cncguy - I went with pavers for the same reason. I would not be happy looking at the cracks 3 mos or 2 years down the road. Cracks will come, you just don't know when.

The fact is all ground material will crack either as a result of poor workmanship, ground shifting and settling, dropping something heavy enough on it etc. The reality of having pavers is that it is more cost effective to lift the affected paver/s out and replace it.

To the warranty stated above - I would take it for what it is worth - nothing. What would you have to spend to prove contractor negligence? Did they grade and reinforce as is reasonable for the trade, did the sub mix correctly, were the cuts sufficient? Read the definition of negligence as it would be applied, should you have to pursue a claim, in a court of law.

The first thing you need to do is pull out a ruler and really understand how large 3/8" is. That is HUGE in terms of crack size. The reality is this: the concrete will crack, and most likely, cracks will be less than 3/8".

Your concrete contractor has a good warranty in that he'll probably never have to come back to repair his work.

We went with pavers because we knew we'd hate to look at cracks in concrete. In Orlando, pavers are cheaper than concrete, so we killed 2 birds with one stone: 1) no cracks 2) saved money.

-Gorilla

livinwell & gorilla-
thanks for your comments.i do know how wide 3/8" is nd your right he wont be back.but....even if i have hairline cracks,i will not be happy.big difference in price,$7.00 sq/ft for concrete,or $15.00 sq/ft for pavers.i was measured 1000 sq ft last year by the concrete guy and after looking at the dimensions, can bring that down a little bit to where we would be happy but its still over 900 sq ft.thing is,we need to do the patio,bring in top soil & seed the yard.i know you get what you pay for,so im kind of leaning towards the pavers and everything else will have to wait until next year.
cncguy

Bottom line...concrete WILL crack. We are in CT and had our pool built in Oct. and just now doing the deck with pavers. I could not deal with looking at a cracked deck everytime I go swimming. Not to mention in the Northeast you have the added problem of water getting down in the cracks and freezing and thawing which will eventually cause heaving. Also, with pavers if for any reason you need to access below your deck, no problem. Take them up, lay them down again. Guess what happens with concrete?

hi summerfin-
we are in CT too.i have all the paver books here.nice reading material,nice prices too!.i was thinking about the this whole concrete thing,looks like that concrete guy refers to hairline cracks as anything up to 3/8" wide.not looking too good for concrete.

cncguy,

Ouch. That is a lot for pavers. We're getting 1225 SF of Flagstone Paver brand creme/beige/charcoal concrete pavers (2 3/8" thick), and 158 LF of American Pavers brand creme bullnose concrete coping... plus an extra 10% for cuts and waste. All for $8300 for materials and labor.

Orlando market. Where are you?

-Gorilla

we are in Connecticut.we have an L shaped pool 18x37x26 so you see where the green home depot carpet is,well thats going to be the main sitting area.this area alone goes out 12 feet.as far as the rest of the pool,im thinking just enough to walk around it like 4ft wide.my paver guy did a walkway in the front of my yard and it came out mint,didnt even shift or anything after this recent winter and we had a lot of snow.my paver guy is so busy that he said if i book him in the week or 2,he can have the job done by memorial day.he is that busy,he was booked 6 weeks out last year when i booked him for the walkway.as i said above his labor alone is $7.00 sq/ft then you add the materials.here is our pool (you probably have seen it on here before)

cncguy - I am in CA. Last year I installed Angelus interlocking concrete pavers(2 3/8" thick), sand/stone, parquet pattern. The contractor allowed for a step up from patio to pool deck,10x10 riser on pool deck for above ground spa, curved walkway in front to one side of yard and covered concretr steps in front. Overall 2950 sf for 29K. I received estimates that ranged $8 - $15 per sf and the highest didn't include all of the detail.

I guess this is a long story to say make sure you get a number of estimates and unless you know exactly what you want, see what kind of vision they offer as well.

livinwell-
see,thats the thing.i do not wnt to get any other estimates regarding pavers.i had a walkway put in 2 years ago and it didnt come out very well.i ended up having to hire someone else to rip it up and do it the right way.at that time had many people over the house to give me estimates.the guy i chose was from word of mouth and i had seend a lot of his work.needless to say that over the years i have learned the hard way,you get what you pay for.
like i said above,i would hate to do the poured concrete and have it crack.based on these paver prices there are some that range from $3.00-$8.00 sq/ft depending on what you want.this is not an easy decision.
cncguy

cncguy, don't we wish we could get Florida pricing in CT.. $15 sq/ft seems to be the going rate here for pavers if you want quality work. I have seen the work of discount installers and there is a reason they underbid jobs!

We are in a real mess because of bad concrete on an almost 4 year old pool. The entire 1000 square feet is failing. It started showing signs of problems from the first week. Our builder has been evasive and defensive concerning this issue. Finally he said "call my lawyer." So, even though it is not "our style," we are forced to go the lawsuit route. We have paid about $1000 for a core sample which said it was a bad mix due to lack of entrained air, and needed to be entirely torn out and replaced. We have spent MONTHS trying to get an estimate on the tear-out and replacement. No one wants this kind of job! Finally today we should get a written estimate which is likely going to be about $16,000. I am very concerned about what else might break as the concrete is being chopped up. I keep wondering if the replacement should be something other than concrete......

janey_g-
thats exactly what im afraid of.i know my paver guy will be in the 15.00 sq/ft range but i guess pay now or pay later as they say.

There might be a picture in one of my old posts

Here is a link that might be useful: Old thread

well,my paver guy came out today and measured,came up with 900 sq ft.going with unilock pavers (brussles block).i was blown away by the price,he was cheaper than the quote i got for stamped concrete by a few grand,he said he gave me a good price,well,compared to what he charged me last year on my small walkway i guess so.he went on to say that he has more room to work with as far as price on a large job such as my pool and he hopes that this way here i will use him for other things such as steps,fireplaces.etc.this guy does it all.all in all it has been a good day!
cnc guy

CNCGUY - have they installed your pavers yet? Can you post a picture if they did?
We are also considering the Brussels in coffee creek or terra cotta. What color did you choose?

You can pay as much as you want to have the best concrete contractor do your work and you will still have cracks. Its the nature of the beast. Its not worth trying to sue them for it as all of their warranties are vague, you will have to pay alot of money to have the soil tested, concrete cored and tested, engineers assesments etc. Then they will blow holes in what you have found since you hired them yourelf. They will send in their guys who will find areas to test that will show data in their favor and the case will drag on forever. Maybe you can see if they will meet you half way, they tear it out and regrade then you get the pavers done from someone else. Give you a credit minus materials? They have little out of pocket, avoid potential problems and you save alot from not tearing it out yourself.

I am not a concrete guy but a pool builder and once I was told this....
There are 2 guarantees with concrete, one, it will eventually crack. Two, nobody is every going to steal it. janey, saw your pic, ouch bad work. It looks as if they worked it to much and brought to much water to the surface.
As for the paver versus concrete, its a tough call. I build vinyl in Michigan so I know about the freeze/thaw. I would say done right concrete is more than acceptable. Pavers, you will like the look but you will have additional work with the settling and heaving. So in our climate we live with a double edged sword. Its sucks but go with your gut and enjoy.

Yes mykal, it is awful isn't it? My husband suspected right away that overworking was an issue, but the pool builder kept trying to blame it on the half bag of Mix Ready dye that was put in the concrete mixer.

Subl1002 is right, testing is expensive and this thing drags on forever.

JG