Concrete Pavers & Travertine Coping
See how multicolored pavers gave this pool deck an Old World look
A video transcript featuring Scott Cohen, The Green Scene
For my hard scheme materials here, I chose to use pavers. These are concrete pavers, and they can shift and move in clay soil so we don't get the problems with cracked concrete like we do on some other projects. Clay, when it gets wet, can expand and cause quite a bit of movement, especially around swimming pools. So I like to use the pavers, and in this case, I'm using a multicolored paver that's called Bella, and I'm using it in a pattern that's called Dublin Cobble, which is a variety of three different sizes placed in a random pattern, and it gives a nice old-world look.
Paver installation
The pavers are installed over a 4-inch gravel base, then there's about an inch or two of sand and pavers set on top of that. To lock that in place, we use stabilizing sand that gets plate-compacted into the top of those pavers, and the outer border on the pavers is what's called wet-set. What that means is that it's set into a concrete bed and locked in place.
Travertine steps
For my steps here, I'm using the bullnose travertine that I'm using on the pool coping and capping my retaining walls so all the materials tie in and match. I say the devil is in the details, and it really is on these types of projects and I like to really tie everything together. Underneath these steps, I'm going to use the same decorative old-world cast concrete liner that I'm using on the fireplace plinths and on the staircase, the decking up to the top of the spa.
