Building Pool Deck

[huskerfan]

As far as I can tell the pool wintered just fine - honestly speaking, other than looking at the outside of the walls... I haven't looked under the cover all winter. I don't know how much ice it had etc... It amazes me that a little over a week ago we were covered in over 20 inches of snow- and today it's almost 70 degrees with no snow, but rain and the good 'ole tornado warnings have started. Everything's really greening up. Time to get back at my landscaping before all the grass/weeds pop up too much. Just swept the deck off and put some of my patio chairs out just before it downpoured so they got washed off good. Getting the fever here to get going!!

Nice deck pedsrn!

Matt, we finished off the outside of our deck with 12" fascia boards. They really look nice! Go with the 12" as it'll help cover up a lot of the structure below. We run our boards the lengthwise of the pool - thus didn't need the fascia between the deck and the pool as the boards have a nice finish on their edges. If you run the boards the other way, though - the fascia will finish it off nice. Although- since we went even with the pool, it would have been hard to attach the fascia boards. We got by without any railings as our daughter is 9 and we live out in the country. At one side where it is steep I have a nice bench we built out of the Timber Tech, it blocks off the edge. On the other side of the deck is my solar reel and a set of wide and shallow steps. I planted some Karl Forester grasses by the tall sides too to finish off the sides instead of using some type of lattice... It's all personal preference - I wanted a wide open view.

[cvoytek]

I'm wondering whether to go under over or next to the pool myself. If you leave a gap (an inch between a level deck and pool rail) aren't you risking bending the rail? I assumed over the rail by an inch or so (using concrete dug in support - sonet tube) was the best way to go. There is no real right way to go on this or is there?

AG pool 24 ft 16/14 or so deck planned

[matt4x4]

cvoytek,
I'm not sure what you mean by " aren't you risking bending the rail?"
I'm planning on building my deck next to the pool like Huskerfan's pictures show, leaving 1/2" - 1" gap between the two structures, the only way I can see bending the rail would be if people walk on it, however, in my case, teh pool structure is blow molded resin, it's extrmely strong, and the likely hood of anyone walking on it is slim to none.
My deck will be built on a floating foundation - I think it will heave/settle with frost about the same as the pool.
However, if you use sonotube and go over your rail, you are limiting how much frost expansion can occur, once you hit your maximum, the pool will push up into the underside of the deck and the wall will crush, if you go under the rail and the pool settles beyound where it is now, the pool rail will end up sitting on your deck and may separate from the remaining structure if the pool settles even more. Leaving a small gap between the two should allow for them to act as sepaprate entities without any interference to each other.

[pedsrn]

Last year, we built a deck above our 24' AG and I dearly love it. We used deck block and have had no problems, but we are farther south than you. We left a 2" gap above the top rail of the pool to allow for expansion and for the winter cover. However, this year, I actually just attached the cover directly to the deck using washers and screws instead of struggling to feed it through the crack (and having to get into small crawl spaces under the deck). It worked okay-I think with some minor adjustments (something larger under the cover) next year, it will work better. Here's some pics of ours...
good luck!

[matt4x4]

Nice work!
Up here I don't want to chance it with an overlap although that is my choice of how to do it for looks!
A fascia board inside the pool would be my personal preference on finishing the edge.

[Islander2C]

We have just completed our pool deck. Only took hubby 2 years....but he did a high quality...last a lifetime....could have elephants on it...professional Job! We live in Canada and have lots of frost so we left a 3inch gap between pool and deck (Glad we did, because one part of the deck is almost touching the pool right now. It moved on our retaining wall side) and have floor a bit higher than pool.
We didn't want kids to step on top rail of pool, so we went higher with deck. Hope you can see by these pictures. Can't wait for warm weather!!! Feels like winter out there today!
Good luck with your pool deck....It will be well worth it!

[traceyb]

This is our deck so far... the lattice and spindles are now complete. It is 32 feet out from the house and 24 feet out the other way. Enjoy ... we will.

[NWMNMom]

Here is the start of our 16x14 deck. We went even with the top rail, leaving a small gap to maintain covers, etc. As you can see, Dek Blocks were used for a "floating" system to deal with frost heaving issues. Still much to do but its basically together, details aplenty are left to do including railings to complete, post caps, trim, etc. Lattice and landscaping all need to be done. We used ChoiceDek brand composite in "grey" for the flooring, but did decide to use the treated wood for the rails. After waiting a year for them to dry out (next spring) we will paint with the "lifetime" paint to match our house trim in a hunter green. I believe I will go with grey for the lattice as well. The outside pool wall is a very light grey design as well.



The pool and deck are maybe 50' from the house and not even visible from the road due to the pine trees on the north side of the pool. The pool was built into an "alcove" in the yard for that purpose and because it was out of the way for the farm truck that goes in between to an area in the back of the house. Unfortunately, there was an electrical pole over there - can't do anything about where that is. Anyone got any ideas to hide or pretty it up? A matching octagon shaped lattice housing around the bottom? there are limits to what we can do being it belongs to the electric company. Any suggestions on that and perhaps good, frost hearty shrubs that do well around pools and look great too.

[hoffmans]

Tracyb~
How about a new picture of the completed deck !???!!!


We are just starting ours today!
~Hoffmans

[traceyb]

Here you go....there are more of my photos on the above ground pool gallery II post. Check em out there. We love it love it!

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