In NJ typical Coping - Set in Mortar Travertine 1" thick - Dry laid on a very compacted bed of earth, then crushed concrete or black paver, typically six to 12" inches thick, then two inches of sand then the travertine. Areas with heavy clay need to be dug deeper and filled as above to prevent frost heaves. Regular pavers are often set similarly but some pour a bed and then sand to prevent heaves. Poured beds should never make direct contact with a gunite pool wall. I like to see a 4" wide X 6"(preferably more) deep gap filled with either black paver sand or 1/8" stone (needs landscape cloth). Locations with heavy clay need deeper beds to prevent frost heaving. On Long Island, its unusual to not find the pavers set on a slab. Having dug this stuff up to repair/replace lines, it's what I have found. