Inground vinyl pool terrace facelift?

[tomottoe]

Hi
we've moved in to a house with an inground vinyl pool, about 15 years old. Attached pictures show a general view and a closeup. The surrounding terrace surface is tiles of concrete topped with an aggregate of tiny pebbles, which with age are constantly coming loose. Aside from being a drag to walk on, pebbles end up in the pool, and then the filter. And it looks terrible (aside from all the moss). The concrete tiles that form this surrounding terrace are about 4 inches thick. Two sides of the pool have a 3 foot wide surround, one side is 4 feet, and the side shown in the photo is 6 feet wide.

We were spitballing ideas to fix/minimize the problem (without breaking the bank) and one that came up would be taking a cutoff saw and sawing around the perimeter of the pool so the concrete was only 18-24 inches wide and then putting 1/2 inch thick topstone on the remaining concrete. And then my brain kicked in and realized that the pool liner is fastened to the tiles, making them structural. (But I have no idea how much load is on those tiles from the liner.)

So I'm wondering if sawing away is a terrible idea, or perhaps I should at most cut down the wider areas to 3 feet wide, which was an acceptable width for whoever installed the pool. Anyone who wants to yell "For heaven's sake, don't do it!"--I'm listening.

The other thought was to pressure wash the perimeter and then skim coat it with a finishing concrete, to at least try and corral the pebbles. Not as nice to look at though.

thanks!
--tom

 

[Isaac-1]

Have you considered topping it with a concrete epoxy finish, perhaps one of those types that they often sell marketed for fancy home garage floors with color flakes in it? Note cheaper concrete epoxies are very thin, but some of the better / more expensive ones can be relatively thick, and has traction modifiers, perhaps thick enough to stabilize your degrading aggregate and be easier on your feet.

Ike

p.s. if you do decide to go the epoxy route check out http://www.epoxyproducts.com/main.html not a flashy web page, but lots of good information, I have bought epoxies from them several times over the last 8-10 years (never for a floor finish project though), as I said not flashy, but they have good prices, and are willing to discuss your project and provide advice via email.