Building Pool Deck

[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.

[NWMNMom]

What a nice looking deck. We may install at some point down the road and probably will go with the composit rather than wood. Good point about the gaps for cleaning up.

Your yard looks as snowy and cold as ours! How is the pool holding up with the cold? Any issues?

[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.

[matt4x4]

Donya - you sound really excited to use the pool, a lot better than the outlook last year at this time!
At the rate things are moving here, it looks like I'm going to have to re write the AG pool construction Article that Ben so thoughtfully pinned up top since it died with the old forum - more work - oh well, I'll get to it!
I will also be using composite, TREX, I think it's likely the canadian equiv of timber tech since it also comes in the 2 sided panels - I will be doing the hidden screw system from underneath and will probably picture frame it in a darker color then go with a dark brown Aluminum railing on top.

[huskerfan]

I was torn between Timber Tech and Trex, so I tracked down a couple different decks done in each. I ultimately went with TT because of the uniformity of the product: I went to two different lumber yards that stocked Trex, and the thickness of the boards varied from board to board. I also have a couple friends who have Trex decks and they have mildewed on them. One of the Trex decks was in the process of being built and it already had a lot of scratches on it. The vertigrain side of the TT hides scratches from sliding chairs... Trex is quite a bit cheaper, and has a better color assortment though. I've also seen a Trex deck that looked really nice, though, too. It all boils down to personal preference, though. You're the one who has to look at it every day and use it. Your aluminum railing sounds really nice! The composite deck railing is high priced- almost as much as building the deck. You'll be amazed how much more you'll enjoy using your pool!

That was an awesome article you wrote - it will be very helpful for many people if you'd repost it. Again, I'd like to thank you- you were there step by step, night by night when we were putting up our pool. This summer is going to be sooooooooo nice.

[matt4x4]

Hi Donya,
I've researched the decking available here to quite an extent lately, and Trex is still our best choice, I've never seen anyone carry TT around here, so it may not be availanble in Canada. Their mold issues were abundant back in the early 2000's, to the point a class action lawsuit was filed, but this is not supposed to be an issue anymore since they changed the process.
I have a couple of other choices that look identical to trex, but their details in paperwork leave a lot to be desired - as well teh warranty period is half that of trex.
As for the aluminum railing, it is so much nicer than the composite, primarily because it is not as chunky looking, unfortunately, the price starts equal to composite and goes up from there. 1/3 my total cost will be the railing - ouch!
BUT - I'll never have to refinish anything, so all I have to do after building it is build a wet bar on it with a beer fridge, pull up a chair and relax!
Hey! - Maybe I'll rewrite my article then!!!

[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.

[huskerfan]

I agree completely with Matt- actually he was influencial in how we built ours! I'm really glad we went the way we did. The only downside is that a diving stick will fall down in that crack- that's why I found a neat basket with a lid that flips up for all our pool toys, goggles... I hope we don't have to replace our liner for a long, long, time, though- no matter what position you put the edge of your deck up to your pool, it would make it a real pain to take the top seats off to do a replacement. Positioning your deck under the top rail on our pool would make this chore even harder yet, positioning your deck over top of the top rail makes that step down into the pool even farther down, along with the heaving issues Matt mentioned. The older one gets - even an inch can make a big difference. I wouldn't worry about your top rail bending- they're made nowdays to be able to handle being walked on, even though we don't.