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904-619-3281Commercial swimming pools are enormous investments that you can make. Therefore, everything related to their construction must be done with precision and ultimate care. One of the significant features that one cannot help noticing in a swimming pool is the deck. It adds a sense of beauty and elegance to the pool, bringing out the kind of orientation that every commercial pool owner intends to achieve. For those living in Jacksonville, FL, Oak Well Aquatics is the best company to reach out when installing new pavers or refurbishing your old ones. In this article, we will explain the different considerations to make in commercial paver installation.
Look For A Swimming Pool Style
You have to maintain a unique style for your pool to ensure that it is attractive to your target clients. Some of the options you can consider are:
Modern Pool Styles
The most considerable aspect of modern pools is their geometrical shapes and clean lines. They also have aesthetically appealing mosaic tiles, with vivid colors. To add to their simplicity, they are usually fitted with heaters to emulate an outdoor spa. They typically do not have any coping or have a refined coping made out of concrete.
Mediterranean Pool Styles
The most noticeable aspect of this sort of style is the aqua water and their shapes that mimic the traditional Romans and Greek pools. Their paving is usually colorful ceramic times that ascent with the blue waterline. It is common to fit such pools with waterfalls in this pool style.
Tropical Pool Styles
A tropical pool style offers the best choice for hotels. It includes features such as waterfalls, palm trees, lush plants, which are the hallmark of this style. To top it off, you can add planters along with the coping or inlay mosaics of different tropical motifs at the bottom.
Traditional Pool Styles
The traditional style is the most common type of style that you can choose. It has a classic shape of kidney or rectangular, with a distinct coping made out of stones or bricks. Most of these pools have a spa that spills out of the main pool and maintains natural pond or lake watercolor.
Check The Pool Orientation
Once you have chosen your favorite design, you need to proceed into picking its orientation. The pool orientation should consider aspects such as the location of other features or properties nearby and the size of the deck. You should also look at the position of the sun to avoid keeping the pool in a deep shade area.
Location Of The Deck
It is quite different when thinking of putting up a pool in a small property compared to a larger one. There are specific critical designs that one should choose and benefits that one must achieve when considering both types of properties.
The rationale of putting up a deck is to provide enough space that can accommodate as many features that you want to install within your pool. Therefore, if you have a smaller property space, you need to use a smaller pool and leave a large deck for other setups.
On a larger property, you can construct the pool away from the main building to maintain it as a separate entity. For such a pool, it is reasonable to put up a large deck that can define its space. Therefore, you can opt to use a style that blends with the landscape to achieve a remarkable aesthetic appeal. However, ensure that it is visible for safety purposes.
The Deck Layout
Your deck should be able to host a reasonable number of people at any time. Therefore, its orientation should meet the required measurements needed to host your target number of people.
Also, you must consider privacy and noise consideration. The deck should be away from private properties or any other public facility to avoid causing a lot of noise distractions during a busy day.
If your space cannot allow building the deck away from the public, you need to sound-proofing the area around the deck to cut down the noise. You can sound-proof the area using running water or use plant buffer to dampen the sound and maintain privacy as well.
Consider the Safety Requirements Provided By the State
A new law that came into effect on January 1, 2018, requires all commercial pools to have necessary safety measures. Some of the safety measures that feature on commercial pools include:
- A removable mesh fencing that is within the American Society for Testing And Materials (ASTM). The mesh should not have any gaps that can prompt small children to force themselves into the pool's vicinity.
- All structural designs and equipment should be within the specifications provided by related regulatory agencies. Any remodeling or reconstruction should have approval from the regulatory agency.
- The pool should have a cover that has approval from related approval bodies. The cover should also meet the standards provided by the regulatory authority.
- The pool must be fitted with an alarm that alerts the operator over any unauthorized entry. The owner should install the alarm on all areas that permit entry or exit to the pool.
- The swimming pool should undergo regular inspection to ensure that it strictly adhere to the safety requirements. The safety requirements should not only apply during the construction but also after the pool is operational.
- The swimming pool purification system must be operational at all times to ensure that the water remains disinfected and clear at all times.
Install the Pavements
There are numerous considerations that a swimming pool pavement contractor should consider. The main target for the contractor would be installing a pavement that can withstand the test of time and other factors that can affect their durability. Before the contractor proceeds to lay the pavements, there are several things that he or she must consider.
The contractor has the responsibility of making a solid pavement. The best size for the bed is 100 mm, which can be used in reinforced concrete or compacted gravel depending on the financial ability.
If you are renovating the pool, you must remove the outdated coping to install a new one — the coping consists of bullnose pavements, positioned along the edge of the pool. If you have a fiberglass pool, you must remove its gel to expose a minimum of eighty percent of the fiber to get the results.
