Help/advice on quote and deck rebuild- w/pics of old pool!

[RalphD]

Just got a quote for over 15K for work on my pool yard which has inspired me to find other options! I am a recent TFP member and I appreciate all I have learned here about pool chemistry etc., so hopefully you guys can help me here as well.

I have an older pool that is in need of some “deck” work. As you can see in the pictures, it has a series of stones around it that have, over many decades, settled down a few inches. There is also quite a bit of dirt around the stones and it gets into the pool frequently.
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What started all this is a significant leak in the return pipe (inches a day) so the yard has to be half dug up anyway. So I asked them to quote me on putting in a new deck. They quoted 2.8K to remove old stones and discard, 1K for caulking for expansion, and 10.8K for pavers (14.2K for Bluestone). This includes re-grading, 4 inch concrete slab, 4 ¾ inch gravel. So basically 15-18K for this job. Seems high to me for 430 sq ft (thoughts?) but more importantly I can’t pay that now!

So I am leaning towards moving the old stones away, adding some dirt/gravel, putting them back, and filling in spaces between them with polymeric sand. Our house is almost 300 years old and the pool yard has a rustic look too as you can see with the barn in the picture. So the stones actually match pretty well.

First, can I really skip the concrete slab? I am in Connecticut and I have read mixed opinions on this site about whether they are needed under pavers or stones.

Minimally, how much earth do I need to excavate away here? From reading some other posts, I see that I need to add gravel and then stone dust before resetting the stones. How much of this is needed?

Finally, will polymeric sand fill in larger gaps- like 2-4 inches between some stones? This would make it easier for this approach to work since these stones are not always close together.

And any general advice/admonishment is welcome, of course!

Thanks,
RD

 

[Patrick_B]

Re: Help/advice on quote and deck rebuild- w/pics of old poo

Hey there, and welcome to TFP. Sorry I can't offer any solid advice, but there are folks here that will. I just wanted to say how much I love the setting around your pool. I think older pools have a certain "charm" that lots of newer ones lack. I will say that the old rocks would really look nice if it would be reasonable to incorporate them into the new deck. Curious to see how this turns out. Love that old barn and would love to see some of the house if you cared to post them. Glad you shared this on the forum.

 

[RalphD]

Re: Help/advice on quote and deck rebuild- w/pics of old poo

Thanks for that feedback..! It certainly is unique and we are committed to keeping it that way. The other side of the pool (not shown) has a few giant maple trees which keep us real busy cleaning but again it adds to the setting. I will try to get a house shot up here later.

 

[ROB N]

Re: Help/advice on quote and deck rebuild- w/pics of old poo

Seems to be somewhat high IMHO. Especially 2800 to remove and discard your flagstone!!! That stone is worth some $$$ anywhere from 300$- 600$ a ton pallet in my area. Which is about 200+sqft. And that is just for the stones... 15-18k seems really high for my area, yours might be different though. If it were me I'd get a few more estimates.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Help/advice on quote and deck rebuild- w/pics of old poo

So I am leaning towards moving the old stones away, adding some dirt/gravel, putting them back, and filling in spaces between them with polymeric sand.

This was my first thought, even before I read your statement.
The good part about that is that you can remove several feet of stones, clean, grade, compact and reset them. Then move on to the next several feet. A small tractor with an end loader would make easy work of that.

There's no way I'd discard those stones. They create such a visual impact.

 

[XsAllOverIt]

Re: Help/advice on quote and deck rebuild- w/pics of old poo

The one side of your pool looks pretty level, so moving the stones out and putting in a base and placing them at the same level of your coping looks doable. The other view looking at the barn, it appears you have a grade and when you fill it in, you'll have more of a grade. Here is what I would suggest if you can afford the time and expense - Build a retaining wall around the entire edge where you have a grade issue. Dig out enough base to make sure that you have at least a 6" base prior to putting the stones back in place. Put crusher run below grade and then finish up with a layer of stone dust because it's much easier to get the stone set solid and place the stones back in at the same level as your coping. Make sure you have about 1/2" to 1" spacing in between coping and stone. I would use the polymeric sand. I've used several types and I like the gator dust the best. After it's complete, you'll be fine for quite some time. I really like your stone and would stick with it. Doing it yourself is self-satisfying and labor intensive.