I just had a new pool deck poured a solid color (san diego buff). I did not know that the contractor could have added a powered color to the stamps to give it a more rock like color. it has been 2 weeks since the concrete has been poured. what steps should be taken before sealing the deck (pressure washing)? can I add a mixture to give it a more rock/tile like look wihtout costing a lot? thanks in advance, ~jv

No you do not use the column in replace of the post. You use a treated post going from the footing up to the pergola. Then you put up the masonry column from the footing passing thru the deck frame around the post up as far as you want to go. Lastly you wrap the remaining portion of the post with 1x cedar. You may want to wrap the post with 30lb. feltpaper for added protection against rot. Al

If the stamped deck is on top of the bond beam, you have a canter levered deck. There is no coping but there should be a thin membrane between the decking and the top of the bond beam to allow them to expand and contract independently. If you have something mortared to the top of the bond beam and then the deck, there needs to be a space between the two. On a fresh deck pour, a foam form is used to create the gap and a self leveling caulk that comes in a few different colors is used to keep water out. This caulk will need replacing periodically but doing so is about 1/10th the cost of new coping. Expect about 4-5 years of life for the caulk. Scott

Jetlane, We just went through the stamping nightmare. Even though our contract said we required expansion joints/saw cuts (I was willing to do anything to keep from having cracks), our builder did not put them in. When we reminded them they never 'got to it'. Within the first week we had over 30 cracks. We then did a lot of research. Because we were able to prove the rebar was improperly placed (not the contracted 16" and left on ground rather than suspended) we were able to get a new deck installed. Whew. Take pictures of everything - before, after and especially during. Here is what we found after calling recommended stampers. You need to do the saw cuts around 2 hours after pouring - at the latest early the next morning after a pour. Not later the next day, not a week later. Also when stamping it is important to have the concrete be just right - not too wet or dry. We were told the original job was done when the concrete was too dry. We thought about going the PVC deck joint route but heard too much about the strips eventually cracking. Our concrete guys had a special saw (like an edger) that did straight saw cuts. Make sure they use a new sharp blade. Our cuts are somewhat ragged. Where they used the manual smaller saw the cuts are much sharper. We ended up with three cracks - one running near the expansion joint from the skimmer - but we at least feel we did what we could to limit cracks. We learned after the fact that we should have gotten our own concrete people. We found we had a couple really highly recommended stampers here locally but were already committed to use the ones our pool builder contracted. Another lesson. Listen to recommendations - pros and cons. All it takes is one negative comment to raise a red flag. Don't ignore it and think it wouldn't happen to you. Hope this helps.