3-6-15

Martin: What Adrian had been waiting ten years to touch. Tiger II (Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf B Königstiger, Sdkfz. 182)  72 tons at 4.5miles to the gallon. Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset.

Me: Patio tile samples...

We are in the process of getting a new hardscape around our pool. Our existing kool-decking is cracked, the sloping was poorly designed (resulting in many puddles) & the drain along the house is clogged. It's time to update this area but the decision about what kind of tile & what color is difficult.

The colorful travertine on the left is nice. It has character with a variety of colors that we like. It would go nicely with the desert & our patio furniture. The white-ish tile on the right is called Shell Concha. It's huge benefit is that it's cooler (temperature wise) by 30% (they say) than other products. It's even a bit cooler than kool-decking. This is a big deal in Arizona with most of the year being quite hot. 

We'll be using the pool when it's hot so if tile is also HOT we'll have to make sure we have shoes on or run to a shady spot. For this reason, the Shell Concha gets huge points. The downside to Shell Concha is it's a softer product (may wear or scratch), it's a little boring or could be described as a cleaner look (that's good). It does show foot marks where the travertine doesn't.

Does anyone want to weigh in? Our latest idea is to put the "cooler" Shell Concha as a border around the pool (16 inches wide) and use the travertine everywhere else. 

OR…Use the Shell Concha as the border still but also use it mostly everywhere else - like 80% Shell Concha and 20% travertine randomly placed throughout the pattern of the Concha. This would keep the overall deck cooler & break up the solid cream color. Good idea or not? :-/

PS: Just got back from Home Depot with a temperature gun. We're gonna measure the temp of the tiles to see what the difference is. :-)