Clearance outdoor and pool tiles
Tiles for alfresco areas, paths and pool surrounds. The slip rating matters more than anything else on this page, and it is the specification most often ignored.
Buying outdoor and pool tiles: what actually matters
P ratings and R ratings measure different things
R ratings come from a ramp test with an oiled surface and a person in boots, which describes an industrial kitchen, not a pool deck. P ratings come from a wet pendulum test and describe a bare wet foot, which is what actually happens around a pool. For a pool surround or a wet external area the widely accepted minimum is P4, and P5 for a ramp or a steep path. Do not accept an R rating as a substitute for a P rating on a barefoot area: they do not convert cleanly and a tile with a respectable R rating can perform poorly under a bare wet foot.
A dark tile beside a pool gets painfully hot
This is not a minor comfort issue in an Australian summer. A dark porcelain in full sun reaches temperatures that genuinely hurt on bare feet and will keep children off the surround entirely in the middle of the day. Lighter colours and textured surfaces run substantially cooler. If you want dark, keep it to the shaded side or the coping and use something lighter on the open deck.
Salt and chlorine attack the grout, not the tile
Porcelain does not care about pool water. Cement grout does, and around a saltwater pool it will degrade and go powdery at the joints while the tiles themselves stay perfect. Use a grout rated for the environment, and expect the joints to be the thing that eventually needs attention.
Why this stock is such good value
Clearance tiles are not seconds. Everything here is first grade. It is cheap because it is finite: a line an importer is clearing, a colourway a manufacturer has stopped making, or the tail of a container that nobody wants to keep warehousing. The catch is not quality, it is that you cannot get more. On a normal tile you can go back in six weeks for another two boxes. Here you cannot, so the quantity you order is the quantity you will ever have.