bobwoodw

The stones are just larger then the size of a standard brick but a little thinner then a standard brick, keep in mind the 240 sqft is just the decking around the edge of the pool so 2.6 feet is about accurate on it's width, we're thinking about adding more decking but that's all going to come down to price, we actually have a fairly large covered patio on the back of the house already so we're not too concerned with having more decking, though it would of course be nice to have another seating area. The soil here is called "expansive soil", it shifts with heat changes quite a bit (enough to require by law that the home builder informs us about it before we sign any paperwork to buy) and from what we've been told it increases the required pool shell thickness and decking reinforcement, that's one of the main reasons I like the paver stones, while they may shift, we can just have them reset to smooth them again. I am a little concerned about drainage but I'm still trying to find out what the desired drainage is (how far from the pool shell wall before you can be considered "safe" against issues).

Thanks everyone! I did some more research and hunted down a few more companies today. From everyone I'm talking to the company that does the deck "locking" usually ends up with cracks about 18 inches from edges of the pool, one designer I talked to even showed me some pictures from a remodel they are doing of an older pool from Shasta. Granted with a concrete deck there will be some cracking over time but this was honestly a complete crack around the entire edge of the pool. The expansive soil is apparently not enough to cause major issues with the pool shells themselves, they do have to do extra reinforcement. The company I talked to today recommended paver stones instead of acrylic or concrete deck to minimize any damage from the soil shifting under the deck. The paver stones look great and are actually very affordable (the place that showed them to me said the upgrade for the standard 240 sqft they put around the pool edge to the nicer paver stone I liked was only about $200, if I went with tumbled cement paver stones it would actually be the same price as their regular decking). When I discussed it with my housemates though one was afraid because of how the paver stones are laid down without mortar of any kind that the pool would get more water behind the shell in the soil and there might be a bigger chance of cracks occurring in the pool itself. We've pretty much decided to steer clear of the locking deck and the company I spoke to today has an amazing warranty (covers pretty much everything and can be extended from the regular 3 year to warrant the life of the pool). I checked their BBB and ROC reviews and while they do have some complaints, all complaints have been successfully resolved and they have less complaints then the other companies I've looked at. I guess my next question, has anyone used paver stones as decking and how did it turn out? Have you noticed any issues with the pool shell that may be linked to the paver stone decking? I know the cement pavers can get really hot here in the summer but the ones I was looking at that I liked are travertine (a kind of limestone) that I'm told doesn't retain heat as much. I'm still trying to find more information on the heat retaining properties specifically. Thanks again to everyone for responding, none of us have ever owned a pool so we're literally putting ourselves on the line based on what we can research and get by word of mouth.

Thanks for the detailed answer, here's most of the extra info you asked for. 1) I don't know if it will be cantilevered but I will be asking that now and will let you know. 2) We're looking at doing a small pool, about 390-400 sqft of surface area, pretty much square with just a few odd spots in the perimeter, 4,5,4 depths. 3)No vanishing edge. 4)We discussed this with another builder and he mentioned the decking might crack in a locked system if the decking extended out past the edge of the rebar that was connected to the pool shell (because that decking would shift and the pool shell wouldn't) so we decided if we went with this option we would be separating off sections of the decking from the decking surrounding the pool. 5)No on the automatic pool cover. 6)I'm not sure how high our water table is, but it being Arizona and since we have had no warnings I would assume it won't be an issue, I am going to check with the house builder on that today. 7)I don't know the concrete or rebar thickness information, we were told that they add a fiberglass-like reinforcement to the concrete however to increase its strength. I believe the rebar spacing was going to be 6-12' varying depending on the location within the shell. Thanks again! I've been looking for friends that have worked with the company that might have gotten this but I never would have considered asking the company themselves.

Hiya, So we've just purchased a new house (minus pool sadly) and we are now in the market to find a contractor. Living in the Phoenix AZ valley we have a lot of options. Recently we had a design appointment with one company that offered a special kind of construction in which they "lock" the decking around the pool to the pool shot-crete shell itself. The way they explained it to us is that the area our home is in has "expansive soil" (the home builder talked to us about this as well) thus with a normal "floating" deck the deck and pool shell may separate, creating a crack between the inside edge of the pool and the bottom of the deck as the soil expands and contracts. With the locking construction re-bar would extend out of the pool shot-crete shell into the deck, locking the two together and preventing them from splitting apart. The thing is even though the company has built thousands of pools in Phoenix I can't find any information online about this locking construction and I'm wondering if it really is a good idea. I would like to avoid having to monitor the inside edge of the pool for separation from the deck constantly, plus we were told with the lock if water did manage to get between and cause a crack it would be covered under the pool contractor's warranty unlike with the floating deck where none of the contractors we've spoken to would cover that normally. The company is Shasta Pools located here in Phoenix. Has anyone dealt with this type of construction before?