Remodel Pool Coping or not

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Sep 16, 2024
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I'm in the process of getting my 1978 pool resurfaced and replacing my old chattahoochee deck with travertine pavers and coping. The issue is some pool vendors say I need remodel coping some paver vendors say I don't. I want to do this job right. How do I know what I really do need?
 
Here are some pictures of our project. Our pool has a brown cap tile with a mosaic at the waterline (PoolFromPatio). In order to try and see what my options are, I removed a few cap tiles (TileRemoved1) and then took some close up pictures. I thought I saw a crack, but after a little more chipping, its really just some thinset, and a lot of it.
I haven't noticed any leaks at the tile line, but after removing the chat, I have about a 1/2 inch of cap tile above the pool.(CapTileRemoved1). The original plan was to use a 6x12 or 12x24 bullnose as the coping. I've received several proposals, and some pool finishers say I need remodel coping, some say I don't. Most of the paver guys say I don't need remodel coping. What I don't want, is to have the waterline tile cracking in the future. I was leaning towards 6x6 tiles, but have had suggestions for using glass tile and cutting the sheets at 8 in. to make up for the missing cap tile. I appreciate any help in making this decision.
 

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What is “remodel coping “?

Show us samples of the coping, deck and tile you want to use.
 
The first pic is our choice of colors (walnut Travertine with Noce coping on top). The second is the remodel coping on it's side. I'm not thrilled with how deep the remodel coping goes into the existing tileline.
 

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Confirm you are fully removing your deck so you will expose the pool bond beam.

What you call your existing coping I call a tile cap on the edge of your cantilevered deck to finish the concrete edge.

Read Expansion Joints and Coping - Further Reading and tell me which type of coping you intend to put on with your renovation.

You do not need a "coping" with a cap that goes down the bond beam. The coping stones can sit on the bond beam and you tile the edge of the bond beam up to the coping stone edge.

I am assuming your 1970's pool has the type of bond beam built today. If they did something different you need to remove the deck back and see how the top and side of the pool shell was formed.
 
Current plans do not include plans to remove the deck. The plan is to put pavers over the existing concrete.
I have read the Expansion Joints and Coping document, and from what I understand, I have a cantilever concrete deck. That tile cap is the part that is confusing me, as it appears to be attached to the deck. If I use a paver on top on that deck and a tile under that paver, then I think I'll have issues with the tile cracking down the road. If I use the remodel paver, it would hang over the side of said concrete, much like the cap tile did, and then I can use 6x6 tile under it without issue, other than my water line may leave the tile underwater and also soak the remodel coping, which isn't ideal. The paver installers all say I don't need to do that, just move my tile line up and put 6x6 tile or an 8 in glass tile in it's place. (by taking a 12x12 sheet and cut off 4 in).
Bottom line, I don't want to wait until the pool refinish starts, to have a coping plan in place. If I do, the refinish timeline can get very long.
 
The paver installers do not understand about how a cantilevered deck works and where the expansion joint is.

Your deck and your pool are two different structures that need to be able to move independently.

Having tile that overlaps the two structures will cause it to crack as they move.
 
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