How to Lay Tile for Pool Decking

We decided to go with ceramic tile for our pool decking because we felt like it would be easier as a DIY. We’ve laid plenty of tile in the past and felt confident that we could get the job done and be happy with the end result. Of course, using tile meant that we would first need a slab of concrete poured to lay the tile on. This added some extra expense, but we offset that plus some by installing the tile ourselves.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how we installed the tile to create a clean and modern decking for our pool.

Material and Tools

• Thinset large tile and stone mortar
• Tile
• 2 five gallon buckets
• 1/4″ flooring trowel
• Sponge
• Tile grout
• Tape measure
• String
• Tile saw
• Pencil
• Mixing arm

Step 1: Clean the Concrete Surface

The first thing we did was clean the concrete surface so that there was no debris laying around. To do this, we just used a leaf blower. It’s especially important to make sure there are no small gravels of chips of concrete laying on the surface. This will cause your tile to not lay flat.

Step 2: Determine your Starting Point

Anytime you lay tile, it’s a good idea to do some planning. I’m not saying that you have to lay out every tile before starting, but it’s good to put some thought into where you are going to start. This way you can determine what direction you will be going and where you are going to end. It will also help you plan ahead for dealing with any obstacles that you might run into.

Step 3: Pull a String

I think this might be the most important part of laying tile for pool decking. Before we started, I pulled a string from one end of the pool to the other on the side I was working on. We decided the tile would hang over the edge of the pool 1 inch.

So I marked 1 inch in on both ends and pulled the string tight across those marks. I used one of the large tiles to anchor the string on both ends temporarily while we laid the tile on that side of the pool. This allowed us to line up each tile with the string to ensure we would end up with a perfectly straight edge all the way around.

Step 4: Mix the Thinset Mortar

In a five-gallon bucket, I added some water. Then I poured in some of the thinset mortar. Using an electric drill with a mixer attached, I mixed the thinset until it was the consistency of peanut butter. I added more water as needed. It’s important not to mix up more thinset than you know you will use at a given time. Otherwise, you’ll end up wasting what you don’t use if you are pulled away from the job. This happened to me on a few occasions.

Step 5: Apply Thinset and Lay Tiles

Using the trowel, I scooped out a good amount of thinset onto the concrete. Then holding my trowel at almost a 90-degree angle, I spread it evenly. I only applied enough for about 4-5 tiles at a time. Since the area was in direct sunlight and it was hot, I didn’t want the thinset to start drying before I laid the tile.

Once I had enough thinset spread, I laid the tiles in place one at a time, pressing them down firmly. The tiles we used did not require spacers, so I was able to butt them up against each other. This made the process a little faster.

Although, the process slowed down once I started laying the tile next to the house. This involved cutting. For this, I used a large tile saw. When I got to a piece I had to cut, I simply used my tape measure to determine how much I needed to take off and marked the tile accordingly with a pencil. Then I made the cut.

Step 6: Grout the Tile

Once we had all of the tile laid around the pool, it was time to grout. We used sanded grout in a color called pewter. I mixed up the grout in a five-gallon bucket just as I did with the thinset.

We used a float to apply the grout into the tile joints and worked in 10×10 feet sections at a time. Then we used a wet sponge to wipe off the excess grout from the surface of the tiles. We had to do this several times to remove all of it.

Even though this was a big project and a ton of work, we are glad we did it ourselves and couldn’t be happier with the end result!