Grout Color for water line tile

[Greg7]

I came across this forum looking for comments about grout color for tile that is going in this week. This is my first pool remodel. Doing a white re-plaster with waterline tile of Fujiwa Titan 331 (Crystal Blue) and Coping is standard red brick with medium gray. http://www.fujiwatiles.com/_tile.asp?file=Titan-331.jpg

Contractor was going to install white grout/plaster, but after inserting white pieces in this tile and comparing it to a light gray, it seemed white would stand out way too much and a light gray would blend and be better and more pleasing to the eye, particularly since this tile is light blue with a slight light gray border. It does not really bother me that the grout as a light gray would not be a "continuation" of the white plaster surface since, after all, the light blue tile marks a dividing line of different surface/color.

Thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

[czechmate]

It is always to your advantage if you select tile that can be done with colored grout, especially gray.
The reason is a maintenance, since at water level algae is always a first potential problem. It is than very hard to get it out completely and its greenish color is easily visible. Gray is easier to to clean to the satisfactory level and even for laying tile gray thinset can be used making grouting so much easier.
You have picked nice size tile, with less grouting area and much less maintenance too.

[Greg7]

Thank you Czechmate. I hadn't really thought of the cleaning/"staying white" issue since this is our first pool, the original plaster was already "well beyond white" given years of use/staining when we purchased the house, and the prior grout was a darker red (prior tile was yellow/red "mediterranean" style). While the old tiles were showing their age especially along the water line, I did not notice the same about the grout, probably due in part to its color.

The Mrs. also liked looks of light gray with the light blue better, so with the combination of easier maintenance and better looking color combo, light gray it is...

(Glad I came across this forum - will be helpful as I take over pool maintenance as well)

[Larry]

We generally recommend gray grouting to our customers because it doesn't discolor or stain as the white inevitably does.
There is nothing worse than blotchy, discolored grouting, especially with smaller tiles (1"x1").

Larry

[Char]

We just had our pool redone with the Durazzo finish. All finished, we do not like the bright white of the grout at all. Can we change that grout color to a darker color, like a caramel color? I see products online, but wonder if they work for a chlorine pool. Also, our tiles are the small ones 2x2.