# Forum Home Renovation Paving  Mortar mix for Pool pavers

## Leo52

G'day all, 
I have a saltwater fibreglass pool and plan to pave the area.
To start off I need to install the Coper Pavers around the pool first. The fibreglass pool extends on top about 100mm over the concrete surround. The Coper Pavers are 230x115mm and are overlapping onto the conrete by about 100mm when taking into account the 300mm overhang into the pool.
My Question: 
What mortar mix should I use to cement the pavers across the fibreglass and cement surface? My concern is the acidity of the pool water (highly diluted hidrochloric acid) and what it may do to the cement in the mortar mix. Do I need to seal it on the pool side and should I use Bondcrete or a similar product?
Any response is appreciated.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 
Additional information: There will be pavers butting up to copers. Two rows of these pavers will be on a mortar bed.

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## cherub65

Coping on fiberglass pools is pretty tricky. Main problem is that you have two different surfaces to attach paver to and as you say your lip is only 100 mm wide. Also were the concrete meets the fiberglass will crack.
My first piece of advice is if you haven't already bought the pavers go for a larger format at least 300 x 300mm
You didn't mention if concrete was same level or slightly lower, (we recommend having concrete 20mm lower)
First thing is to sand fiberglass roughly as paver will be straddling fiberglass and concrete one side has to be able to move slightly (or paver will crack) so use Bostik V2 Rhodorsil Glazing Silicone or similar to glue paver to pool then depending on concrete finish use a quality tile adhesive 
You will also need a flexible grout and expansion joints around pool a least every 4 meters 
Hard to give best response without seeing concrete and knowing if other pavers butt up to copers 
But sand and cement a big no no will crack and pop in a couple of weeks

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## Leo52

:Biggrin:  Many thanks for the advice 'Cherub65'. Due to un-availability of Rhodorsil I will be using Sikaflex - 11FC. - Leo52 -

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## Bleedin Thumb

Make your mix fairly stiff 3 :1 mix and not too much water, make sure the copers are very wet before you lay them. I have only ever done one fibgerglass pool and what I gained from that experience is you are best to do it with no water in the pool!  
When you bed the pavers, mortar will naturally spill out into the pool so if you have no water in the pool its easy to clean up 
I have never known of problems with pavers coming away from the fiberglass shell when they are laid with mortar - best to speak to a few pool suppliers and see what they say.

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## DavidC

I did mine I used a 40mm screed of morter around edge ontop of the concrete beam
Levelled it with the top of fiberglass pool edge using spirit level and srcreeds
I also used timber formwork so as morter mix wouldnt run.
The mix I used was 3:1 ( 3 washed sand and 1 cement) I added bondcrete into the cement please read directions on bottle this helps adhere to concrete and water proofs morter. I painted the bondcrete onto the aged existing concrete beam and then waited 5 mins for tacky then poured the morter mix on top and screed away. 
Let the mortor / cement fully cure I gave mine at least 4 weeks. 
I used a product SE7 Davco product tile adhesive - excellent adhesion and can be used with saltwater / chlorine pools. Read directions before use and make sure you wet the cement and the underside of paver before appling SE7  
This is mixed with another product called Davelastic a plasticiser so that the adhesive flex. Because there is movement between the concrete and pavers. 
The gap between the fiberglass and coping stone should be approx 3 to 7mm and can be filled with silicone. I used a silicon product called Maxsil pool, other silicons will not cut it the salt and chlorine that is. 
The grout - use "slate & Quarry " Davco and mix with Davelastic the directions and method on dav's site ParexDavco: Australia 
Cheers - hope this is useful 
Let me know how you go or went

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## iansmith

hi . i was told by a builder to use 2 parts brick .sand 2 parts washed sand and 1 part white cament. do i have to use white cement.or could i use off white cement. or grey .when laying coping around pool

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## GeoffW1

Hi, 
You have a lot of advice on the mortar so I will not add much to it. 
I would like to mention that we have a salt water fibreglass pool, with paving bricks on the coping. The installers used Bondcrete or similar in the mix. It is definitely not epoxy cement or something exotic like that (although you can get epoxy based grout).  
In my experience the pool persistently goes more alkaline with the operation of the salt cell. The installer said this was typical of fibreglass pools. 
We add acid on a two-weekly basis, just a cupful or two at the most, but I don't think you will need to worry much about acid erosion of the mortar unless you operate some completely different regime. We have never seen any deterioration at all. 
Cheers

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## vk3em

I just spoke to the technical support line if ParexDavco and was promptly told that they don't have anything that will stick to a fiberglass pool..... 
Luke

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