If not, McMahon recommends installing piers: drilling down to virgin ground every four or five feet, filling the columns with concrete and pouring the slab on top of them so that the deck won’t settle.Ĭhoice of color for a pool deck goes beyond mere aesthetics. ![]() “On the fill side you have to worry about the deck settling away from the pool.” A good pool builder will compact the soil properly when the pool is put in. “A pool is level, and if a yard is pitched you have to cut into the bank on one side and fill the other side,” he says. ![]() Ultimately, it is the client who will make the decision.”Ĭhris McMahon, president and CEO of Architectural Concrete Design in Levittown, Pa., warns contractors to pay attention to cut and fill situations. There is always a light bit of water here and there, and we let the clients know that. Ralston agrees that greater slope will drain water more effectively, but says, “We feel ¼ inch is too much fall and when setting patio furniture it is a little more noticeable and not as comfortable. Of course, less texture develops less friction, and water will move with less slope.” “If designed correctly, water should move freely to the designated area no matter which textured pattern is chosen. “Anytime you’re moving water to a designated point, length of run, amount of water and surface texture should all be considered,” Thome explains. This accommodates the extra volume of water and keeps leaves and debris from washing into the pool. The recommended slope for pool decks is ¼ inch per foot. Typical patios “fall” 1/8 inch every foot to allow for water run-off and to prevent ponding. Perhaps the most significant of these is slope, required for proper drainage. “Good quality concrete practices, slope, climate and safety should be the main factors considered when designing and installing a pool deck,” says Scott Thome, director of product services for L.M. ![]() Pool decks may look like patios, but because they must perform differently there are some differences in how they are installed and finished. Photo courtesy of Architectural Concrete Design. “Done right it can be all the more enhancing done poorly and it can make a nice feature turn to extreme ‘blah.'” “The pool deck is the largest thing that people will see in the context of pool and deck,” says Tom Ralston of Tom Ralston Concrete, Santa Cruz, Calif. But new decorative finishing techniques make pool decks comfortable, durable, safe and - most noticeably - beautiful. Decks have been constructed with concrete for as long as there have been modern swimming pools, and we all remember the hot, scratchy surfaces of our childhood. One of the most popular applications for architectural concrete is the pool deck.
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