Bizarre Pool Edge - Breaks Leg

[mcsears]

We bought a foreclosure last year with a pool that was built in 1981 and is quickly becoming a Money Pit. Resurvace, patch, re-tile, New equipment room - Heater, filtration, rebuild of the cover box, new cover motor, cover, gliders, rails...

The money pit went to a whole new level over the 4th of July weekend...

The bullnose brick coping around the pool extends above the concrete pool deck from 3/4" to 1 3/4" and the outer edge of the bullnose brick is a sharp 90 degree edge straight down to the deck. We've recognized it as being both unatrractive and dangerous but it had been a lower priority than the functional issues. Over the 4th an ankle got broken on the coping resulting in an ER trip. Fixing this edge issue has instanlty become the priority but we can't find anyone who has a solution that isn't tearing out 2,500 sf of concrete deck and re-pouring a deck at $20k, which simply isn't doable. we wanted to put a stamped concrete overlay on top of the existing concrete deck to fill in the gap and upgrade the overall look of the pool, but contractors are saying it is too high to pour slab over the exisiting deck. Any help or ideas would be very appreciated.

 

[Marauder]

So the outter edge height varies around the pool? Its not consistent?

Dang, sorry to hear about the injury! I do feel your pain. I bought a foreclosed house with a pool that needed a lot of work. In May, I was pressure washing the house, getting ready to paint it, and I fell backwards into my empty pool, into the deep end. That was a 9' fall onto my back. Thankfully no serious injury, other than a really sore back, scraped up, and a bump on the head. Since then we remodeled the pool and its now full of water.

Anyways, my first thought is if you can put some other kind of stone around the outside of the coping to not make such a abrupt step.

 

[XsAllOverIt]

Picture would say alot...

 

[mcsears]

Thanks for the replies - I'll get pictures posted today.

 

[JasonLion]

It is difficult to picture exactly what is going on, but it sounds like it might be possible to grind down the edge of the coping so there is a bit of a slope, instead of a vertical trip edge.

 

[mcsears]

Picture attached.

 

[mcsears]

coping corner

 

[greif]

how about just repouring right over the top?

 

[amylucintfp]

We have the same situation, but with vinyl-covered wood, and are facing the same dilemma. In our case, our concrete deck needs attention, too, so we've got that added complication. (And, BTW, our pool and house have the same name!!!! And other not so nice names, too!)

I wonder if replacing your existing thick brick coping with some of that thin-paver coping would work. That would be way cheaper than replacing the whole deck, or even covering the whole deck with thin pavers to meet the thick brick coping. I know there's a long thread somewhere about a gentleman who used that to re-cope and lay a whole new paver deck...in the heat of July! It may require a foundation, though, or an exisiting coping to be set upon.

There is a new technology that we've used at the university where I work that grinds down trip hazards in sidewalks. I've seen it used at a local hospital, too. I'm not sure that would work on your brick, though, especially since it's up to almost 2" deep.

I've looked at the following company, since we need to replace our deck, but I don't think it wouldn't help you since the back edge is the same depth as your problem now: http://www.creaconco.com/index_002.htm

Maybe you could have a cantilevered coping poured just where the brick coping was, up to the existing deck. I don't know if that's too narrow an area to do that. Maybe ConcreteJack would know.

Amy

 

[JasonLion]

That is a bigger height difference that I was expecting.

It would look strange, but one thing you could do is to make a small wedge/ramp out of PVC trim, which works like wood but lasts forever like PVC, and then glue them in place with construction adhesive.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

I kind of like greif's idea...any reason you couldn't pour over the top of the existing deck to make it level with the brick?

 

[ohiosteve]

what about that naturestone stuff? You may be able to slope away from the brick coping.

 

[Richard320]

You could look for some plastic fencing panels and some spacers and build duckboards up to the right level.

 

[dmanb2b]

you could lay unfinished spanish tiles or some thing similar, although that would likely be a costly option as well, but perhaps affordable as a DIY?

 

[mcsears]

how about just repouring right over the top?

That was our original desire and stamp the concrete for an enhance look - So far contractors have suggested that a 2" pour overtop of an exisiting slab would crack quickly and have refused that as an option that they would guarantee. They would pout upto 3/4" over slab with a guarantee but not uup to 2".

Natural stone is an option with 2,500 SF its an expensive option.

 

[crek31]

Would they do a series of 3/4" pours with it fully curing in between each thin layer?

 

[Melt In The Sun]

pavers over the slab?

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

How about just putting the right size coping on?

Scott

 

[XsAllOverIt]

There are special companies that jack the existing concrete, but I think in your case, the discrepancy is too extreme. I also think replacing the coping should certainly make a huge difference.

 

[Marauder]

No easy option for a proper fix here. Should have seen that one coming even before buying the house, since the step is pretty obvious. The right thing would be to either redo the concrete or the coping.

A cheaper temp fix, IMO, would be to find some angle wood and screw it into the concrete for a gradual transition. Just make sure to properly water treat the wood before hand to reduce rot.