Building Pool Deck

[huskerfan]

We built a 14x32' Timber Tech composite deck between our house and oval pool last summer. I absolutely love the TT finish. We went even with the pool rail- leaving about an inch gap between the deck and pool rail. With the slope to our backyard- it worked out so that we can go out our back garage door, be on the deck and go straight to the top of the pool. It's as close to an IG as we'll get. The most awesome part is our walk in steps by DunnRite. Only thing I'd do differently again is the spacing between our boards. We used some kind of finishing nail for spacers instead of a 16 pinny (sp??) nail. The guys thought it would "look" better than having the larger gaps, but for keeping it clean, the larger slots/openings would allow the debris to fall down between a lot easier. Here's a couple photos. The last photo was on the first day of spring this year, lol, pool and deck look enticing, huh!

[matt4x4]

Hi Donya!
How are things??
So, your pool and deck have survived the first winter! Bet you can't wait to use it!
If I remember correctly, you used deck blocks to build your deck, not footings, did you by chance ever have a look over the winter to see if anything was heaving - like the deck sitting higher than it should etc.... if so, can you let us know what moved etc. Now that spring is here, everything is pobably back in it's proper place.

Thanks!

[huskerfan]

Nice to hear from old friends from the forum again, and to see it buzzing and coming out of hibernation from the winter!

We actually poured cement footings with a bracket cemented in the top that we attached the (I believe) 4x4's to. By not setting the posts into the ground we hope to avoid the posts rotting out. If they should need replaced in the future it can be done easier too. I learned entirely too much about deck construction, and plumbing last summer, lol, just glad it's done!

I didn't notice any change at all in our deck this winter. It weathered very well with no heaving that I could tell. If you go with composite- it is recommended to use a plastic snow shovel, that is if you live in the cold country.

Also- I chose to go 12inches on center instead of the recommended 16inches by Timber Tech. The guys cussed me the whole time we built it, but it's as solid as a rock!

I highly recommend composite decking by a pool. The Timber tech does get a little hot in the sun- but the finish is nice to walk on. I used the twin finish boards with the vertigrain side up for extra traction with wet feet. They do have some that lock together - but the seep holes get clogged very easily with dirt/debris. We used those special screws that mushroom up a little- then you pound it down in and it covers the screw head. Makes a really nice finish. Like I said - use the 16pinny nail for gaps, though. We have a big deck - and I'm anal about keeping it clean - would have made my job much easier.

We left about an inch gap and notched around the uprights by the pool. It was plenty to put the winter cover down through. The worse part was getting on your knees to do it! It is enough gap that diving sticks... can fall down through- but I found a cool basket from Shopko that I keep all my fun toys, goggles... in and it helps solve that problem. We enjoy our pool 100 percent more with the deck and nice walk in steps.

[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.

[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.