A pool deck planned around old shade trees and bare feet
A pool in Pinecrest usually sits in a big back yard with mature trees close by, and those trees bring shade, leaves and roots along with them. We plan the deck around all of it, starting with where the water and the leaves will end up and how the surface feels underfoot at midday. The look comes after that.
Getting material to the back of a long lot
Big lots are one of the good things about Pinecrest and one of the planning problems on a pool job. The deck is usually a long way back from the street, and every pallet of pavers and every load of aggregate has to reach it across your property.
We sort that out on the first walk. Somebody from the crew goes over the lawn, the gate and the planting beds with you, and we agree where material gets staged and which way equipment comes in before anything is delivered. At the end our own debris leaves on our own truck, and the yard is yours again the same day we finish.
Shade trees drop straight into a pool deck
Mature trees are a big part of why people love a Pinecrest back yard, and they shape a pool deck more than anything else on the property. Leaves land on the deck and in the water all year. Left wet in the joints they compost, hold moisture and give weeds a start, and on travertine or a light paver they can leave brown marks.
Roots are the bigger issue. The compacted base under a deck stays damp longer than the soil beside it, which makes it an easy target for a thirsty root, and once one works its way in, the pavers above it start to rise. Mature shade trees tend to spread their roots shallow and wide, which puts a pool deck right in their path.
So before the layout is set we look at which trees stand near the deck line and which way their roots are likely to travel. Sometimes that means pulling an edge of the deck back from a trunk. Sometimes it means dealing with a root before the base goes in.
The trees were there first, so the deck gets laid out around them.
A deck that clears easily with a blower or a broom is one people actually keep clean. Texture and joint layout get chosen with that chore in mind.
Splash and rain need a way off the deck
Water ends most paver surfaces, and on a pool deck it arrives from more directions than usual: rain, splash-out, and the irrigation head that throws across the edge twice a day. The deck has to send all of it away from the pool and away from the house at once.
A paver surface wants a fall of roughly an eighth to a quarter inch per foot. You will not feel that barefoot, and it is enough that water leaves instead of standing. Lay it flat and you get puddles. Pitch it backwards and the water heads for the foundation or back over the edge into the pool.
Under most yards around here a deck sits on sand with limestone below it. That takes ordinary rain without much fuss, but an afternoon storm can drop two inches in an hour, more than the sand accepts at once, so the deck needs somewhere useful to hand the water off, and each of the options below is cheaper to build now than to cut into a finished deck later.
Planting bed
Where the yard allows it, regrading the bed next to the deck takes the water at grade.
Channel drain
On a low edge with no fall to spare, a drain run across that edge collects what arrives.
Permeable band
A permeable section lets water pass through into a stone reservoir built under the deck.
Choosing a surface for bare feet at midday
Start with the wet strip. Most of the foot traffic on a pool deck is somebody dripping as they climb out, so every candidate unit gets judged on how its face grips once it is splashed. A smooth or polished face can look great dry and turn slippery the moment it gets wet.
Heat is the next test. In direct sun travertine stays noticeably cooler underfoot than concrete, and that is the main reason it keeps coming up on pool jobs. Whatever you choose also has to cut cleanly and sit tight against the coping, because that first course takes a foot from every swimmer who gets out.
Then look up at the trees. A deck under mature shade collects leaves every week, and whatever they leave behind tries to soak into a porous face. Travertine takes a sealer well where staining is the worry. Porcelain absorbs almost nothing, so leaf marks have little to hold on to, though it needs a dead flat bed beneath it.
Concrete pavers give the widest spread of textures and colors, and a section reset years later is easiest to match with them. Clay brick holds its color for decades, and around water the real question with brick is how its face feels wet, which we answer on the specific brick you have in mind.
Where the paver field meets the pool edge
The coping is the edge course around the top of the pool, and it sets the line everything else follows. Water sitting against the coping shows every small wander in the line, and you can see it from across the yard.
The paver field behaves differently. Pavers are loose units that work by interlock, each one held by its neighbors, which lets the surface take small movement without cracking. Where that flexible field meets the fixed edge of the pool, the first course has to be set and jointed with real care, or that seam opens right where people climb out.
The far side matters just as much. An edge restraint around the outside of the deck keeps the field from creeping outward. Lose it and the outer course moves, the joints open, the sand washes, and the trouble works its way in toward the pool.
Whether your existing coping stays or comes out gets decided on the first walk, before anyone orders material. If it is sound and level, we set the deck to it. If it is not, the time to replace it is while the old deck is already out.
Grip and sealer decisions around wet feet
A pool deck is the one surface on the property that gets wet on purpose. Texture on the paver face is what keeps a wet heel from sliding, and it matters most at the steps, the shallow end and the path back to the door.
Sealing is a preference here as it is everywhere else, and on a deck it takes extra thought. A sealer deepens color and helps stains lift, which is useful under trees. A slick film around water is a poor trade for that, though, and a bad product choice can trap moisture in the stone. We will tell you honestly whether your deck benefits from one at all.
Where Pinecrest sits
What people ask us about a new deck
Which surface stays coolest when the sun is on it
Travertine is the usual answer. Walk across it barefoot at noon and the difference from concrete is obvious. Like any natural stone it varies from unit to unit. We can show you samples of each so you can decide for yourself.
We have big trees near the pool. Is that a problem for pavers
It is something to plan for from the start. Roots grow toward moisture, and a paver base holds moisture, so a tree close to the deck will try to push it up over time. Leaves that sit in wet joints compost and feed weeds. We look at both before the layout is set.
Where does the water go when it rains hard
Away from the pool and away from the house. The deck gets a fall of roughly an eighth to a quarter inch per foot. Where the yard cannot take the water at grade, a channel drain or a permeable section over a stone reservoir handles it. Those are designed in before anybody digs.
Do you have to take out our coping
Not always. If the coping is sound and level, we set the new deck to it. If it has lifted, been patched badly, or wanders against the waterline, the easiest time to replace it is while the old deck is already out. You will hear which situation you have on the first walk.
What keeps the deck from getting slippery when it is wet
Mostly the face of the paver. A textured or tumbled face gives a wet foot something to grip, and a smooth or glossy one does the opposite. Every joint helps a little by breaking up the surface. If you want sealer, we steer away from any film that turns slick, and we pay closest attention at the steps and the shallow end.
What happens to the old deck when it comes out
We break it out and haul it away, and that is part of the scope from the first conversation. Along the coping the removal slows down so the pool edge does not take a hit. Anything we uncover underneath, like a root or a washed out base, you hear about the same day we find it.
The rest of our paver work in Pinecrest
Tell us about the pool and the yard around it
Call with what you have in mind, or send photos of the pool, the coping and the trees nearest the deck. Everything goes down in writing before work starts, including what the deck is made of and how long it takes, and nothing changes without your say.
Quality you can stand on