Vinyl Liner Pool Deck Bracing Freeze/Thaw

[KatBat]

Living in New England, one of the considerations for building a pool is the freeze/thaw climate. We've met with a PB who swears that deck bracing (the ones connected to the pool wall) are necessary to keep the pool patio from detaching from the edge of the pool or otherwise severely cracking from settling. The PB showed us some pictures of "other" PBs who don't use the deck bracing and the patios were badly cracked/damaged.

Is there any truth to this? I'm curious if anyone has had problems with their patios aging, with or without deck bracing. Thanks!

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to the forum Kat,

Interesting question, but we obviously don't have the issue down here. I'll ask a couple of our Northern members to have a peek at this. Glad you found us, and hope you enjoy the forum.

 

[JVTrain]

I don't have direct experience as my pool was already there when I purchased my home, but my neighbors recently had a vinyl-lined, metal wall, in ground pool installed. I'll try to ask them about it when I get a chance.

 

[jtrovato21]

My pool is almost done, I'm in MA and the PB does not use the deck bracing. They are a big builder, did 91 pools last year. They also did my parents pool in 1991, my mother recently sent me scanned in pictures from her install that she found when cleaning out some stuff. No bracing on her walls and her deck looks great 26 years later. Some cracks, yes, but not detaching from the pool and no issues other than a few small cosmetic cracks.

 

[JVTrain]

Neighbors did not have bracing nor was it mentioned.

Personally I would think properly compacting fill and using proper fill type after installing pool walls would be more important for pool deck longevity and integrity.

Sent from mobile device. Beware of brevity and grammar errors!

 

[ia_soxfan]

Any settling will be a non issue if they use a non expansive material for backfill, such as 3/4" clean stone or as some refer to as #57's.

 

[KatBat]

Thank you all for the response! Having grown up in Arizona and Texas, issues like this are new to me. I've since met with another PB who never once mentioned deck bracing (and also didn't spend any time bashing other PBs) and I'm already feeling more comfortable with them.