="300" height="225" /> in their properties; they expect their tile installation to be flawless and long-lasting. In order to satisfy these demanding clients, our sales staff has had to become well-versed in the intricacies of glass tile installation.

While glass tile has its own, inherent quirks when it comes to installation, an exterior application, such as a swimming pool, requires even more specialized attention and materials. The main challenge for installing glass tile outdoors is glass' relatively high expansion coefficient. What that means is, glass expands and contracts at a greater rate than other materials someone might use in their pool, e.g. ceramic or stone. Since the tile is adhered to the bottom of the pool while its expanding and contracting, it can easily crack and break if the cement its laid into doesn't stretch with it. Therefore, the question we hear again and again from customers is, "How do I install glass tile in my pool without having to repair the broken tiles year after year?" The answer has not always been an easy one. However, with advances in technology and contractors' growing experience installing glass tile, we are now able to provide customers with the right recommendations so that their pool installation experiences minimal problems.

The first step in putting glass tile in a swimming pool is choosing the right installation materials. To reiterate, the high rate of expansion and contracton of glass caused by temperature changes is the leading cause of cracks and damage to installed tiles. In order to compensate for this, special thin-set adhesives and additives have been developed that expand and contract with the glass. The elasticity of the thin-set allows<img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-98" style="float: left; margin: 8px;" title="Florida Swimming Pool 2" src="http://glasstileblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/swimming_pool_1-300x225.jpg" alt="Florida Swimming Pool 2" width="300" height="225" />