I have a new pool build and got Tundra Gray Sandblasted Marble Travertine pavers which were installed over concrete. This stone is supposed to be of high quality; however the corners and other areas are breaking and crumbling. I have already had about four pieces of the coping replaced due to chunks of stone breaking off. Just a few weeks ago, the 2" thick 16" X 24"coping used for the walk on automatic cover just broke completely in half when my son walked on it. The stone fell onto the cover and put two small holes in it. The pool company has so far worked with us in replacing the coping. The paver install has not been completed because the 2" thick coping isn't going to work on the steps (as a bullnose) because of the risers, so the builder had to order a 3cm thick coping that still has to arrive from Turkey (another 8-10 weeks) to receive. My guess is that the contractor will replace all the badly crumbling pieces but I am very concerned about the continued deterioration and integrity of the stone.
Pool Marble Travertine Breaking into Pieces and Crumbling
- Thread starter mocka300
- Start date
Hi and welcome to TFP. I am sorry we are meeting like this though 
I hope you have everything in some kind of writing as a paper trail.
So if this stone is already showing you it is not the best I would be thinking about taking it out and starting over. I can think it will only get worse over time if it is already doing this now.
Please share some pics so we can really see what you are dealing with.
I hope you have everything in some kind of writing as a paper trail.
So if this stone is already showing you it is not the best I would be thinking about taking it out and starting over. I can think it will only get worse over time if it is already doing this now.
Please share some pics so we can really see what you are dealing with.
Hi, thanks for your reply. I do have email documentation on everything. I am also having an issue with the pressure for my waterfall and a stain in my Diamond Brite plaster that appears to be rust, but I will post a separate thread for those things.
I have 1200 SF of pavers and they were all laid on top of concrete using mortar. It took the subcontractor hours to jackhammer the 2" thick coping, so I know it would be a major undertaking to redo all of it, but it is not off the table.
Attached are some pictures, including a picture of one of the pallets that they haven't put down because they are waiting until they get the new coping. The subcontractor had the pool builder get extra pavers to complete the job because so many pieces are broken.
They need to complete the steps and sidewalk.
I have 1200 SF of pavers and they were all laid on top of concrete using mortar. It took the subcontractor hours to jackhammer the 2" thick coping, so I know it would be a major undertaking to redo all of it, but it is not off the table.
Attached are some pictures, including a picture of one of the pallets that they haven't put down because they are waiting until they get the new coping. The subcontractor had the pool builder get extra pavers to complete the job because so many pieces are broken.
They need to complete the steps and sidewalk.
So it looks like a lot of the corners are broke off and quite a few edges and divots as well. I am willing to be if they try to take up all of the ones that are bad they will end up doing damage to the "good" ones around it.
What do they have to say about the cover one? Is is supposed to be walked on? I think I would play with one of the ones that are not useable due to broken corners or such. I would put it on some thing raised so it would be like the cover one. I would then see if it breaks when your son walks on it. I would want to see if they all will break over time.
Now IF they think they can take out and replace all of the broken ones and do something for the cover ones then let them do what they can and go from there.
What do they have to say about the cover one? Is is supposed to be walked on? I think I would play with one of the ones that are not useable due to broken corners or such. I would put it on some thing raised so it would be like the cover one. I would then see if it breaks when your son walks on it. I would want to see if they all will break over time.
Now IF they think they can take out and replace all of the broken ones and do something for the cover ones then let them do what they can and go from there.
Toxophilite
Silver Supporter
Actually, that looks about typical for travertine pavers. It's very porous, with voids throughout. If you look carefully, you are going to see some the larger holes have been filled with epoxy and smoothed to match color. There's going to be chipped edges and corners here and there, some might chip off after install, and, during install, some are not going to survive the pounding of the mallet to install, and, some are not going to survive on the pallet. The broken ones need to be replaced as they go. After they are finished, they should sweep in a setting polymer sand and wet. That will give it a more smooth look, but it is a maintenance issue that will have to be redone every so few years.
Yes, the cover one is on what they call a walk on lid. I upgraded to a walk on lid that would hold the weight of stone. They didn't say much about the fact the stone broke in half but they are sending the pool cover company out to look at and adjust the brackets. We'll see what they do.
Attached are copies of some of the coping that was broken and they replaced. Some Two pieces of it broke when the drilled into it to install the tracking for the auto cover. Just recently the second coping for the cover tracking on the corner cracked where the screw is underneath. That picture is attached as well.
So it seems as if it cannot be screwed into without breaking it or knocked around too much. How will it handle someone dropping something hard on it like a chair or such.
I agree. It has me and my husband very concerned. I really appreciate all the comments I have received.
You know what else I just thought of.............down the road when you are opening or closing the cover it might make the track move a bit...........that might make the coping break even more
Mcow
0
- Jul 5, 2017
- 319
- Pool Size
- 22000
- Surface
- Plaster
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I just had out travertine deck installed and we have minor imperfections like a chipped corner here and there but not as extreme as yours. Our coping is square edge too instead of bullnose and I am wondering if that may be part of the issue. I will say a lot of the imperfections were helped when they put the polymeric sand in but you have damage well beyond what we have. 
Toxophilite
Silver Supporter
I have the bullnose silver travertine for coping. It had a little bit better final finish than the paver, but, it was probably better select and finish out for specific coping use. But, all travertine is just a weak, more brittle, form of limestone. It is porous and full of weak points and cannot take something expansive put in it or hard blows. That's just the nature of it. Once it is laid flat, though, it has the support of and the strength of the underlayment. On it's own, you can break one in half with a rubber hammer blow.
The stone looks like very poor quality.
I would reject it all and get good quality stone.
My opinion is that limestone is a much better stone than travertine.
In any case, stones vary widely in quality and your stones look like junk level stones.
Ask a stone supplier or a good mason for a recommendation and a data sheet on the recommended stone.
The setting of the stones is probably also poorly done with insufficient coverage of mortar causing uneven loading on the stones and causing the cheap stone to fracture along fault lines.
I would reject it all and get good quality stone.
My opinion is that limestone is a much better stone than travertine.
In any case, stones vary widely in quality and your stones look like junk level stones.
Ask a stone supplier or a good mason for a recommendation and a data sheet on the recommended stone.
The setting of the stones is probably also poorly done with insufficient coverage of mortar causing uneven loading on the stones and causing the cheap stone to fracture along fault lines.
Go to a few local stone suppliers and check the stones in person and ask about the strength and durability of the stone.
Ask for a data sheet on the stones that describes the rated properties.
Do a scratch test to see how easily they are scratched.
thestonestore.com
Ask for a data sheet on the stones that describes the rated properties.
Do a scratch test to see how easily they are scratched.
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I agree it looks of poor quality. I understand the sandblasted look but it looks damaged. Is it marble or travertine?
Go to a few local stone suppliers and check the stones in person and ask about the strength and durability of the stone.
Ask for a data sheet on the stones that describes the rated properties.
Do a scratch test to see how easily they are scratched.
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I actually went to the distributor/importer in person to look at the travertine as the travertine started to look very porous, more so than in the past, and was becoming harder to get due to the pandemic. I was also told to order it early because it was taking a long time to get.
While at the distributor, I wasn't pleased with the silver travertine (which is what I wanted) as the quality no longer looked good and had a lot of color variation to it. The distributor showed me the Tundra Grey Sandblasted Marble and said they just got a shipment in that could accommodate what I needed.
The quality looked very nice and I thought the stone was beautiful. They mentioned to me the reason you didn't hear about marble being used around pools in the past was because of it being slippery and that the new method of sandblasting makes less slippery and able to be used around pools. They told me if I wanted it, to let my PB know and that the price should be the same as the travertine as they would give the supplier a good price. I notified my pool builder and they put the order in with their supplier.
When I first signed my contract the year before, it had concrete decking on it because the salesmen said I could think about it. I later decided to upgrade. The PB gave me a new invoice with the price of the upgrade and it said travertine. I told them it was sandblasted marble but they insisted it is still a travertine and it's the same thing. This is why I called it both in the subject line.
Although, the distributor said if my PB puts the order in with their supplier, they would hold the stone, I found out later when I was ready for it, the distributor gave it to a different customer. I got this information directly from the distributor after asking them about it. They then told me that they had another shipment coming in two weeks. Once that shipment arrived at the port it was damaged, so I had to wait a few more weeks for the next shipment.
When the stone finally made it to my PB the project manager asked me to come in to look at it to make sure it was what I ordered before they bring it to my house. It looked like what I ordered, and I could tell some corners had small chips but couldn't see it very well because it was all in pallets. I had no idea of the extent of the cracks and breaks. The project manager was on the phone with someone the entire time I was there and I didn't get a chance to talk to him except to say that it was the correct stone.
I think it is also worth mentioning that the installer wasn't happy with the stone. They were being careful of what they said but they did say that they needed more stone before coming back because too many pieces were broken. They ended up coming back to replace the coping pieces that looked bad and it took most of the day to take up 3 or 4 pieces. I am sure they weren't happy about it as it was probably costing them money, not the builder.
I then found out that the 2" coping that was ordered for the steps wasn't going to work on the steps because the risers weren't high enough. I am now waiting for a thinner coping which has been months so far. In the mean time, another pallet of stone shows up at my house. I texted the builder asking were it came from and they never did get back to me. When the cleanup guys showed up, I asked them if they knew where it came from and they said yeah they picked it up and brought it to my house.
I know this information is probably more than you were expecting but there is so much background to this information.
I also asked the distributor if the stone was considered high quality, and they told me yes.
It doesn't seem to scratch easily..
It depends on who you ask. It says marble but my pool builder says it is still travertine.
While there are a lot of damaged pieces in my opinion, there are also a lot of what appears to be good pieces.
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Toxophilite
Silver Supporter
In some trades, materials are labeled more for their appearance than scientific name. Hardwood lumber is a good example. Red Oak planks usually can be one of 9 different species of tree, only a few actual red oak in some cases, but it all has the similar color and weight. Hickory is most likely one of few pecan varieties. Almost always, same family, different species. Intermixed names in the trade. Travertine and marble are both limestone varieties. A travertine with fewer visible holes and smoother color could more resemble marble, its cousin, hence the name. Or, a poor quality marble that has some imperfections could be passed off in the travertine paver market instead of the marble market.
Travertine is graded on appearance, but most importantly, number and size of holes. It all has holes. The holes are filled, polished, and a good fill job is hard to spot. The finest grade with tiny holes is more reserved for floor tiles that are better filled, finished and perfectly sized for tile laying. Pavers tend to be medium to larger holes, with poorer quality having very large holes. But, again, most times with a good job filling and color match of epoxy, the eye can't catch the holes. There's no other grading by density, etc.....
No slab cut stone or limestone is rated on its strength on the plane in regards to compression or tension. limits They have none in that flat shape. They get all their strength from the support laid on. If you have ever done countertops, you would see that even the highest graded stone can unexpectedly become two pieces just by picking it up off the floor. Could be not properly handling the support of the load or some natural inclusion, but, it can happen to the best of the best.
So, finding larger pieces broken in a pallet is normal. Could be packing issue, handling in transport, or natural inclusions in the stone. It's a given with the larger pieces to have some to discard on arrival.
It does not look like travertine to me, but I don't know exactly what it is.
In any case, I think that it looks like low quality and I would not use it.
In any case, I think that it looks like low quality and I would not use it.