Think I have a problem with coping elevation

[fyton2v]

I think might have run into my first real problem on my OB adventure. My masonry contractor, who has worked on a lot of pools, installed the pool coping before the tile. Now the bottom of the skimmer mouth is about 9" below the underside of the coping. Is this elevation too far off to be practical?

If we're running 6" tiles beneath the coping that puts the bottom of the tile about half way up the skimmer opening. If my water level is say... 3" from the coping it'll A) be near the top of the gunite and B) leave very little room between the level of the water and top of the skimmer mouth.

Joy. Is this a coping redo? Or do I just lower the water level. What is the norm for water level anyway? See pic below. Or maybe I can have him "stack" an inch or 2 of stone underneath the coping... essentially making the coping thicker without changing the actual elevation.

Thanks!

[attachment=0:2wo14zns]photo[1].JPG[/attachment:2wo14zns]

 

[duraleigh]

Is the same guy gonna' put in the tile? If so, I'm sure he has thought it out. I can envision a couple of fixes but my FIRST approach would be to ask him how he intends to finish it off.

 

[fyton2v]

I talked with my masonry guy and he actually didn't notice this. The truth of the matter is that his crew put too thick of a concrete base below the flagstone. It's about 2.5" then flagstone. I'm not really sure why they went so thick. Before we isntall the waterline tile he'll find level around the pool and we can get an accurate measure of the issue... if it ends up being one. If it's off by too much I think i'm going to have him chip out a notch in the new concrete around the bottom of the coping and stack another layer of 1" think flagstone. This will bring the bottom of the coping closer to the top of the gunite. With the rest of the decking in place already it'll be too hard to pull up the existing coping and lower it in elevation.

 

[fyton2v]

Dagnabbit.

I've measured and leveled things several times and I think I've found the root cause. My masonry contractor started the coping off at the highest elevation point of the gunite on the pool shell, which is what you're supposed to do I hear. Well it turns out that the high side is about 1" higher than the low side... which is most of the pool. The coping is nice and level and this is placing my skimmers 1" lower than they should be.

The top of the coping is 4" above the top of the skimmer mouth opening. Now after we add tile, and with an average of about 3.5" waterline, my pool level will be near the 5" mark of the 6" skimmer opening. Do I need to fuss about this?

 

[duraleigh]

bump

 

[Lershac]

Why not just run your waterline a little higher?

 

[DBfan187]

Or run a smaller strip of tile above or below it?

 

[fyton2v]

Thanks everyone.

I'm hoping this is a non-issue, but I can't find info out there that puts my mind at ease. The only info I could find on proper skimmer installation came from a skimmer manual that mentioned you should keep at least 2" of air between the waterline and the top of the skimmer mouth. My skimmers, which are Pentair S-15s, don't mention anything other keeping at least a 2" water level above the bottom of the mouth. I definitely won't have that problem. Ultimately, i'm not too concerned about the tile. I'm worried about the look of a low waterline (pools look better when they're full) if I need to keep my water low in order to have the skimmer operate efficiently. If I can run this thing with a waterline close to the top of the skimmer mouth I suppose I don't really have a problem.

Thanks again.

 

[fyton2v]

Would anyone with pool building experience care to set my mind at ease? Pretty please?

 

[JamesW]

I like to have the water level about 4 inches up from the bottom of the 6-inch tile and about 1 inch down from the top of the inside of the skimmer mouth. To do that, you will have a lot of grout between the coping and the tile. You could raise the tile, but that would make the water level look too low.

Can you post a picture with the tile held up in place?

 

[fyton2v]

Thanks for the response James! I'm leaving town tomorrow morning and will post pics when I return on Tuesday. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

 

[Heckpools]

you can run your filter with the water an inch over the skimmer and STILL be ok :-D
may have some leaves floating in the pool....

No worries, Be Happies

 

[fyton2v]

Ok. So here is a pic of this scenario. While I don't have tile yet I cut a 6X6 piece of cardboard to play the role of the tile.

Now that this is in place to help visualize the issue I can see that we are indeed off by an inch. However, as long as I can operate that skimmer with a water level at approximately the same height as the bottom of that tab/stop-thing in the skimmer weir it should be OK. The waterline is marked by the horizontal line at the top of the squiggles. That line is level with the bottom of the skimmer weir gate stop. I'm also assuming a 1/2" grout line here. While the top of the coping is level, the bottom varies a bit from stone to stone so the grout line cannot be consistent around the pool.

With these elevations the waterline is about 3" below the coping... maybe a little more... maybe a little less in places depending on the thickness of the stone coping.

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