Step by StepPavers

Project

Limestone pool deck, steps and entry

Large-format white stone around a rectangular pool, mitred at the coping, carried through the step runs and out to the front door. The pool was already there and built by others. What we set is the deck, the coping, the steps and the entry.

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Finished white stone pool deck with mitred coping wrapping a filled rectangular pool at a modern house Finished

Tampa Bay area Large-format white stone Pool decks and coping Walkways and entries

01 The job

One house, two areas of stone

A new build in white stucco with dark grey brick and a dark metal roof. The rectangular pool was already in the ground when we got there. Two separate areas of stone came out of one job: the deck and coping at the back, and the entry steps, landing and walkway at the front.

The deck started as a bare concrete slab with orange spray circles and chalk marks on it. We ran the coping first, a long run of large-format white stone around the rim, mitred at the outside corners so the joint carries straight round the turn instead of dying into a square cut. Then the deck field went down over a prepared sand base, with a channel left open across the paving. In the finished frames that channel is a slim slot grate sitting flush in the stone.

The front of the house was the same stone and a different problem. The entry steps and landings came to us as bare concrete, snapped out with red chalk and a written dimension on the slab. We dry-laid the slabs to check the layout before anything was bedded, then set them with spacers across the landing and along the step nosings. The finished run has bullnose treads, stone risers and mitred side cheeks, with a stepped white planter wall running down beside it toward the sidewalk.

Low white planter and grade walls were already rendered by the time we paved, so the deck stone butts straight into them at the house and at the lawn edge. Wide step runs drop from the raised deck to the new grass on one side and rise to the rear glass doors on the other. In the last frames the pool holds water and the tools are off the deck.

On this job

  • Large-format white stone. Big units, few joints, every closing piece cut on site.
  • Mitred coping at the water. Outside corners cut on an angle so the line runs true.
  • A drain line in the field. A slim channel set flush in the paving along the deck.
  • Bullnose step treads. Wide runs to the lawn, to the rear doors and at the front door.
  • Entry walkway and landing. The same stone carried to the front of the house.
  • Everything outside the pool. We set the deck and the coping. We do not do work inside the pool.

02 The mitre

Dry, and then filled

The mitre is the detail that either reads or it does not. One frame with the deck set and the water still out, one after it went in.

Pool decks and coping
Mitred corner of the white stone pool deck with coping set along the edge of an unfilled poolDuring
The coping already set along the edge and the deck field closing on it, with the pool still dry.
Finished white stone pool deck and mitred coping around the filled pool with a linear drain grateAfter
Water in, grate in, and the joint carrying round the turn without a break in the line.

03 Bare slab and layout

Chalk lines before stone

Nothing gets bedded until the layout is right. These six frames are the concrete we were handed and the marks we put on it.

  • Bare concrete deck slab with orange layout marks before the stone paving went downBefore
    The deck slab as we found it, sprayed in orange circles beside the empty pool.
  • Bare concrete entry steps and landing marked out, with the white stucco planter box already formedBefore
    The front steps and landing in raw concrete, with the planter box already formed alongside.
  • Chalk layout lines marked on a bare concrete landing slab before the white stone paving was setBefore
    Chalk on the landing slab, setting out where each unit lands before anything is ordered to the spot.
  • Bare concrete with red layout lines snapped along the dark grey brick wall before stone pavingBefore
    The side run marked out tight against the dark grey brick, where the walkway goes.
  • Red chalk bullnose line marked on a bare concrete landing with white stone treads set alongsideDuring
    The bullnose line snapped in red chalk, with the treads that have to land on it waiting beside the slab.
  • White stone slabs set out for layout on bare concrete entry steps below a dark brick and glass front doorDuring
    Slabs set out dry on the entry steps to check the layout under the front door.

04 Setting and cutting

Coping first, then the field

The coping run sets the line every other piece has to answer to, so it goes in before the deck. Cut pieces come off the saw on site and get staged where they are needed.

  • Long run of white stone coping set around the pool edge with the deck area still bare groundDuring
    The coping run complete around the rim while the deck is still bare ground.
  • Installer setting a large white stone slab on the deck beside the pool, staged slabs around himDuring
    One slab at a time, buttered and set with a level beside it.
  • Pool deck part laid in large-format white stone, with cut pieces, a wheelbarrow and levels staged on siteDuring
    Half the deck down, with the cut pieces, the levels and the wheelbarrow still where the work left them.
  • Close view of a mitred outside corner in white stone paving with a rounded bullnose edgeDuring
    Close on the mitre, where two cut edges meet and the bullnose rolls over the front.
  • Wide white stone treads staged on the front step run with a notched trowel and mortar bucketDuring
    Treads staged on the step run with the trowel and the bucket already out.
  • Raised front landing paved in large white stone with spacers still in place against dark brickDuring
    The front landing bedded and spaced, holding its joints open against the brick until it sets.

05 Finished

The deck, the steps and the front door

Six frames from the end of the job. The deck and the coping around the pool, the step runs at both levels, and the same stone carried out to the street side of the house.

Walkways and entries
  • Wide view of the finished white stone pool deck and coping wrapping a filled pool at a modern houseAfter
    The whole deck from the far corner, with the stone running unbroken round the water.
  • Finished pool deck with a linear drain line and mitred stone coping at the filled pool edgeAfter
    The drain line runs parallel to the coping the length of the deck.
  • Wide stone steps with bullnose treads lead from the lawn up to the finished pool deckAfter
    The run up from the grass, a bullnose on every tread and the mitred deck corner behind it.
  • Wide stone steps and a landing in matching stone rise from the pool deck to the rear glass doorsAfter
    The other run, from the deck up to the rear glass doors, landing in the same stone.
  • Finished entry steps in white stone with bullnose treads leading up to the front door landingAfter
    The front door run, bullnose treads over stone risers, mitred at the side cheeks.
  • Front entry walkway in large-format white stone running along the house toward the streetAfter
    The entry walkway out toward the street, with a grass and stone strip beside it.

Every frame on this page came off this one job.

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