OMG Jenno you are so right your grout is too too dark I never noticed it in the pictures I think if the grout was a light color you would like your stone it totally changes the color of the stone I believe there is something your PB can do to make that grout lighter there has got to be a product he can use I bet this is not the first time this has happened My flagstone and tile have white grout and I am very happy with it of course I never gave the grout any thought. If I were you I would not let them do anything else till they fix it..........good luck

i know it is very frustrating to see things turn out differently than you were expecting, but often they can be fixed. today i lined up each waterline tile and numbered them, placed an arrow to direct which orientation it was to be placed, and then found many of them had been mortared in upside down or out of order! at some point i just give up. but on the bigger things that really bothered us; we asked the pb to fix it. people on this forum helped when we posted pictures of our screwed up spa coping that had weird angles. our pb ripped it out and re-did it. the stone veneer for the raised wall had some stones in backwards. (strange but true.) it did take me two days to figure out why the stone wall looked 'different' and not in a good way. but anything looks good after staring at gunnite for weeks! in our case, the pb offered to cut out the backward facing stones and replace them. actually, the manufacturer of the stone veneer was called in and they paid for it.
in your case, i would talk to your pb and discuss how the grout problem can be corrected. if possible, try to check in frequently and see how things are going so you can let them know right away if something isn't right. good luck!

As to the second post in this thread, I completely disagree. I think it is not bad at all.. and I would have to see pictures to see how white grout on flagstone would look better than any earth tone.

jenno-
Couple of questions: Did you pick the flagstone color and the grout color? If so, do you believe these are the colors you picked?
That grout does not look bad, at all... in fact, I like the contrast and prefer the pattern to slightly pop, as this does. I know it's not what you expected, but believe me when I say it only seems this bad because it's not what you expected.

If you felt you picked different colors than what is installed than it should be redone.
If not, than you may have to pay to have it redone.
It will be very difficult to just change the color of the grout now. Any acidic liquids someone might try to use to lighten it up will only discolor the stone, I believe. A tedious laborer could chisle it all out for a day or two, but that will cost $ and may damage some of the stone.
If you were to hose it all off I can only guess everything darkens?
Good luck. Hope it ends up how you want it.

natural,I didn't say white looks better than any earth tone I said I got white and I am happy with it I think earth tones are nice and Jenno is unhappy because her's is too dark and stands out, grout should not pop out, it should blend in with the stone sorry it is just my opinion everyone is intitled to one.
again good luck Jenn...........

I agree with natural. It looks really good and will get better as the grout cures. The contrast will be minimized and more blended before you know it.

here is a picture of my pool and spa with white grout it just blends in and I hardly notice it I am sure if it was a lite earth tone it would probably look even better with the flagstone and also maybe the white will turn beige as it ages who knows.

Jen, my heart goes out to you........but anything can be fixed. DH is a hardscape contractor and I used to sell high end tile and stone, don't sweat it. I know Texas is much more humid than here, but if I read your post correctly, its been a week and that grout should be cured. It may be gone over, but thats a cheap way to do it and may not look the greatest depending on the depth of the grout lines. It can be ground out and replaced, tedious and more costly, but totally able to be done. Just depends, like Natural said, on what you picked and what they installed as to who pays for it. Same with stone color, if you use a color enhancer and then seal the coping, you may like it better. I cant' comment on the beach entry as I don't know how these products are used by pool builders underwater, but enhancers and some sealers can mimic the "wet look". I would simply recommend you try these changes on loose stones, not the pool itself. Stick a few pieces of stone on a backer board, try different grout colors, enhance and seal a few and live with them for a week. I would just place this sample board as close to the pool as possible so you can see the difference in the same light. It shouldn't have to hold up the build either, except if you want to change the beach. Keep us posted, hth, barb

I echo the sentiments of those who feel like this job was done well. You are seeing it after freshly being grouted with the normal grey mortar. When it's wet, it looks dark but will dry to a lighter color. You are showing the sun ledge too, which will be under water. I once had a customer who burst into tears, was hysterical and too angry to talk with me after we plastered her pool. She could not be consoled, even though the color it looks like being applied is frequently not what it ends up being. She went through a lot of pain and suffering that day that was needless had she allowed the job to be finished. Relax and let your PB do his job. It will take awhile after all is finished for your pool water and everything else to look the way it will for many years to come. You have a very nice looking pool!

I disagree and think its the camera angle that makes the joints look disproportionate. It all looks really good! Your just experiencing a typical pool owner anxiety attack or POA syndrome.

I also think it looks good. By the time you add water and put in all the landscaping, lounge chairs and grab an ice cold beer...you will be happy.

It is easy to get caught up on all the little imperfections and miss the big picture. I do the same thing but all I have to do is look back at the house build and remember how many things didn't look right during the build but turned out perfect.

IMO nothing looks good until the water is in, things are cleaned up, and you are swimming, then all those details really don't show up anymore. It's only in this phase that we all obsess over each tiny thing (and we all did it at some point!).

