Pool Coping Repair Guide – All You Need to Know

A swimming pool in the exterior of your building is a luxury if you are lucky enough to have one—a matter of pride for many. If you want to keep its utility continued, regular cleaning and maintenance are mandatory. Like other construction elements in your landscape, the pool also is liable to have damaged or wear & tear impacts.

However, the right knowledge of damages, causes, and their solutions may save you from several hurdles, including monetary constraints. So, I hope the present guide may give you the essentials concisely.

Today, we are going to discuss pool coping repairs, so let’s begin right from knowing the anatomy of the swimming pool to get into the subject precisely.

Anatomy of the Swimming Pool

I have revealed most of the things regarding swimming pool and pool coping in a previous blog, “10 Benefits to Choose Natural Stone Pool Coping,” and according to it, the following are primary components of any typical in-land pool.

1. Basin or bottom-floor of a swimming pool bearing the load of water body above.
2. Sidewalls or siding hold the water body of a pool.
3. The pool deck may be an independent floor or extension of the building-floor in the backyard pool in the surrounding of the pool.
4. Pool coping is a border placed atop a pool, and siding below. 

What Is Pool Coping?

A pool coping gives a protective cover on the top of the sidewalls of a pool, and also defines a border by being on the edge of the pool deck structure.

Why Do You Need Pool Coping?

• The prime purpose of a pool coping is to return splashes of water back to the pool.
• Pool coping also prevents water seepage into the base of the deck.
• The smart design of a pool coping can stop the entry of dirt, debris, and fallen leaves into the pool.
• It can also give a grip to swimmers, making it easier for them to hang out in the pool.
• Well-designed pool coping can act as a diving point to facilitate swimmers to experiment with different diving postures.
• Anti-skid surfaces of a pool coping cut the risks of slipping for swimmers while walking or diving.
• As a structural element of the pool, the pool coping can act as a retention cap over pool siding/side walls beneath.

Types of Pool Coping:

To simplify it, we will see different types of pool coping in other criteria, such as:

Types of Pool Coping Based on Material:

Construction materials also define the types of pool coping.

• Clay bricks pool coping.
• Natural stones pool coping.
• Concrete: Slabs/pavers & Blocks pool coping.
• Synthetic/Engineered Materials-based pool coping. E.g., porcelain tiles or PVC.

Types of Pool Coping Based on Edge Style:

There are various edging styles prevailing in the dimension stone industry, and the following are typically found everywhere.

• Bullnose coping
• Cantilever-edge coping
• Flat-mount copping

Why Should You Go for Pool Coping Repair?

We know the major components of a typical swimming pool. Decks pool coping, and siding walls are made of construction material like natural stones.

• Deck and pool coping areas are prone to severe climatic changes like heat & cold, rain etc. 
• Heat expands the material in construction. 
• Reversely, cold constricts. 
• Such cold-heat cycles can weaken the grouts and cause cracks gradually. 
• A difference in temperature always occurs between the top and base ground areas. 
• Rainwater can enhance damages further by direct penetration and growing molds or bacteria-like living organisms in fissures, cracks, opening, and grouts.

Water Seepage behind Pool Siding:

With the pace of time, the bonds between bricks, tiles, or stone slabs on the surface of the side walls are weakening. Similarly, concrete fill also becomes porous due to continuous wear & tear by pool water and external environmental factors like weathering. 

These all factors are resulting in water seepage from pool water to the adjoining ground through the structure of the sidewall. Any damage caused needs quick attention in order to prevent further seepage, and pool coping repair can easily solve it.

Water Intrusion Underneath Pool Coping:

As discussed earlier, weathering impacts can weaken the pool coping layer on the top of the ground and sidewalls. Cracks, fissures, and grout opening can let seepage of the water beneath the collection copping layer.

Water Penetration Underneath Mastic (Expansion Joint between Pool Deck & Copping):

We know structurally that two structural plates occur in a typical in-land pool design: Pool plate & house plate. A thick and deep layer of (mastic) grout filling joins these two plates. However, expansion and contractions occur with two plates differently due to various factors existing in the ground and pool water body.

For instance, the deck is situated predominantly on the soil base, and the soil gets or loses heat quicker than the water body in the pool plate. The said differences result in the expansion of grouts and loosened grips of bonding material at the end.

Water Leakage Due to Weak Sealing or Coating of Pool Coping:

Natural stones, bricks, and even concrete material in the pool coping construction practically demand proper sealant material as a coating layer on the topmost surfaces. Chemical bonding of the sealants may weaken over time and opens the joints between pool coping stones, bricks, or concrete blocks. It can result in water leakage slowly. 

Besides these known causes, there are several minor causes that can damage the pool coping structure and requires pool coping repairs, such as:

• Loose coping stones.
• Crumbling mortar joints between coping stones.
• The setting of the base or soil.
• Absence of proper drainage.
• Expansion/contraction of the pool coping structure.

How to Perform Pool Coping Repair?

Once we find out the nature of the damages in pool coping and the real causes behind it, we can repair those damages easily and quickly. However, experts recommend the following standard practices to perform pool coping repair.

Resetting of loose pool coping stones

Resetting of loose pool coping stones, bricks, or blocks can serve our purpose to stop further damage and seepage of water.

Pool coping stone replacement

Severely damaged pool coping stones need replacements, and natural stones are easy to replace among all materials. You can get matching stone tiles or slabs and restore the looks.

Refilling grouts between pool coping stones and extension joints

Mastic joints need refilling at a regular interval somewhere between two to five years, depending on the wear & tear impacts prominent in your region and your pool in particular. Filling caulk on a regular interval can prevent the gradual filling up of mastic with sand and dirt.

Filling with caulking chemical/material demands stable day-night temperature and absence of rain, frost, or dews in the morning. Synthetic sands and chemical putty-like material are now ideal formulas to meet long-term goals of mastic filling.

Of course, there are many steps to accomplish pool coping repairing. However, I refrain from illustrating in detail because I  have already described common steps and stages of repairing the stone paving damages in my previous blog, “Natural Stone Restoration – All You Need to Know”.

Who Can Help You in Pool Coping Repairing?

Certainly, stonemasons in your area or your stone supplier can help you in this regard. However, World of Stones USA is an online marketplace that will find the right professional for you in your neighborhood. You can get online instructions for handling the minor damages and also for the major ones if you are capable of handling them all.

World of Stones USA also provides you an online store to help you purchase natural stone pool coping pavers for all your repairing, replacements, and restoration projects. Don’t wait, check out the pool coping pavers collection from World of Stones.