Honed Coping Edge (bluestone)?

[jamjam]

I am pricing out 14"x2" bluestone coping for my pool - i plan on doing the work myself (wife is not happy about that) - I am looking at about $2500 for the stone. My question is do you think it is worth an extra $1200 to have a honed edge put on the coping? My wife is already convinced I am going to screw this up (despite never messing up a project in 10 years - i think the pandemic has made her grumpy) - so if i tried to hone the edge myself with a grinder and it was not 100% perfect I will be hearing about it for the next 30 years, so it is either no honed edge or paying $1200 to put a small radius on the edge. Anyone have any thoughts?

BTW - i plan on putting down 2" base of tamped crushed stone then a 4" thick concrete collar (5000 psi concrete) up to the steel edge (I am undecided if i need lath connected to the steel to help with adhesion), then i will lay the the coping on a modified medium bed mortar with a slight back slope - and cantilevering out 1.5"

 

[Casey]

This is out of my league but I'll say this... research the out of the job at hand and once you start... take your time. Ask tons of questions and take lots of pics. We have a lot of knowledgeable people here so... wait for them to come along.

 

[jamjam]

oh i plan on documenting it with every camera i got

 

[jamjam]

No bluestone coping owners out there?

 

[bmoreswim]

We have bluestone coping. It’s natural cleft and varying thickness with a square smooth edge. After installation, by others, I took a grinder and hit the top edge all around the pool. Essentially giving it about a 1/8-3/16” bevel. It greatly improved the look and feel. I‘m not exactly sure what profile you mean by honing. Looking it up I see it as a rounded smooth edge. Can’t imagine that being successful as DIY. My approach was super easy, attractive, though only a very modest removal of material.

 

[jamjam]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah my stone source offers honed or eased. I think eased is what I’m going with it’s basically what you did but done by the supplier and uniform. Since I’m saving on the install, the $7 a foot extra for the fabrication isn’t so bad.

 

[bmoreswim]

Sounds like a good option. Mine wasn’t that well thought out ahead of time, thought I was quite happy with my easing.

 

[jamjam]

I’m sure it looks great. And I’m sure I could do it too. But I get the feeling the wife is gonna be looking at my work to a standard no human being can achieve so I’m gonna make an investment in avoiding a headache

 

[jamjam]

put the order in for 132 linear feet of bluestone 14"x2"x4' - had them add an eased edge - total was $3610 delivered and tax - hope to get the project started soon.