Pavers around new in-ground liner pool?

Can I lay pavers all the way up to the coping on a newly installed in-ground pool? I'm planning on backfilling the pool surround with 4 feet of crushed stone and tamping it with a machine (or the contractor will, I'm not doing the work myself). Since the ground below the pool dig hasn't been disturbed below the 4 foot dig, it will be virgin ground and should be okay, yes?

Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? I talked to one paver contractor today that said I'd have to back fill the stone and then let it settle for six months before laying pavers over it. He said in the meantime I could cover the stone with plywood (which would negate the affect of rain and weather settling the stone, imo).

That sounds nuts to me. The pool would be relatively unusable for that time and I imagine even mild use would end up putting dozens of stones into a liner pool.

Any ever done anything like this?

Reply to
jmatt
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4 feet deep or wide?

As long as you backfill with base rock and compact it after each foot is added it should not settle later. If you backfilled with soil, loam, gravel (stone only, no sand) or similar completely to 4 feet then compact as a last step, you cannot be sure it will not settle later. It's the materials and method that matter here.

Once you have the pool backfilled and almost level with the coping, you should be able to pour in the required layer of sand then lay pavers on top immedietly.

Nice thing about pavers, if it does settle, you can pull them up and regrade to fix. Sure that is a disaster in its own right but a lot better than a cracked and cantelevered concrete slab (or same with stone on top).

Let it settle for 6 months, right, he just dosen't want to lay pavers in the July heat. That plus if he can schedule your work for an off part of the season, he can make his money more efficiently. There's nothing wrong with wanting that but he should give you a break if that were the case. On the other hand, perhaps he is just being extra cautious because he got burned reworking a failed job in the past and he dosen't want a repeat.

If you do decide to fill and wait and want to mitigate the dirt/rocks in the pool try this. After compacting the base material, spread a thin layer of sand on top then dust that with 1/8" of portland cement and compact again, finally water that in. By morning you will have a solid concrete like surface that is thin enough to be easily broken when the time comes to lay the real pavers. Keep it swept and it should last 4-6 months of light to medium duty use, it won't last through the winter or resist erosion during a very heavy storm but it will help keep the pool area intact.

Reply to
PipeDown

4 feet deep on undisturbed ground.

added it should not settle later.

That was my feeling, thanks for the reply. Is it a problem to compact next to a liner pool?

Anyone else with real-world experience with such?

Reply to
jmatt

Anyone else with insight?

Reply to
jmatt

My wife has built about 100 pools this way. They choose pavers over concrete because you can start laying them right away. Like the other poster said, if they do settle you can pull up the low spot, backfill with sand and lay them back down. Just try to get your backfill as well compacted as you can before you do the final grade for the pavers.

BTW when your AHJ adopts the 2005 NEC this may change. It will require a 12" x 12" #8 copper grid, 3' out from the pool's edge and bonded to the rest of the pool equipment. That will cost as much as the pavers and make this a lot more than concrete with bonded steel, the other option.

Reply to
gfretwell

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