Help with Concrete Deck in CA

[Deucedriver]

Hi all,

On my second owner builder pool, and a couple of issues have cropped up that I had not seen before with concrete. My contractor has a great reputation and does beautiful work, but I am questioning my choice, our personalities just do not mix.

Anyway, during final grading an issue came up. My house already had a 12' deep patio that we overlaid with travertine (looks great!). The edge of pool is 10 feet from the edge of the patio, 22' from the house. My concrete contractor says the pool deck slope is perfect everywhere except the slope from the pool edge to the patio is 3%-3.25% over that 10 foot distance. He says max is 2% and I am out of compliance. He wants me to sign that he is not liable for poor workmanship in that area due to the >2% slope (I don't have a problem with that).

Anyone heard of such a thing?

I don't mind the slope, drainage is excellent and there is a deck-o-drain at the end of that slope so there won't be any pooling. There isn't any furniture or table there so nothing will be tilting.

When someone throws a word out like "compliance" to me that is a legal word, something that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I can't find anything other than minimum slope in my city regulations. My contractor is pretty intense and is the type of guy that points out every small flaw in all work at our house. Is this just a case of that or do I have a major increased expense on my hand? Some people have told me if it doesn't bother me don't worry about it.

Anyone have thoughts or comments on this?

 

[bmoreswim]

I agree with the "if it doesn't bother you" thought. I think the slope requirement may stem from accessibility regulations. It could be that supposedly flat areas must have a slope of 2% or less due to that. I have a paver patio away from the pool that is probably way over those numbers and it's fine for us. Mind you there's no table on it.

 

[Deucedriver]

I agree, from what I found it is for accessibility. A minimum slope must be maintained for drainage without going too steep and affecting accessibility. I finally found the minimum/maximum of slope in California Public Pool Regulations, along with this important portion:

(b) Only private pools maintained by an individual for the use of family and friends are exempt from the provisions of this Chapter.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for your reply bmoreswim!

 

[atttech-2]

I did some searching too and came up with the same thing, slope min max pertains to public / community pools. With that in mind why should you have to sign off on workmanship? I wold tell him I will sign off specifically on any recourse for code violations with regard to the excess slope. You don't want to sign a document that for instance if he does not bond the deck gives you no recourse.

 

[Deucedriver]

atttech-2 - Yes, I should have been more clear. All I signed off on was I understood the deck slope was over 2% in that one area and I wouldn't hold him responsible to fix it to 2% or less.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

I love the idea of a 3% slope because when you hose it down the water really runs off!!

How does he propose to "fix" this?? Ardex? Probably not because it does not bond outdoors. Should like he wants to break out and replace your patio.

I say keep it as-is.

 

[Geebot]

He's the one concerned about it so it's incumbent on him to point out what the "compliance" requirements are. He obviously has a regulation/statute in mind - or he's jerking you around. Just explain that you want a better understanding of why it's out of "compliance." If he's confident in his position then he should be able to point out the language.