Pool deck

[Fuzzie]

I was close to getting it filled in but decided to keep it, especially with my 18 month old at the age where she will really enjoy it.

......

So I’ve decided I’ll stick to my original idea of pavers with pebbles. Sort of like the picture below

Looks a bit adult and not all that small child friendly to me.

[Handyjack]

I bet not all that friendly to walk over and I can imagine cleaning a bigger pain than now.

"... not all that small child friendly..." Just think how many pebbles the little one might drop, knock, or kick into the pool - or put in the mouth when they are of that age.

[Chris Parks]

Pool cleaners do not like rocks in pools or most don't. We found a problem when the kids were young and in the pool more than out of it, their feet started to be abraded so much by the pebblecrete pool surface that they started bleeding. I guess this happened because their feet were soft to start with and constantly being in the water softened them more. Andy, I would not recommend this approach, of all the choices i would get the pavers laid properly with a slight fall away from the pool, I bet it costs less than doing a timber deck.

[groeneaj]

I know what you’re saying and I’ve considered the size of the pebbles. I’d go for larger diameter pebbles, as for her picking them up etc, although it’s not ideal I’d be there to teach her.

As for the comfort of walking on the pebbles, the pavers will be spaced rather closely together.

In saying this, I’m open to suggestions. What do you guys think would be a better solution?

[rwbuild]

Ok, will wait for approx measurement

[FenceFurniture]

What do you guys think would be a better solution?

Just pavers. You are yet to experience the "joys" of 6 kids in a pool. 32db ear muffs will be quite useful. No matter what you try to enforce, they will still run when they shouldn't.

Shall we say that pebbles are probably ok for adults only?

[groeneaj]

Ok, will wait for approx measurement

About 700mm mate. What are you thinking?

[groeneaj]

Just pavers. You are yet to experience the "joys" of 6 kids in a pool. 32db ear muffs will be quite useful. No matter what you try to enforce, they will still run when they shouldn't.

Shall we say that pebbles are probably ok for adults only?

It does make sense. I never really thought about walking around the pool where pebbles may eventually get annoying. To be fair, I’ve used the thing literally 4 times in 5 years. That’s no joke. But we got some friends who are keen, and my little one will enjoy it.

I’ll look into ripping up the old pavers, giving them a good clean, probably a lick of paver paint then lay them down again. Whoever laid them down previously had a shocker. I can’t possibly do a worse job.

[Beardy]

I am not a fan of the pebbles around the pool either, that is more a show look than a practical one particularly if children are involved
Not real keen on painting the existing pavers either. If you don’t like the existing ones I would replace them, there are plenty of budget priced options available even look at second hand ones.
If you are going to go to the effort of relaying the pavers you may as well lay something you like.

[fletty]

Andy, I am confident that you can do It yourself and you will do it well. It will take a little while but you can do it. Modwood is a good choice too.

[fletty]

Whatever you decide to do ( I’m a fan of relaying the pavers!) I’m sure you can round up a couple of labourers from the forum. I’m not very bright but I work for beer and sausage sandwiches and can lift heavy weights

[rwbuild]

About 700mm mate. What are you thinking?

I personally would go for pavers, why?, dont rot, very easy to pressure wash and if you want to seal them use the same sealer that concretors use for stencilcrete.
The photo you had in this thread has gone so I can't say if they would be ok to re-use. Pebbles can be held in place by using a 20mm bed of sand/cement slurry and tamp the pebbles into it, just make sure that your substrate is well compacted first.
From memory your place is in a designated bushfire zone so it would be wise to use an approved timber around it. If you do use timber then you will need to remove a lot of soil first, H3 treated joists, stainless fixings, protectadeck on top of joists (use the 75mm one because of the amount of water hosing down that it will get or 110mm viscor flashing and crease it on the 2 top edges so it splays down). I would run the boards at 90deg to the sides of the pool (easier to frame up and fit boards to shape of pool) and either change direction at the 4 corners with mitre or step and stagger lap.

[FenceFurniture]

then use the specialist plastic strip to cover them (can't think of it's name now, but Ray will).

protectadeck on top of joists

[groeneaj]

Thanks for the replies guys. I had my mate around yesterday and he talked me through how to lay pavers with the proper pitch etc. It seems like a fair amount of time is in the preparation, with the actual laying being relatively quick.

I’ve given up on the idea of a deck due to costs/time, so it’s going to be pavers. I like Ray’s suggestion with setting pebbles in concrete, I’ll look into it. That way the issue of pebbles falling into the pool will be eliminated. As to walking on them, I can space the pavers close enough so it’s not an issue. I just want to be realistic as to getting it done in time. I had the pool guy come around the other day and I’m almost all set for them to come around and get the pool sorted.