I gotta have one, just gotta….
So, what are the decking options out there these days. Anything new?
And stay away from my BBQ pit.
Reality check…..30 days is up.
Le Sigh
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What about stamped and stained concrete?
Do NOT go with aggregate. I know it's cheaper, but it will hurt bare feet. Stamped concrete is slippery than greased owl $hit, and flagstone costs an arm and a leg. We went with flagstone, and once I recovered from paying for it, I've been very happy with it. Had stamped concrete at our previous home...it was beautiful, but I got soooo tired of everyone falling down when they tried to walk with their feet wet, and we had aggregate around another pool...yech. In other words, I don't think there's any perfect choice!
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.
Lily Tomlin
Those are my thoughts too. Someone put cool decking out here and guess what?....it aint so cool. You know, the nutzy neighbor who like to have bon fires by himself at 2am?
I am going to Houston tomorrow and we are gonna check out one of the bizillion pool places.
Reality check.....30 days is up.Le Sigh
We put in a pool this summer and we used concrete pavers around it and I am really happy with both the look and feel of it. Heres a pic of the finished deck around the pool, looking through the safety fence. (we have a real fence in place now) -M
SYSOP
[email protected]
Ah, okay....what is material is inbetween the pavers?
Lovely fence....snort, snort...for Halloween...
Reality check.....30 days is up.Le Sigh
Gotta tell ya....the man made rock is looking good for landscaping and cheaper too. Nevermind I have a lot full of rocks here where I live since they would not work in contact with water. The material they use to make the rocks are the same they use for decking to create a stone look, or pavers like Mark posted.
Didn't make it to the Pool Places, too busy moving other family members into new homes.
But I gotta great brochure! Arm chair pool construction material. Think Pi coined that phrase..."Arm Chair"...and look you don't sweat either.
Reality check.....30 days is up.Le Sigh
Material between pavers is masons sand. I used a product called paver sand sealer. You spray it on so that it puddles up inbetween the pavers and penetrates deep into the sand. It then hardens the sand into an almost cement like state so that you don't get any sand flaking off. We will see about its longevity but for now it is working great.
I thought you would like the fence... I'll have to take a pic of the finsihed product one of these days...SYSOP[email protected]
I am wondering about how that would hold up to a pressure washer though.
Reality check.....30 days is up.Le Sigh
Very nice looking pool deck. Are they laid on a slab foundation or are you lucky enough to be able to get away with not doing that?
TXgal,
Being in the Northeast where freezing temps are a major part of any design the way we do paver installations is to level out the area, then fill with stone dust (crushed stone screened down to a very fine size) then compact the entire area, fill in any low spots, put another thin layer of stone dust then lay the pavers right into that. When all pavers have been laid I then went through and compacted the entire area again. The next step is to top dress the whole patio with sand or stone dust which fills in the voids between the pavers and locks everything together. The last step I did was to seal the whole thing with a sand/paver sealer that makes the sand hard like concrete so that you don't get any movement of the pavers and so the sand stays in place. This is the first time I have used the sealer so we will see how it works out. I am very happy with the results but time will be the real judge on how well the installation was done...SYSOP[email protected]
Thanks for the explanation. It doesn't matter what part of the country we live in, we all want the same result. No movement. I have absolutely no experience with building in areas with freezing temps so I find your explanation very educational. We have horrible gumbo soil so a similar pool deck here would likely start with a rebar reinforced slab.
very nice - but where's the hot tub for the fest?? hmmm??? ;-)
Where did you put all of your plants? Do you have a pick of that?Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time - Abe Lincoln.
Hot tub is up on the deck...
The plants, or at least what is left of them after the voles had there feast, are all in the ground on the hill behind the pool. Heres a couple of Pics showing the wall that I built with the garden behind it.SYSOP[email protected]
Very nice wall! You did that? Wow. Is that real grass? It's beautiful and so green.
Reality check.....30 days is up.Le Sigh
I cheated, I used sod. Wanted that instant lawn effect. Was really getting tired of mud...
Well I am not sure how it would hold up to power washing but I don't really think there would be a need as the pavers themselves also got sealed during the process so they should not need to washed, I would think. Time will tell of course on this.
The wall was a lot of work yes but in the end well worth every drop of blood sweat and tears. Heres a thread from OTF that talks about the project in more detail if your interested. -M http://forums.taunton.com/tp-overthefence/messages?msg=4062.1SYSOP[email protected]
Whoa! I read OTF thread.
