Remodeling coping hangs over the bond beam. worried about cracks

[boutselis]

I have a sample of travertine remodeling coping. its nice but it goes close to an inch over the bond beam of my pool (I think bond beam is the word). We like the way the coping hangs over. it looks good and adds some depth but I am worried about it cracking apart in the future because the deck will obviously move at a different rate than the pool. I am going to use a high flex mortar but I was wondering if I do not mortar past the bond beam but use the right type of flexible sealer/ adhesive/ caulking would that work?

Is it even something I should worry about?

The old tile was set up to avoid this by using an upside down bullnose at the top which only covered the deck edge

 

[boutselis]

just in case the question went un noticed

 

[gwegan]

I'll respond in the morning when I have time.

Gordon

 

[Kmaz]

I have no knowledge of your situation, in fact it took me a bit to figure out what I'm looking at. I think your in the right track as far as not thin setting over joint and you'd be fine. Could water line tile be installed first, then coping used to cover joint?
Kris

 

[domct203]

I believe the answer is to bond the coping to only the bond beam, and use a flexible joint between the coping & deck.

 

[gwegan]

So apparently you have a deck poured over the bond beam. You wish to install pavers over the deck and the coping pavers overhand the deck and block the deck bond beam joint. You are concerned that the deck will move and with it the pavers and that this movement will cause the bond beam to compress against the coping paver and knock it off.

Do I have that correct?

Assuming I ve got your concern correct then these are my thoughts.

If the deck to bond beam interface is correct so the deck slides over the bond beam you should be ok if you install the coping pieces as described as bellow. You need to create room for the deck to move vs the bond beam.

To do that when you butter the back of the coping butter the bottom and butter the side with only a small amount of mortar so it extends down only about an inch from the inside corner of the coping piece. When its set some of the mortar will be driven into the side. This should result in a coping piece set with about a 3/8 inch gap behind it and no mortar over your joint. You want to check that the mortar does not extend down to the joint.

Does that make sense? This will allow your bond beam deck joint to move and still have your coping piece securely attached to the deck.

 

[boutselis]

So apparently you have a deck poured over the bond beam. You wish to install pavers over the deck and the coping pavers overhand the deck and block the deck bond beam joint. You are concerned that the deck will move and with it the pavers and that this movement will cause the bond beam to compress against the coping paver and knock it off.

Do I have that correct?

Assuming I ve got your concern correct then these are my thoughts.

If the deck to bond beam interface is correct so the deck slides over the bond beam you should be ok if you install the coping pieces as described as bellow. You need to create room for the deck to move vs the bond beam.

To do that when you butter the back of the coping butter the bottom and butter the side with only a small amount of mortar so it extends down only about an inch from the inside corner of the coping piece. When its set some of the mortar will be driven into the side. This should result in a coping piece set with about a 3/8 inch gap behind it and no mortar over your joint. You want to check that the mortar does not extend down to the joint.

Does that make sense? This will allow your bond beam deck joint to move and still have your coping piece securely attached to the deck.

YES. that is my concern. if I understand you correctly the part of the coping that hangs over will only have mortar on it ABOVE the bond beam and below the bond beam there will be a 3/8" gap between the the coping overhang and the pool wall. Correct? If so. do I put a flexible sealer of some kind in that gap to seal it off before I put the tile up or do I just leave the gap open?

 

[gwegan]

I would probably put some polyurethane caulk in the gap. But you don't want to fill it. You want room for movement

You have the concept correct.

 

[Kmaz]

I would defer to Gordon if he says this is incorrect but if it were me I would install waterline tile up to around the joint area first then install coping. It would cover the tile perfectly leaving a minimal gap to allow movement . Any remaining gap could be filled with the appropriate product.
Kris

 

[gwegan]

Kmart is correct

First make sure the deck is level. Check it like three times.

Then do the tile line. Make it level because the warer WILL be level

Then do the coping

 

[boutselis]

I would defer to Gordon if he says this is incorrect but if it were me I would install waterline tile up to around the joint area first then install coping. It would cover the tile perfectly leaving a minimal gap to allow movement . Any remaining gap could be filled with the appropriate product.
Kris

Kmart is correct

First make sure the deck is level. Check it like three times.

Then do the tile line. Make it level because the warer WILL be level

Then do the coping

So if I understand. the coping will just go over the tile? Should I put the waterline tile on to a point where the coping just covers the top edge a tiny bit like maybe an 1/8"? then poly caulk?

 

[pooldv]

Yes, I would leave a 1/4" between tile and deck and let the coping overhang the tile by 1/2" or so.

 

[Kmaz]

Just don't rely on bond beam-deck joint to run tile. Since remodeling, now is the time to run tile level around perimeter. if tile goes above or below joint, so be it. Just don't bridge joint with thinset.