Ask a question here

Natalie Hood continues her conversations with the 2026 Talking Pools Podcast Top Ten Mentors by sitting down with Jeff Hampe, a longtime pool professional known for his all-tile pools, artistic glass mosaics and uncompromising attention to detail.

Jeff shares how he progressed from repairing hot tubs in New Jersey to cleaning pools, repairing equipment, performing leak detection and eventually becoming a licensed pool contractor and sought-after mosaic specialist. He also discusses the craftsmen who mentored him, why he freely passes that knowledge forward and the satisfaction of watching someone build a better life through a skilled trade.

The conversation then shifts into Mythbusting Wednesday territory. Jeff explains why a tile labeled “pool rated” may still be the wrong choice, what he prefers for submerged applications and why translucent glass tile can become an expensive failure. He and Natalie also tackle waterproofing, calcification, efflorescence, thermal expansion, delamination and the limitations of cementitious installation products.

Jeff closes with his growing interest in fully tiled fiberglass pools, why field experience remains essential and what would come packaged with the official Jeff Hampe action figure.

In This Episode

• Jeff’s journey from hot-tub repair to high-end mosaic and all-tile pools
• How Jimmy Reed and Danilo Bonazza influenced his craft
• Why Jeff considers attention to detail a professional advantage
• Turning a landscaper into a highly skilled, well-paid tile installer
• How mentorship spreads when students begin teaching others
• Why “pool rated” does not automatically mean suitable for every pool
• Jeff’s preferred tile thickness and construction for submerged applications
• The risks associated with translucent glass tile
• How UV exposure and different expansion rates contribute to delamination
• Why waterproofing alone does not eliminate calcification or efflorescence
• The role of epoxy installation products in all-tile pools
• What visible deposits along grout lines may reveal beneath the tile
• Why hands-on jobsite experience cannot be replaced by classroom instruction
• Learning from installation failures without lowering professional standards
• The industry’s reliance on traditional distribution
• Why Jeff believes fiberglass deserves greater consideration
• Crumbled Italian sausage, jet skis and the Jeff Hampe action figure

Featured Guest

Jeff Hampe
2026 Talking Pools Podcast Top Ten Pool Industry Mentor

Sponsored By

REVDUP Apparel, H2Flow Controls and PoolBrain.

The technical opinions expressed during this episode reflect the guest’s professional experience and installation practices. Product selection and installation requirements should always be verified for the specific application.

Support the show

Thank you so much for listening! You can find us on social media:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Tik Tok

Email us: talkingpools@gmail.com

Ask a question here

What happens when a family emergency forces you to leave your business with almost no warning?

This week on Mondays Down Under, Lee, Nick, and Shane reunite to discuss Shane’s unexpected six-week absence and how his pool service business continued operating while he was overseas. From trusting an employee with 65 regular clients to managing emergencies across a 12-hour time difference, the conversation offers an honest look at delegation, communication, and building a company that does not depend entirely on its owner.

The team also recounts a late-night equipment-room flood caused by a failed braided water hose, including the electrical hazards and chemical-storage risks created when water enters a pump room, warehouse, or pool shop.

Lee shares highlights from her tour of the Australian Innovative Systems factory, where chlorinators and cells are manufactured, coated, tested, tracked, and inspected. The crew discusses AIS quality control, the economics of commercial salt chlorination, and why seeing how a product is manufactured can make a pool professional far more confident recommending it.

Also in this episode:

• How loyal customers respond when business owners communicate honestly
• Why capable employees may surprise you when given real responsibility
• The danger of storing pool chemicals directly on the floor
• What a 12-year chlorinator-cell lifespan says about manufacturing quality
• Why an expensive commercial salt cell may quickly pay for itself
• Highlights from the SPLASH! masterclasses
• Upcoming discussions on sanitization marketing claims and Australian Standard 3633

If your company cannot function when you step away, you may not own a business yet. You may own a demanding job. Building reliable systems and developing trustworthy employees protects your customers, your company, and your own well-being.

This episode is brought to you in part by Pool Brain, giving pool professionals the tools to operate smarter, more efficiently, and more profitably. Visit PoolBrain.com.

Questions, topic suggestions, or suppliers you would like featured? Email talkingpools@gmail.com.

Support the show

Thank you so much for listening! You can find us on social media:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Tik Tok

Email us: talkingpools@gmail.com

Ask a question here

Twenty-five years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, this special episode of the Talking Pools Podcast is presented without commercial interruption.

Rudy Stankowitz remembers the 2,977 people murdered that day, the passengers and crews who fought back, the first responders who ran toward danger, and the survivors and recovery workers who carried the physical and emotional consequences home with them.

The episode then examines Reflecting Absence, the two enormous memorial pools built within the footprints of the former World Trade Center towers. From nearly 1,400 feet of precision waterfall weir and more than a million gallons of water to thousands of granite panels, extensive automation, and demanding overnight maintenance, Rudy explores the extraordinary engineering required to make the machinery disappear so the meaning can remain.

This episode doesn't reduce sacred ground to pumps, hydraulics, and water treatment. It is a pool professional’s appreciation of the architects, engineers, fabricators, operators, and maintenance crews whose work protects the dignity of one of America’s most important memorials.

In This Episode:

• Remembering the victims, heroes, survivors, and recovery workers of September 11
• The meaning behind Michael Arad and Peter Walker’s Reflecting Absence
• How the massive waterfall weirs were adjusted to within one-sixteenth of an inch
• Why published pumping and circulation figures must be interpreted carefully
• The difference between water-effect flow and treatment flow
• More than 1,000 monitored operating points working behind the scenes
• The challenge of maintaining dark granite beneath 400 surrounding trees
• Why mock-ups, tolerances, automation, and maintenance access matter
• How engineering and maintenance preserve the memorial’s intended experience

Two pools. Nearly two acres. More than a million gallons of water. Thousands of names.

Today, we remember.

#September11 #NeverForget #911Memorial #ReflectingAbsence #TalkingPoolsPodcast #PoolProfessionals #AquaticEngineering #WaterFeatureDesign

Music:

We the People, written and performed by Alesandra Rosette https://youtu.be/AOV70hNcajI?si=1j1f9k2IizozsCQc

Here are the official archived transcripts for all three presidential speeches used in the episode:

• President George W. Bush — Remarks to the Nation from Ellis Island, September 11, 2002
  Source of the “September 11, 2001 will always be a fixed point in the life of America” passage.
• President Barack Obama — National September 11 Memorial Museum Dedication, May 15, 2014
  Source of the passage about standing “in the footprints of two mighty towers, graced by the rush of eternal waters.”
• President Donald Trump — Flight 93 National Memorial Address, September 11, 2020
  Source of the passage honoring the 40 passengers and crew who “rose up, took charge, made their stand.”

Support the show

Thank you so much for listening! You can find us on social media:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Tik Tok

Email us: talkingpools@gmail.com