# Forum Home Renovation Pools, Spa & Water Features  Pool edge level for coping?

## pauljygrant

Hi all,
we have had our fibreglass pool installed but when they poured the concrete ring beam, they have slightly distorted one side upwards with the concrete. The vertical wall is plumb and the 90 degree edge is level but the horizontal flange that will be covered by the coping now has a slight hump about mid way down the pool that would mean the coping will have a slightly bigger gap between it and the pool edge.
all other 3 sides have level top edges.
i have asked the installer to inspect - any idea what tolerances are reasonable to expect?
FYI- I was going to arrange the coping via a separate company and don't want to make their job harder, or more expensive, or end up with a poorer quality finish.
cheers, Paul

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## Danny.S

Hi Paul  When you say "slightly", what does this mean?  Have you run a stringline to determine the variance?    I have done a complete installation including paving and coping on a glass pool.  Painful but very rewarding.  Danny

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## pauljygrant

The variance is 18 mm in height from the majority of the pool to this 1 section along the long side of the pool, approx 2 m in length at this slightly raised height.
the pool installer visited today and claimed it was within AS standard and would simply be lost by the coping installer, but then he would say that. He may be correct?
paul

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## Danny.S

Perhaps.  But 18mm is a fairly large variance.  Is this in the centre of the pool?  When I did mine, which I installed myself,  I had one corner of the pool visibly higher.  Silly mistake.  I used a digital level on all sides but only took the measurement in the middle of each side.  Other than that corner all sides were within 0.1 of a degree at worst.  When the pool was filled you could easily see the high corner.  Well I could anyway.  No one else, including my wide noticed or cared so perhaps it wasn't that bad.  I reckon it was probably 15mm out! 
You could not even tell from the paving unless you got your head really low and then looked along the length of the pool. 
If the rise and fall is gradual so the coping pavers just slope up and then down slightly you may not notice.    I'm not sure of aus standards or what to expect when paying for installation though. 
Danny

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## pauljygrant

Thanks Danny for your reply.
Doubt I'll get any help from the pool installer and to be honest, any further work to lower the hump may cause more problems than it resolves. Other than this one issue, happy with the rest of the install.
About to buy the reconstituted sandstone coping ( with the pool installers trade discount) and deciding whether to try and lay them myself or pay someone else.
What products and techniques did you use, or does anyone wish to recommend?
cheers, Paul

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## Danny.S

Hey Paul 
The paving was the most painful, frustrating, but rewarding part of the job.  I had a slab poured around the pool and laid about 50sqm of sandstone.  First I laid the coping which was 30mm thick 600 x 300 bullnose edge.  This was easy.  My pool was rectangle so I had the four corners custom cut from 600 x 600 pavers.  Placed them and then just ran the rest of the pavers.  These were secured with a tile adhesive as they were all exactly 30mm.   
For the remainder of the area I used 400 x 400 sandstone pavers which were of varying thickness.  This required a mortar to be made up using a concrete mixer and an awful lot of work to bed them in nice and level without any voids under the pavers.  This was hard!  Within a few hours my fingertips were bleeding badly but I kept going.  The problem with sandstone is it's like sandpaper on your hands.  After 2 days I found a solution.  I sent my boys down to the shops to buy me some rubber gloves.  Brilliant!  This job can't be done in big gloves.  The rubber gloves stop your fingertips wearing off till they bleed but you can still work the pavers.  Hired a brick cutter for most of the cuts and also used an angle grinder with appropriate bit for the fiddly stuff around the pool fittings. 
Used the same mix as the bedding mortar for the mortar between the pavers and this part was slow but fairly easy.  The rubber gloves are essential.  Then you have to silicon between the coping paver and the pool shell.  I did this from in the pool using sikaflex in a sausage and a sausage gun.  My learning was to drain out 10 inches of water so your gun doesn't get wet.  When the gun gets wet it stops working.  Great job on a hot day.   
It's a simple job.  Very rewarding but hard on the back and mind at times.   
If I can find some photos I'll post them.  
Danny

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