How is your travertine pool deck holding up?

[Raider4251]

Just like the topic says.

I only want to hear from those that HAVE a travertine pool deck.

Please do not post unless YOU have a travertine POOL DECK. I am looking for real experiences, not hearsay.

:-D

 

[RobbieH]

Outdoors around a deck will be a harsher environment than an indoor bathroom. It's not very durable. Pic included so you know it isn't hearsay. It is beautiful but I would not do it again. I've seen some houses in really bad shape from the travertine breaking up.

We have two threads for this now?

 

[Raider4251]

Please only post if you HAVE a travertine pool deck.

 

[RobbieH]

How will having it on the deck be any different than it being on the floor of my bathroom? It's still travertine. Dropping hard/heavy objects will immediately break it, as we found out. The filler will come out sometimes too. I had to have the filler replaced in a few places before we sold the house. And it has to be routinely sealed or you'll have staining and such.

EDIT: disregard my posts, I know nothing about travertine. LOL

 

[Raider4251]

Please do not post unless you have a travertine pool deck....

 

[amyallirobert]

:blah: :blah: :blah:

 

[chucklh]

I have about 1600 sq ft of travertine around my pool including the coping, its actually a paver not a tile its 1 1/8" thick, finished the pool deck just after Thanksgiving had a pretty good winter in Maryland and all I have seen is a couple of corners chip and I have not color enhanced or sealed it yet, hope this helps if you need more info just ask......

 

[Raider4251]

Thank you for the response.

 

[mlaspina]

Great after 1 year. Have the pavers here in Phoenix. No problems w/ the SWG or anything. There are some pavers that have voids in them, but I think that just adds to the natural look of it.

Pros:
- Looks better than acrylic lace over cement
- Slightly cooler in the scorching AZ sun
- Cools off much quicker once out of the sun (after an hour in the shade - it no longer feels hot - unlike cement)
- Much easier to clean than lace (dust and dirt just hoses right out rather than sticking in the little pockets)
- I suspect that it will hold up much better to the sun here - acrylic decking fades after a few years
- It was actually cheaper than Acrylic - we paid $11 / sqft installed

Cons:
- Weeds come up thru the cracks sometimes - chemical warfare or a torch takes care of that
- Did not get enough - should have done the entire back yard in this stuff!
- Coping is not as comfortable in the spa since it's only 1 1/4" thick instead of 4"

 

[Raider4251]

Good post. Thanks!

 

[Flamomof2]

Any settling lifting or cracking? We are under contruction and getting french pattern gold travertine for the decking and coping. I am hoping its the right choice.

 

[mlaspina]

No settling or cracking yet. We have expansive soil out here, so I'm expecting some rock and rolling, but none yet. Our drainage is really good where the pool is, so I'm sure that helps.

Make sure they put down plenty of ABC aggregate underneath - we're about 4" deep, and then a couple more inches of sand on top of that. We have a pattern that consists of 12x12, 12x6, and 6x6 pavers. One of our neighbors is getting A LOT of 18x18 pavers put in his yard - I'd be wary of that given our soil out here. I think the smaller tile sizes will do better w/ expansion. We only have 300 sq.ft not counting the 2' of coping all around the pool.

 

[nutjob]

Well, it's only five months old, but it's holding up great. No cracking, settling, bulging, or the like.

(I did find a tiny prostrate spurge trying to grow out of the sand (where the travertine was cut to accommodate a drain), but it didn't last under my watch. )

 

[qofmiwok]

I have a few thousand sf around my pool in Hawaii. It's been about 3 years now and I still love it. I originally sealed it but that wore off after a year or so, and now the color is a little lighter. But it looks awesome. It's not slippery at all when wet. About every 6 months I take a pressure washer to the grout and clean that off. I have 18x18's and the marble has a really cool pattern, each piece is like a work of art.

We already had concrete so our installation is thinset on concrete.

I stressed about this decision for a long time but I would never hesitate again!

 

[prosper]

I don't have a travertine pool deck.

Just wanted to let ya know.

 

[Ollie-L]

My pool was built last year and finished in October in SW FL. I chose 16 x 16 tumbled travertine ivory pavers for the 1,100 sqft pool deck and it all looked great to start with. The deck was sealed this March with an acrylic based sealer and shortly thereafter some pavers started turn white. After doing some research I learned that this condition is probably efflorescence,

a white powdery substance that appears on the stone’s surface. It is caused by mineral salts within the stone being carried to the surface of the stone by water and then being left behind when the water evaporates.​

Due to that the surface is sealed, the the white substance (the salt) is now trapped under the sealer. Part of the pavers are thinset on concrete and the rest is on sand and there is where most of the efflorescence has occurred.
Read more: http://www.builddirect.com/learning-center/flooring/travertine-cleaning-maintenance/#ixzz3llLlZWPR​

 

[jcs2000]

If u look at my primary posting you can see a travertine pool deck. It is 10 years old. Have salt water pool. No issues except rare superficial cracks. Plan on replacing the brick coping with travertine to make more uniform with a remodel.

 

[martinkennedy]

We have over 3,000 square feet of Travertine pavers. They are set in compacted stone with a sand base for the pavers. Polymeric sand is then used to fill the gaps between the pavers. The polymeric sand gets watered and becomes harder. Weed growing in the cracks do have to be killed periodically. No settling of pavers has happened in 16 months. The coliseum in Rome was built with travertine, and look how long that's lasted.

 

[Helen203]

MartinKennedy -- I love the look of your loungers -- are those from Frontgate? Are they comfortable?

 

[martinkennedy]

Helen203,
They are from Frontgate, and they are very comfortable. They also sell a padded cover for them. I bought two but don't use them