Coping Clearance Question & Deck Planning

[roundbox52]

Hi all!

I'm planning to build a pool deck this spring. The top of the pool coping is about 5 feet lower than my existing back porch. I'm planning to have 3 steps down to an intermediate hot tub deck, then 4 steps down to the pool deck. This will leave about 7 inches above the coping to the top of the trex decking. The trex and floor joist will overhang to the inside of the coping. I'll be cutting down the 2x6 or 2x8 joist to leave some room for removing the coping which leads me to my question:

How much room do I need in order to remove the coping? I have a Vogue Edge 27' diameter pool. Winter cover is on now so I don't have access to take the entire coping off. I can only get to the area that has the screws. Here is the pool: Edge Vogue Pools - Gary Pools & Leisure

Anything I may be missing on the deck? What about the size? What would you change?

 

[toolerb50]

Did you mean remove the caps? I have a similar pool from the same manufacturer and I believe the caps create a ring to stabilize the structure. Either way, just make sure to incorporate future maintanence such as liner replacement or winter cover. If you were to build over top of the caps, you wouldn't have a way to unscrew the caps from the top to replace the liner. A lot of people build the deck under the lip of the top caps but again just remember to leave enough room for expansion and pool cover if you plan to use one. Hope this helps.

 

[Mdragger88]

Not looking at your exact manual so ymmv but to remove my top caps I have to acess screws from underneath.

After that the screws that hold the top rails on are on top - underneath that cap.
If you’re not able to access below your deck to get at them from underneath then you need to be sure you leave enough space for getting to them between the deck & pool.
The main reason one would have to remove the top rails (which what I assume you mean by coping) is to change the liner.
I don’t see any liner sticking out in your pic. Do you have an overlap, j hook or unibead liner? If your liner sits in the bead receiver & not over the wall then you should not have to remove the top rails for a liner change unless the receiver is damaged & you can build the deck however you wish.