Can Gold Flake (Foil) Be Used Behind Pool Tiles?

How about providing some useful information.

"Gold Flake Glue" is fingernail polish AFAK.

Find a reputable pool repair company in your location and ask them what to use.

Changing the composition of the water MAY affect adhesive life and adhesion to the surfaces.

My advice, hire a pool service company to do it. Get a warranty on the work.

Otherwise, you'll be sorry.

I'm also curious what your line of work is? I hope you aren't going to do this job for your "client". You'll really be sorry and so will they.

Seek professional help!

It's gold sheets that have been glued to the back of clear glass 1"x1" tiles. The glass is exposed mostly, but my concern is water seeping to the gold. The customer say's it's real gold. I have designed and installed hundreds of pools. NEVER used or even seen this tile used. I came to see if anyone knows the effect of chlorine water on gold. Will it turn a different color?

I'd recommend that she not do this.

Unless the manufacturer of the tile will certify that they will withstand immersion in salt water, or pool water , don't do it.

At this point no one knows the composition of the gold or the glue.

If it actual gold flake, the colour should not be affected by either fresh or salt water.

Gold is inert, and will not react with pools chemicals.

However, if it is fake gold, you have a bigger problem than I can solve!

Years ago, I owned a jewelry store. A client of mine came in with his wedding ring in 4-5 pieces (it looked like he froze it and hit it with a hammer). The ring was a die struck 14kt gold band. He told me that he was using bleach to clean his house and after a while, the ring broke into pieces.

Later, we had a number of clients come in the store with broken gold chains. At first, we thought our supplier had a bad soldering machine. Come to find out, my clients were swimming in a pool and the chlorine caused the solder to break. Unfortunately, these chains were not repairable - they kept breaking at new places.

So, if the tiles have real alloyed gold foil, then there is a strong chance the tiles will be damaged by the chlorine. You should recommend a different tile.

it is probably the zinc that is being attacked by the chlorine, but it might be the copper. typical 14K yellow gold is 58.5% Gold, 4% silver, 31.2% copper and 6.3% zinc, other alloys of 14K yellow gold are just gold silver and copper. the addition of zinc is a relatively new alloy to reduce the amount of more expensive silver and copper.

If it were pure gold there will be no reaction with gold and chlorine. If it is an alloy of gold, chlorine will damage the gold as it will react with the other metals. Cracks and stress breaks can occur quite rapidly and even turn black or discoloured when subjected to a bleach. It is the same reason people are recommended to take off their gold jewels before swimming. (But the removal of jewels made of gold may have been a recommendation from the society of thieves. So be careful with that recommendation.)

Even with the idea that this is pure, 24k, gold leaf. I would be very apprehensive of the adhesive used being in contact with the pool water. The sparse information doesn't help either. Is this a swimming pool, a reflecting pool, a spent core pool, a Los Vegas betting pool, an aeration pool, or almost any other way that I can use the word pool.

My gut tells me that these are manufactured tiles that would be applied with an appropriate adhesive material and grout compatible with swimming pools. And Op should check with manufacturer for use function. The back of the tiles and the glass face of the tile would or should not be in play if the tiles are applied properly. I suspect it does not matter if the gold is just colouring of some sort and does not contain any gold at all. Chlorine and salt should not affect the glass face. According to the OP it is a swimming pool. You forgot pool table but why use chlorine on a ....ah, forget it.

Isn't glass in a pool area a no no. I would set some liability limits. As people may get cut. There is no information what your going to adhere it to. Most pool have a plastic liner it could get ruptured. This usually comes back to the contractor that did the work. Client says they were not informed.

Either way to find out if it will hold up in the environment you need to know what it's made of. The manufacturer is the source for that. Not the client. She could have been told it's real gold by a salesman that wanted to make a sale.

People can still get cut with ceramic tiles if they pry them off the walls, and have the means to break them in pieces; but then they deserve it for being so naughty.

Contact the tile manufacturer and get their input.

Then make recommendations to your client.

Then do what the client wants, pointing out that it is at the client's risk.

perform a test, hang one in a bucket and keep the water superchlorinated like if you were shocking the pool. hand another in a bucket with bromine at levels used for shocking, hang a third in another bucket with salt, and a fourth in ozonated water. those are the major sanitizing systems out there. if after a week or two there is no degradation from any of them, then you are probably golden (so to speak). it will need to be resistant to all of the systems because you never know which system may be used 10 or 15 years from now.

SOUND ADVICE!

raising the temp would even provide an accelerated test!

Yes, we all remember the Arrhenius equation.

How come no one mentioned gene pool?