What kina of pool constuction is that? I am not familiar with this technique at all.
You build pool walls out of what?
Then insert a step section and is that fiberglass?
Then what happens next?"Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses"Willy Nelson and Toby Keith
Full-Fledged,
The pool is a typical vinyl liner pool. Heres the abbreviated version of the pool installation.They come in dig the hole where the pool is going, then they put up 42" tall walls that form the shape of the pool. The walls are made by the pool manufacturer and come delivered as 6 and 9 foot panels depending on if they are curved or straight. In the construction pics you can easily see the walls in place. Once the walls are in they then dig out the remainder of the pool and roughly shape the bottom. Once that is complete they then cover the entire bottom with a vermiculite/cement combination and that is what forms the bottom of the pool. Once the cement has hardened a liner is then installed over the cement and up the sides of the walls and that is what makes it water tight. The steps are part of the wall system.This is very typical of how pools are done around here, not sure if that is common practice elsewhere in the country maybe someone else can comment on that.SYSOP[email protected]
The area is beautiful...love the wall!Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.Lily Tomlin
Ah, I thought that might be the technique.
Now I can tell you a couple of interesting stories of a vinyl insert that I inherited in Louisiana. (Dumb, Dumb idea)
Somebody turned the main drain switch on drain, then when the electricity was turned on....guess what happens overnight?
We bury people above ground in Louisiana too.
:-)
"Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses"Willy Nelson and Toby Keith
HEHE! Sounds like the experience many people have with pools in the area around the ranch. They don't realize that a very high water table under rock will pop an empty pool right out of the ground. Not a pretty sight.
lol! In Houma, no less!
I think of that pool scene in Poltergeist alot....what a night mare!
Is the pool at the ranch gunite? Hey, do the cows ever fall in? "Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses"Willy Nelson and Toby Keith
Yep, the pool is gunite.
No cattle in the pool, that's what fences are for. The whole house area and upper barns (about 10 acres) is fenced, pickets on the front side and rails everywhere else. One of the kids left a walk-in gate open one night and the next morning we found several cows drinking out of the pool. Thanks goodness they didn't make it to the flower bed. But they did leave way too may calling cards on the lawn.
Good thing they didn't leave the "cards" in the pool I guess.
I have had to fish out stray dogs quite a few times, and I had a fence too.
One time, it was a cat, another time, ...something got away from me so fast, I don't know what it was!"Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses"Willy Nelson and Toby Keith
VERY nice! I had missed the pics of the finished wall and such somehow - tell me - what block is that you used for the wall? Two types of split face, or something a bit different?
Glad to know the tub is on the deck! ;-)Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time - Abe Lincoln.
Wolvie,
The block I used is manufactured by Grinnel and is a 3 piece retaining wall system. They call it their vintage collection. I used the 3 piece because it created a much more random effect which makes it look more Natural. The other option we went with was, we used the grayflash color which is a combination of grays so that also adds to the natural feel by having random colors throughout the wall and even throughout the individual blocks. I was really pleased with the way it came out.SYSOP[email protected]
Thank you very much - I'd say from the pics that you got what you wanted. Fantastic look!Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time - Abe Lincoln.
If you're all lucky we may have the fest here next summer....if the house additions are done and I'm still in a good mood.
Pools big enough for all of us....18x50 with old growth trees all around it.
A raffle will be held to see who stays in the tipi (yeh, thats a good thing).
See pic in the thread "when did this get here"
BE well
Namaste'
andyMy life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
SYSOP,
I love the hardscape around the pool. Since the installation, have you experienced any settling? When you back filled and set the base for the pavers, did you use any techniques out of the ordinary? I ask because I have heard that it can be difficult to acheive proper compaction around pools.
Thanks,
Aaron
Aaron,
I think one of the things that really helped out with this project is that it rained for 5 weeks after they backfilled the pool so I had tons of natural compaction. Outside of that all of the techniques where "normal" for paver installation around here.I do have one spot that frost heaves every spring but all I have to do is lift the 2 paver's in that area, pack down the soil and then lay down the paver's again. I suspect there is a rock underneath that area. I have been extremely happy with the results.Mark
[email protected]
Thanks for the response. Glad to hear the job is still holding up well.
Aaron