We are building a new pool in SW Florida and are trying to decide what is better, Concrete or pavers? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Pavers or Concrete around Pool?
- Thread starter msmom40
- Start date
I have stamped concrete. If I had to do it all over again, PAVERS all the way. The soil was prepared properly, crushed stone, drainage, etc. Still 5 years later, hair line cracks, really only noticeable where the cups are for the ladder and hand rail by the stairs. Other areas have not been compromised. Pavers will cost, IMO, about twice as much as concrete.
Why do you hate stamped? The expensive & laborious maintenance products to keep it looking fresh? Too hot on your feet?
This is for basic pavers.
Pavers CAN cost 3-4+ times the amount of concrete depending on the exact pavers selected. Just like choosing countertops and flooring for your house, you can choose (and pay out the behind for) premium finishes for your outdoor patio space)
i think pavers are better for the reason that if u have an issue u can rip them up and fix issue and put them back down and never know there was an issue. concrete won't match exact if u have to redo areas. pavers yes more expensive especially if they are installed correct with a 4 inch pour under them. but again that will prevent heaving and such in my climate. my driveway is concrete. it was installed perfectly but still have cracks like mentioned above. i should have not listened to my fathers friends cause they were trying to save me money and did pavers over concrete and called it a day. i could have gotten 2 inch bluestone for pennies from a farmer my uncle knows it would have been beautiful but they wanted me to do concrete.
i would say after having pavers now for over a year. pavers all the way. my neighbor had to redo his lines for his pool. he has pavers. my buddy ripped them up. they fixed everything. put pavers back down. never knew anything was done.
jim
i would say after having pavers now for over a year. pavers all the way. my neighbor had to redo his lines for his pool. he has pavers. my buddy ripped them up. they fixed everything. put pavers back down. never knew anything was done.
jim
We went travertine paves. It add a little bit but when dealing with a new pool it’s a small amount compared to the overall price.
One benifit is if you ever need to do any work to the pool the pavers can be picked up and then reset. Concrete you’d have to break it up and then patch and try to match it.
One benifit is if you ever need to do any work to the pool the pavers can be picked up and then reset. Concrete you’d have to break it up and then patch and try to match it.
The cost difference between pavers and stained concrete was not that huge on any of the bids we got here in Texas. Maybe because we don't have to do a concrete base. We ended up doing travertine, but I really love some of the concrete pavers. My neighbor has Belgard pavers (Bergerac I think?) and they are so pretty. My husband wanted travertine because it is a bit cooler on the feet.
We did different size pavers and love them. Concrete is pretty much guaranteed to cracked. We have concrete coping and it cracked after just 3 months. We will tear it out and replace the coping with something else.
I went travertine pavers. In Texas concrete turns into a frying pan real quick. I paid around $17 per sf installed if I remeber correctly. It may have been a little less.
- Jul 1, 2018
- 264
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
I chose concrete. I have 12 ft around 3 sides and 6 around another. At $4 a sq ft it was most affordable and what I’m used to.
- Apr 23, 2017
- 2,400
- Pool Size
- 22000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
We did exposed aggregate...looks good and does not seem to be as hot as plain concrete. No cracks this far...
My dear friend Ray. I like my stamped concrete. The hair line cracks are near the pool coping and bothers me slightly, but then again, there probably would be shifting of pavers as well. Only if I had to do it again, would I consider pavers. To maintain the concrete, it is not bad. $300 every 3 years for sealer (which I do myself) and the concrete is really only hot when the sun has been beating down for days. Splash out keeps it cool, with even a little bit of water.
UPDATE: The hairline cracks are only near the cups in the concrete, where the ladder is and hand rail. Outside of this, there is only one minor near the coping, and nothing elsewhere. So far, lucky, but only time will tell. Next year, the sealer should seal real well as the hairline crack is small, but at least noticeable to me. No one else has noticed anything.
After a lot of activity, I always rinse the deck with fresh water and a mild soap solution that sits for a few minutes. I use a foam gun that is used on cars.
sadly exposed concrete seems to be a lost art i love it i love cool decking too i love pavers and i love stamped also ( i have been in concrete construction 45 years) usually cost is the factor .....with all choices back fill is the key too a good deck surface !!!!
good luck and pics please
good luck and pics please
how do u figure. 1. it gives the proper base to properly attach a safety cover. 2. it prevents heaving in the weather. i can show someone a ton of jobs that were done with concrete under them and they are all prefect and some are old installs. yes i can also show the same without concrete, but most are not as good as concrete ones than those without. the only way you will get heaving with pavers on top of concrete is if the concrete below totally fails.
My pavers have a small amount of concrete on the outer edge and then the inside is filled with a very fine sand. Almost like dust. Then it was compacted and the pavers laid. After all that a sand was grouted in with the pavers. Then finally they watered. Once this was done it formed a concrete type bond with all the pavers.
right thats how u can do them. mine are done the same way except the edge pavers are glued down to lock in the grid and all pavers sit on 4 inches of concrete. it is just one way to do them just as urs are done another way.
U can do them both ways u must use stabilization fabric over concrete if u do. If u use geo fabric under 6" of compacted DGA and the base is compacted and prepped right the pavers won't move.
Pavers 100%, it's better to spend the money upfront and be done with it. I have travertine pavers around my pool, it looks beautiful and it doesn't get hot at all. I have regular pavers on my driveway while most of my neighbors have concrete driveways and the pavers look 50x better.
Concrete just doesn't age well. Growing up we had concrete around our pool and every winter the cracks would get worse, you'd fill them in, and it just didn't look nice. Eventually my folks had the stamped concrete design put in, but it would get so hot it wasn't comfortable to walk on at all. Now this was in a climate where we had cold winters, so freeze/thaw.
Concrete just doesn't age well. Growing up we had concrete around our pool and every winter the cracks would get worse, you'd fill them in, and it just didn't look nice. Eventually my folks had the stamped concrete design put in, but it would get so hot it wasn't comfortable to walk on at all. Now this was in a climate where we had cold winters, so freeze/thaw.