Another factor that the contractor should take note of is to make an inventory of the required materials. The contractor requires different materials to set up the paving, grout the finish and laying the base.
For the base, one can opt to rely on gravel or use a fortified concrete surface. The concrete base is the best choice since it is much more stable compared with compacted gravel. To determine the amount of material that you need, you need to multiply the depth of the base with the pool's surface area. For instance, assuming that you will use the standard depth measurement of 100 mm (0.1M), you will multiply the 100mm with the surface area ( assuming that it is 50 M squared) of your deck to determine the total volume that you need (5M cubed).
The bending sand should cover a base depth of ranging from 25 mm and above. Such an extent is enough to provide enough surface to lay the pavers and restrict any movement.
The grout is the fill used between the joints of your pavers. A contractor can use fine-graded sand, which is the least expensive option. If you intend to use sand, you should mix six parts of it with one part of dry cement if you want to create a firm grout. Alternatively, you can rely on commercial grout that you can find in any hardware store. You can use a broomstick to put the grout into the spaces and moisten it lightly with water to set it. Do not leave any residue on the pavers when setting it up.
The process also requires mortar to plaster the pavers with the bullnose. To make the mortar, you need to wet mix three parts of sand with one part of cement. The best material to use in applying the plaster into the intersections is a sponge.
Once the base is ready, you can proceed to lay the pool pavers. Here are the steps that the contractor should use when laying down the pavers.
Step 1: Marking And Cutting The Coping
The coping is one of the most sophisticated parts of a swimming pool pavement that one has to handle. The best way to mark and cut the pavers is by leaving an allowance of about 40mm. Use the overlaps to cut the precise measurements needed to cope with the shell of your pool.
Step 2: Spreading The Adhesive
Lay a tapered plaster on the pool's edge, then spread the adhesive with a notched trowel. Use enough adhesive that can set down close to three pavers in intervals and can spread a bit wider than the width of the paver.
Step 3: Laying The Bullnose
Once you have spread the adhesive, it is time to lay the bullnose pavers. Bed each pavement at a time over the adhesive. Make sure that the alignment of the joint is collateral, and the edge is even. As soon as you install a paver, use a bubble level to make sure that every pavement falls somewhat distant from the pool's edge.
Step 4: Finishing the Joints
After you have laid the coping pavers, you need to proceed to finish their joints. Grout each joint with the wet mixture( cement and sand) and fill the space between every paver with at least 2mm of the mix. Then, continue to mask off every edge of the expanded side and run a silicone bead in every joint and smoothen the surface using an oily finger.
Step 5: Flatten The Sand
This step requires a flat board to pull it across to level it with the surface. The contractor should use string lines positioned at 35 mm below the finished pavement height. Once the workers level the surface, they should fill the channel with sand until it matches the required height.
Step 6: Setting The Layer Marks
You should set perpendicular string lines that all the pavements fit against the borders of your property and the steps on both sides of your target area. This process requires a square to ensure that the string lines form a square.
Step 7: Setting Up the Pavers
The contractor installing the pavers should follow the string lines to set up the leading row for the pavements. The workers should then work with the row to set up an adjacent row of pavers, with at least 2mm space. Once they have completed the laying process, they should press the pavements with a mallet made out of rubber.
Step 8: Creating The Cuts
You do not expect your pavements to fill perfectly in your target area. You might need to use some cutting to fill the gaps that you leave along the edges. Measure the gaps and transfer the measurements to some pavers for cutting. You should number each part that you need to cut with the correlating position that you intend to place them.
Step 9: Cutting The Pavers
The workers involved in this process should wear the right protective gear when cutting the small gaps to fill the pavers. Once they have cut the pavements, they should lay the cuts on edge using a wet plaster mixture. Once the side is set, they should proceed to grout the whole paved area.
Deck Enhancement, Maintenance, And Repair
It is your mandate as the pool owner to think about the enhancement, maintenance, and repair of your swimming pool deck. Some of the ways to enhance the deck are by installing background lighting, using a remarkable landscape, and provide enough seating.
For the maintenance, consider sealing the pavement with a sealant to proof it from chemical spills. Using a film-forming sealer can ensure both longevity and aesthetic appeal on your deck. Finally, your service provider should provide repair services as soon as you notice issues that can worsen with time.
Find A Commercial Pool Paver Installation Company Near Me
You need to rely on a reliable pool paver installation company to achieve your dream swimming pool deck. Not all companies can manage to offer these services as per your expectations. That's why you need to be thorough with your search to narrow down to a reliable company. We at Oak Well Aquatics are committed to offering the best services that match your needs. If you are in Jacksonville, FL, reach out to us at 904-619-3281 and have one of our representatives consult you on installing pavers for your commercial pool.