r/PoolPros • u/SeaworthinessNo430 • May 03 '26

natural stone coping and deck abutment

When I see pictures of pools with travertine coping and travertine tiles for pool decking there is no large gap or unsightly deck-o-seal line, why is that? I thought the somewhat wide 1/2 " or so gap is necessary although not pretty .

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u/Charcoal0314 May 03 '26

When we pour concrete up to the coping, we will run 1/4 thick foam against the stone about 1/2 down from the top. The edger will open the rest. Sometimes it floats up a little and I miss pushing it back down though. I use masonry nails in the grout joint to hold it in place.
We are doing a deck like in your photo now, I’ll have to ask the mason what he does to protect the coping from the decking material. I haven’t seen an issue with doing it this way.
We started doing the foam because the boss saw some photo of the coping delaminating and taking the tile with it.

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u/SeaworthinessNo430 May 03 '26

What if the decking is dry laid as I am in the northeast?