Tiling - Yay!

The long awaited tiling has begun! And it's so pretty - I'm so happy!

On Monday, the tiling folks were here for a couple of hours. I wasn't even sure at first what they had accomplished, but taking a look at the pool in the afternoon, I could see that they had prepped the waterline for tiling, and done some work around the spa. Hubby called the PB to ask a few questions and found out that someone was picking up the tile that day. We've got to find out when some of the other work is scheduled so that we can work on the drains for the cistern. We've also got to figure out how to pick up the cistern, which is too big for our small utility trailer. We do have a close friend with a cargo Sprinter van and the cistern just might fit into the back of that, so it looks like we'll need to call up some favors.

The tile folks showed up first thing Tuesday morning and lugged the boxes of tile onto the lanai. They immediately began the mudwork on the spa. When I asked if any tiling would happen that day, he said no, just mudwork, but later I saw Linda sorting tiles and putting them in small stacks around the entire edge of the pool.

I laid out a stack of them just to see the variation that we got in these boxes. Very nice. Not as much of the dark blue swatches as I hoped, but I still think they're very pretty. Lots of glossy reflection in the morning sun. You can see the prep work that they had done on the waterline in this picture.

When I checked on them later, I found Linda setting the waterline tile while sloshing around in the deep end - and it looks great! She was pretty fast and methodical setting each one - it's easy to see how good prep work makes this part easier. Good thing she is tall enough to reach the top edge of the pool. It is so nice to see some color out there! Blue, blue, blue!
Very pretty and happy to see some real progress. I know that prep work is progress, but it's just so boring compared to visible finishing progress like this. I'm sure the grouting will be another dull process to watch.

They got the entire waterline done except the spa. I'm guessing that now that the top edge of the spa is prepped, it'll be another day to remove the framing and prep the waterline, and then another day to two before they can tile the inside and outside of the spa. I'm a bit worried about cost if this is the same prep that he has to do for all the step markers and the swim lane tile. And I have no idea how he's going to prep the swim lane since 1/2 of it is underwater. And it's supposed to rain on Thursday.
Can't complain about the rain - we need it so badly. Although our sprinkler system passed the two-minute test, when I went to run the full schedule for the first time, I discovered another leaking sprinkler head that appeared to be a bent riser problem. Easy enough to fix - of course NOT. Next sprinkler schedule - bigger leak (since there was still a big hole around it). Looks like a cracked 1" line, so I'm going to be looking for some parts and doing some PVC repair on Wednesday. Sprinklers - UGH!
At least the pool looks great!