best place to buy a pool cover

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erock14

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May 23, 2010
99
union beach n.j.
i was wondering if anyone knows a place online to get a cover for a good price.

the specific model i want is "ARTIC ARMOR WC970 30'X50' 15YR WRNTY" the lowest ive come up w/ so far is poolsupplyworld.com at $172.00 incudes shipping, maybe someone can chime in w/ somthing better or at least agree this is a good deal, this was my first season as a pool owner, so im still a rookie LOL, had to throw away my old cover at the beggining of the season due to squirells put dozens of tiny holes in it, "realized that after i pumped half my water out thinking i was just pumping rain water off the top" i beleive it was a cheap one, i hope so anyway, dont want them popping holes in a good one too thanks!
 
If the cost is in your budget, a safety cover is a good investment. It will run you about $1500 plus installation if you can't do it yourself, but the peace of mind is well worth it.

I really doubt a $172 cover is going to last anything close to 15 years.
 
thats really the grand scheme of things, right now i have loose, 30 year old pavers on top of sand, and there is just no where to place anchors. but in the next couple of years i will be getting a new stamped concrete deck "god willing" of course. and then i can get the safty cover, but until then i need a decent cover to get me to that point.
 
my pavers are all collapsing all the time there is no mortar and no grout they are not attached to any thing they pop right out, im on the beach these pavers are just sitting on sand there is no way to anchor anything, anyone on my original question
 
I'd be watching In the Swim, Doheny's, Leslie's, Amerimerc and any other catalogs. They have sales this time of year on covers.
 
erock14 said:
my pavers are all collapsing all the time there is no mortar and no grout they are not attached to any thing they pop right out, im on the beach these pavers are just sitting on sand there is no way to anchor anything, anyone on my original question
Click to expand...

Pavers are not supposed to sit on anything but sand (or stone dust), nor are they supposed to be mortored or grouted. I realize your situation might not be the greatest with respect to your deck. I just didnt want someone to read this thread and think that a loop-loc could not be installed on a paver deck.
 
"I just didnt want someone to read this thread and think that a loop-loc could not be installed on a paver deck."

i would go so far as to say it should not be done in any way shape or form. its an accident waiting happen. the purpose of a saftey cover is to prevent accidents. the loop loc requires the drilling of anchors. drilling a hole into a paver with out breaking it, would be a miracal in itself and then the integrity of that paver would be comprimised. and then to add any load on top of that (children, pets, adults) would spell imminent danger. whether it be the pavers breaking, or the pavers and anchors being pulled right into the pool along w/ the victim. so i think any one who reads this thread should consider very carfully about drilling holes in pavers for loop loc or any other safety cover system. and ask the pros its the one and only reason i have not done so. my son being killed by a safety cover not done right would destroy me. i couldnt even imagine
 
You are right to be concerned about drilling into a paver. This is not how a Loop-loc or safety cover is installed on a paver deck. The way it installed is different. The holes are drilled between the paver, not through them. The 4 inch anchors are put into the tops of 12-18 inch pipes that are driven into the subsoil beneath the paver deck. The tension of the cover is is not on the paver, but in the ground below. This way, there is no danger of pavers flying off the deck.
This kind of install is done all the time and is detailed on Loop-loc's site. Thousands of these safety covers are installed on paver decks.
 
im sorry but that just sounds ridiculus and impractical. my pool for example is 20'x45' w/ stairs roughly 130 sq ft. you would need to tear up the pavers around the entire deck. dig at least 65 holes. (roughly half of sq footage) put in 65 peices of pipe. backfill around the pipe, fill 65 pipe w/ concrete, thats alot of concrete, and it cant be pvc either right, so black pipe or cast iron and a lot of it. compact the sand/soil and then try to recreate the jig saw puzzle which never looks right again no matter how good you lay the pavers back down. not to mention the man hours, and how long it would take to lay thousands of pavers, (my pavers are the same size as bricks)to me thats a massive undertaking w/ massive amounts of labor. which means massive amounts of money, or massive amounts of blood sweat and tears to the do it yourselfers. it would be much much more practical to just pour concrete. this sounds like it would be better for new construction, not existing decks. and even then it sounds crazy to do all that work and lay pavers over it, i think the only people that would think about doing somthing like this, are people who paid alot of money for there paver deck and cant bare the thought of getting rid of it, after paying so much for it. i really cant see thousands or even hundreds of people doing this all the time i think those numbers are a little exagerated.
 

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Well, again, thats not how you do it. My deck has about 38 anchors, if i remember right, it was installed in about an hour and a half. You use a rotary hammer with a 3/4" bit thats about 2.5 feet long. The hole is bored between the pavers at a joint. The pavers are not taken up at all. The 4 inch anchor is put into the top of the pipe, then the assembly is driven into the hole down into the subsoil. There is no removal of pavers, no concete poured, no backfill around pipes, etc. The pipe is far enough into the base under the pavers that they do not move. It's pretty simple actually and it is done all the time. Like I said, there are many, many safety covers installed like this and its perfectly fine.

This video shows how its done. The paver installation is at 3:52

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bcqhRiqdA4
 
erock, I drill 1" holes between pavers. The anchor in pipe is then driven in the hole with either a heavy lump hammer or an electric hammer. The pavers don't crack. The pipes usually stay in but sometimes lift a couple inches. Tamping them back down when needed is reasonable easy.

