Poured in Place Coping Help...

[ybz]

Owner builder here and it's time for Coping and Tile... Going to have pebble plaster and the deck is going to be stamped-concrete... it is a 20x40 gunite pool with a cover-star pool cover.

So here is the issue... I got some bids from various masons, and the price is vastly different... but more importantly there are some significant construction differences (or so it seems to me)... some want to not use ANY steel at all, others want to used steel, and others yet want to use dowels and rebar/epoxy the coping to the bond-beam...

Why so many differences??? is there a standard??? any advice or shared experience would be greatly appreciated...

This is what I have in mind (please comment...):

Form the coping on the three sides of the pool (one side is the pool cover side so it gets no coping), then float the coping with rapid-set concrete to level and fill-in any small gunite divits, place roofing paper on top of floated bond-beam, pour coping in place... this way any small movements would not cause any cracks and no damage to bond-beam... any ideas on that??? do you see any issues with the pool cover or anything unforseen???

Thanks for taking the time,

ybz

 

[Patrick_B]

I don't know what the standard is, but I like the idea of the dowels process. Seems more thorough, but I'm sorry I don't have a better answer.

 

[duraleigh]

some want to not use ANY steel at all, others want to used steel, and others yet want to use dowels and rebar/epoxy the coping to the bond-beam..

Give us some more information. Where do they want/or not want to use steel? The bond beam and pool wall move independently of one another and should not be pegged.....why was he suggesting that?

Got a pic of your gunite?

 

[ybz]

Thanks Duraleigh and Brushpup for the reply.

I thought the bond beam and the pool wall are integral units since they were gunite at the same time and are therefor one unit which will move together or major cracks/failure will happen; please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm talking about the coping which is poured on top of the bond beam - they want to 'peg' or dowl the poured in place coping to the bond beam; some want to avoid steel altogether in the coping, others want to use steel but place separating medium (such as roofing paper) between the coping and the bond beam...

any input on the typical/best way to proceed with poured in place coping would be appreciated...

thanks

 

[duraleigh]

others want to use steel but place separating medium (such as roofing paper) between the coping and the bond beam...

In my opinion, that is correct (it's the way I did mine).

The idea is that the bond beam and the shell is one entity that is fairly stable but is likely to move a little vertically. The coping is a seperate entity and is more likely to move laterally....almost guaranteed.

If you lock the two together, you invite the opportunity to crack...obviously.

In fact, I did use roofing felt as the divider and after nine years, have no cracking in the shell or the coping (not really coping in my case as I used a cantilevered deck.)

 

[swimcmp]

ybz what kind of auto cover are you having installed? That answer will dictate how you should anchor the coping.