I am a fan of more natural substances and I honestly like the look of the darker grout better than white grout, particularly since my lighter grout is constantly needing to be scrubbed clean, I have often thought I would prefer a darker grout than I have (and we have a similar stone, ours is a native limestone).

I think it looks very natural and soft, and I think once the finish is done and water is in you will not notice it any longer.

Thanks so much for everyone's support and input. I TRULY appreciate it. It was a rough day or so there.....

For a little more background info, apparently we agreed to this brown grout/mortar, just didn't realize it. :) According to our PB it's what they use on 90% of their pool builds, have for the last 3 years he said. Grout was never discussed....STUPID, I know. Can't believe someone as anal as me didn't think to touch on that selection! Also can't believe our salesperson, who was WELL aware of my pickiness, didn't ASK me what I wanted.

Stone is also a sore subject---I *thought* I expressed a preference for what I'm now told is a dark/light mix of OK flagstone. What I apparently conveyed to the PB was a COLORFUL mix of OK flagstone. And boy did I get that!

I'm still settling into the reality that it is what it is now. Should of, would of, could of is just a waste of time at this point. I shed a few buckets of tears and now I'm forcing myself to learn to love and appreciate my pool for what it is, not what I thought it was going to be. :)

It would have been $4/ft. to have the grout replaced....not to mention time lost. We decided to keep it, see if we can live with it and if in a year or 2 down the road I still care then change it then. PB showed me pictures of pools (many of which I had been to in person previously) that have this same color and it seems that the color fades in time. The tone of the brown seems to be improving, I guess it's still curing? The pinkish hue is coming out more, thank goodness.

Hopefully, SURELY, when it's finished and landscaping is in this detail will fade into the distance. :)

Here are some new pics, I think it's really starting to tone down. Obviously I flipped a little too soon. I'm still not thrilled with it, but it's getting better. :) Maybe it's kinda cool that it's different.?.?.? :)

Jenno the grout is looking great I can't believe the difference a few days makes this is good to know for others who will experience the same thing that is why this forum is so great to have especially for people who have not started building; it will give them ideas of what they really want. Can't wait to see the finished pool..keep the pics coming.

Just my 2 cents, I think the stone and grout looks great!!

Thanks newpool & sgregor! It's really REALLY helping me to hear folks compliments and support. :)

Looks super nice. If it makes you feel any better, I am the same exact way as you when it comes to details. I don't know how I would ever handle the stress of actually building a house now. When we bought this house, I was too young/stupid to worry about the details. Boy have I changed. Think I've developed an ulcer during our pool build. Anyhow...pool is looking great. You will have a blast.

I like the look of your tile and stone!!! Your beach entry is huge and I love it! It's perfect that it is right off your patio.
I am pretty picky as well and I get a bit stressed when things aren't done properly! It really does look great! Once you have water, you may change your mind....it will be a good contrast in comparison to the water color!
Different is good! My pool is very different than other's I've seen and that is why we custom built it.
Looking forward to more pictures!!!

I've tried for the past few weeks to get used to the awful brown mortar on my flagstone, but I just can't live with the mortar......I've had multiple contractors come out for various things unrelated to the pool and 3 have commented on the "odd", "strange" mortar color without me even mentioning my opinion of it. Very shocking but really why was I surprised. It's kinda nice to finally realize I'm NOT crazy for hating it. It toned down slightly as it cured, but it's still hideous. :( I'm going to start working on a resolution, going to be a pain but I just can't live with this color......infurates me that my PB picked this color for me without asking me what I'd like. I'm sharing all of this in hopes that it will save at least someone from getting slapped with a bad mortar color----I've never seen a pool as far as I can tell that didn't have buff or just regular light gray mortar----so I had no clue to specify especially when all my my PB's pools looked to be to be a buff shade of mortar. All of their gallery pics and the 4 pools of theirs I visited.

Look into Aquamix grout colorant. I have never used it but have heard great things about it.

Take a look at this mortar repair job and you won't feel so bad. The contractor replaced the grey mortar with a weird beige color. A friend said the bottom landing (first photo) looks pinkish. Any ideas on how we can change the color? We are about to put our house up for sale. (Believe me, the color is darker than in the photo and it has been about ten days since it was done.) Does anyone know why some of the rocks have a white line around them? This is what we get for not watching the contractor.

Tried to include photos with that last post

This is mortar around stone landings between bluestone steps

@jenno_tx how did your fix turn out? Oh my goodness I am having a heart attack with my interior flagstone which is the EXACT color mix of your flagstone, and my grout is all light gray which looks perfect... until we had some areas repaired and they did the grout in the crazy dark gray color that you dislike so much!! I’m feeling sick to my stomach cuz it looks insane with the dark grout; who on earth wants the grout to stand out 🙈?? You want it to fade inconspicuously as kinda the same pale shades as the stones so the stones pop and any grouting irregularities don’t scream out at you 😭😭!! Please let me know what you did to rectify your situation. And please post photos!! I agree with you 💯!! It did look better in your later photos but WHYYYYYY wouldn’t any of these people have asked us before using a bizarre dark grout instead of the standard pale gray/natural concrete-colored grout 😠😠??