Scott
 
I'm adding this just for a little information. I don't want any part of the "should, shouldn't" debate.

It's very easy to drill through a paver without comprimising the paver itself. It's also very easy to drill between pavers and install the anchor tubes without removing the pavers. It's done with a core drill in a portable drill press. It's done all the time, and if done with care it doesn't disturb the pavers at all. You then DRIVE the anchor tubes into the ground level with the pavers and install the anchors.

A rotary hammer works but a core drill ensures that you don't crack the pavers.
 
No one I know uses a core drill on pavers. I have seen people drill the paver. That is demanding cracked pavers and having pavers pop out when a snow load is on the cover. If enough pavers with anchors in them pop out, the cover goes in the pool.

Drilling between pavers can safely be done with a hammer drill and is the normal and accepted industry norm for installation. I have extensive experience doing this and just about every other safety cover installation challenge there is.

Core drills should be used with very large pavers such as 12x12s or travertine tiles that is dry laid or set in mortar. Anchor in pipe is a must in all paver and travertine situations. This is because the installer is trying to get the anchor location within a specific area. The large pavers and travertine tiles are too big to go between and still be in the area the anchor needs to be set in and so to prevent cracking, the core drill rig is used.

Using a core drill will add significantly to the cost of a safety cover. Core drills and their bits are expensive. Core drills are usually slower per hole so the labor costs go up. It took me two and a half days to do a 2100 square foot cover with a travertine deck and a day and a 1/2 for a 1900 square foot cover on pavers. It would have been faster if I didn't have to also drill 16 wall anchors into tile walls. I had two helpers hammering the rebar/anchor in pipe assemblies.

Unless there is a poured cement sub-base under the sand the pavers are set on, I normally add a two foot piece of #5 rebar in the hole first on main support straps for a deeper and stronger bite, significantly increasing the hold on the pipe on nearly all paver installations.

Hope this helps.

Scott
 
i guess i stuck my foot in my mouth, all i wanted was a cover for my pool not a saftety cover tutorial! it actually sounds like a good system though, and it makes sense drilling pilot holes and inserting pipe, and putting in the extra 2' lenths of rebar is a great idea. it actually sounds like an easy d.i.y. job. i still dont like the fact the pipe is still not really secure, just in the ground wiggling around not biting on anything, i imagine the anchors would shift and move around enlarging the holes and maybe moving the pavers out of level, im on the beach so theres no dirt here all sand, and its impossible to compact sand. so im sold on the fact that you can do it! and that people are doing it! and i stand corrected in my posts, but my personal opinion has not changed and i do not care for this system in any way shape or form. so for now i will wait for my concrete deck, and close my pool w/ the new cover which came today by the way. and im impressed w/ poolsupplyworld.com the absolute lowest price i could find and shipped to my door from cali to jersey inf 4 days not bad they beat all the big names and catalogs by alot, i will be dealing w/ them again
 
Getting back on topic...if all you are looking for is a standard pool cover for a 20x40 pool $170 would be reasonable for an armorkote brand cover, but you can get a one season then chuck it type cover for around $70-$80. It all depends on what you are trying to acomplish. If there is no access to your pool in the winter, then having a saftey cover is not really a necessity, however if it does adjoin the back/side of your home, a saftey cover should be strongly considered.

Here are 2 covers I could quickly look up

Cheapo

http://cgi.ebay.com/20-x-40-In-ground-S ... 4152736d2c

and then Armorkote

http://cgi.ebay.com/20-x-40-Armor-Kote- ... 4152d6e64c

Is there a specific reason you are looking for a 30x50 size cover? That's a lot of extra material to pay for...just wondering
 
"Is there a specific reason you are looking for a 30x50 size cover? That's a lot of extra material to pay for...just wondering"

i wanted a good one for cheap, not a cheap one LOL i also bought a 25x45 leaf net

only reason is my stair case makes it 20x45 1/2', and they dont have them 25x50 and the 25x45 doesnt allow for any drop so this is what i got, 15yr wrty, i also bought a 25x45 leaf net as well

http://www.poolsupplyworld.com/pool-cov ... 113-wc970/
 
erock14 said:
your system is garbage? and you dont know the first thing about my pavers.
Click to expand...

What is garbage?

My point was if your pavers are shifting, they should not be, thats all. I could probably tell you how to fix them if you were so inclined.
You have said a couple of times that you live near the beach and the pavers sit on sand and that sand can not be compacted. But, I assume the pool is around your house and has a coping and pavers set around the pool. Actually, pavers sit on compacted sand or stone dust. The sand is a different kind than beach sand however. A properly constructed paver deck should have a good, compacted base preferably of processed gravel. On top of that should be about 4 inches of mason's sand or stone dust, firmly compacted. The pavers then sit on the sand and are fitted tightly together and leveled with a dead blow hammer. The bricks should not shift at all. In fact, driveways are made out of pavers and a truck can be driven on them if done right.

I didnt mean to offend you. Like i said, i was trying to help you out. If you want to start a thread on paver repair, I'd be glad to help. If not, good luck to you.
 

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