Question on fixing pool coping

[outinthegarden]

I posted back on Sept 9th about a really bad poured concrete cantilever coping job to my fiberglass pool. Since that time, we have had someone come in and cut off the face of the coping. We are now going to put on a 12 X 12 tumbled marble remodel bullnose coping - see picture. We have a stone guy who is a family friend and has been doing stone for over 40 years, but he has never done a pool. He has done tons of other stuff, very expensive stuff so I'm not worried about what the job will look like. But I know that dealing with water and stone is a unique animal. So I have come to the experts to ask a few questions.

He is considering using a glue instead of mortar, will this be okay? And should we use grout in between the stones or caulk? We have a saltwater pool and it is fiberglass. Here is the link from my first post so you can see what we started with.
edited-new-pool-coping-a-mess-help-t69857.html

Incase you are wondering - the builder is not involved with this at all.

 

[duraleigh]

Something is amiss. If he has been doing stone for forty years, he knows the type of thinset and grouting to use. Has he asked you to ask us?

 

[outinthegarden]

No he has not asked me to ask at all. He is making calls to others he knows and asking their advice. He has never put stone down around a pool - ever. He has built a lot of retaining walls, houses with real stone and faux stone, brick outside and inside, columns, etc. he does excellent work and is well sought out in high dollar areas for his skills and integrity.

He is concerned with several things, one being how they poured the concrete. They did not put a mastic/expansion joint between the coping and the deck. We are already seeing more cracks in this concrete that has only been in 35+ days than what we have in our 3 year old driveway. (Different contractor did that)

Another issue we have is that the pool is not square. It was until they poured the concrete but now the middle of the pool bows out 2 to 2 1/2" compared to the rest of the pool. I don't know how it happened but it is very obvious now that the face of the cantilever is gone.

I think he was thinking that a caulk in between the stones would move and be more flexible. He is checking to see about a grout with a sealer in it for the salt factor.

Based on what we have experienced thus far, I'm sure it is going to move. I have spoken to 12 different builders/repairers of those only 4 were even willing to come and look at it. Once they saw it not one of them would touch it with a 10 foot pole. Every one of them told me to expect the concrete to crack by the bond beam edge, as well as several other places. They all said the same thing: take out all the concrete and start again! Um, there are 46 yards of concrete there, We also had a Sundek guy look at it and he wouldn't attempt to fix either.

We are also not planning on putting pavers behind these stones. At least not in the next year or so. (We have named this the money pit what should have been great has turned into not so great)

 

[NotJackBauer]

I am in the same boat with terrible cantilever. Did you end uo using the remodel coping? If so, how did it turn out? Thanks