DIY Bluestone Coping and Paver Patio Progress Thread.

[jamjam]

I am installing 14”x 4’ x 2” bluestone treads on my steel wall liner pool. I will use this thread for progress pics.

Steps taken so far:
1) several days of wetting down and tamping ground around pool (after waiting the winter for settling)
2) added 2” deep crushed stone bed (tamped)
3) placed 2x6 forms. This will create a 4” deep collar of 5000 psi concrete up to the steel beam.

Friday I will be mixing and pouring the concrete as well as getting the stone delivered. I will update with progress

 

[cowboycasey]

Nicely done, I like the drone shot..

 

[jamjam]

stone came today. Wife loves the “eased” edge so that was $1200 well spent for fabrication.

I hand mixed and poured 46 80lb bags of concrete by myself but the collar is now done.
I now need to figure out how to return 24 bags of concrete.

 

[kellyfair]

Nice! Every time I see these great drone pics I start hankering to buy one.

 

[jamjam]

My wife is giving me some guff about the pattern i will be laying down - all the cuts are taking into account math and geometry for the 14" width of the stone and the geometry of the pool (6" radius on the corners). She assumes a professional would come up with something better. Anyone want to take a look at my plan and weigh in?

 

[kellyfair]

So, are the corner pieces all going to be the same size?

 

[jamjam]

yes everything that has an equivalent is symmetrical - my only question about my layout is if i should have the first grout line from the corner on the lateral wall and the back wall be the same distance from the corner - however, if i did this i would have to have a smaller middle stone (2' instead of 4') in the middle of the short walls (so i think i prefer the way i have it laid out above). She thinks that if i hired a pro the corners would be square, but i explained that since the pool has a bevel in the corners they would not unless you paid for fabrication of larger pieces that come from a different batch of stone (no guarantee the color would match)

 

[jonnyd91]

Why not miter all the corners and keep them 90 degrees, like a modern rectangle?

 

[jamjam]

Why not miter all the corners and keep them 90 degrees, like a modern rectangle?

because the pool has a 6" radius in the corners so it cannot come to a 90 in the inside.

edit: and i paid for the inside edge of the stone to be eased with a nice rounded bevel (which she asked for), so I am limited to what face of the stone can be used for that small inside corner - i do not have enough width to the stone to have it extend out to have a mitered outside edge. I can pay to have stone custom fabricated just for the corners to achieve that but the price and time for that would be prohibitive for what I consider to be a subjective ask. Plus then the coping in the corners would be wider than the rest of the pool (from outside edge to inside edge).

 

[PoolGate]

Just fyi I have bluestone coping and it gets awfully hot in the sun.

 

[jamjam]

Just fyi I have bluestone coping and it gets awfully hot in the sun.

I am aware. But wet feet and wet bathing suits mitigate that. And it’s only 14” of surface. We are not too concerned.

 

[jimmythegreek]

With coping that size you are limited to slices as you have it. Filling 90s in corners requires deeper pieces as you are probably aware. Might be easier in her eye to have them half cut into 2' lengths as more joints soften the smaller pieces. In the end, the pattern will be a mon issue theres so many other decisions amd things to look at.

 

[jamjam]

With coping that size you are limited to slices as you have it. Filling 90s in corners requires deeper pieces as you are probably aware. Might be easier in her eye to have them half cut into 2' lengths as more joints soften the smaller pieces. In the end, the pattern will be a mon issue theres so many other decisions amd things to look at.

Thanks I was hoping you would chime in. In retrospect 2’ would have solved my grout line placement dilemma and made it easier to manage the stone, but at this point I would hate to add more lines as I think the longer runs look nice. The steps are the only area that is sub optimal to me because you get this that rhombus shape on the two sides. If I get all my cuts smooth and lay these all true and level (I’m confident I will) I will be very happy and think it will look really nice.

 

[jimmythegreek]

The longer lines do add a more modern look amd flow to it. I'm surprised you went with white pre made stairs, liner over would have given you 90s there. It's hard to get any large format coping to play nice with fiberglass stairs as they have that bevel in all 4 corners, much easier with paver type coping. It is a good idea to clip all the corners like you have them, much safer especially with kids or beverage impaired adults

 

[jamjam]

The longer lines do add a more modern look amd flow to it. I'm surprised you went with white pre made stairs, liner over would have given you 90s there. It's hard to get any large format coping to play nice with fiberglass stairs as they have that bevel in all 4 corners, much easier with paver type coping. It is a good idea to clip all the corners like you have them, much safer especially with kids or beverage impaired adults

My pool builder is kinda oldschool. He said with kids and a dog to expect liner over steps to rip and also for someone to slip and hurt themselves. So we went with the fiberglass. My engineering drawing had them perfectly square - I didn’t realize they had a taper until they were installed. Oh well.

 

[jamjam]

BTW I’m using a smooth edge 7” diamond blade (wet/dry) on a circular saw to do the cuts. I’m going to clamp a ledger to ensure straight cuts and plan on doing 5 to 6 passes per cut. I will probably pour a bit of water into the cut channel with each pass. Any issues there?

 

[jimmythegreek]

Gotcha. Kind of a myth that they don't hold up, but dogs nails cam be an issue. I still use them too but always do blue or grey to make it look richer. They dont make a set worth true corners available, they all have that bevel, some are completely curvy and a pain to do coping on.

No issues cutting bluestone its soft, limestone is even softer. Just watch the blade doesnt wander out of plumb if the blade gets hot. You can even cut with a carborumdum masonry blade going slow. Clamp a guide and make shallow cuts with several passes. Will be no problem. Cardboard templates help with the angles if needed

 

[jamjam]

I already cut the templates for all my cuts using poster board. I have 33 stones and have it planned out that I will use 32 in total.

Amazon accidentally sent me two blades so I’m gonna swap out after half my cuts.

 

[Casey]

I cant wait to watch you wow your wife with your skills... and myself.

 

[jamjam]

going well so far...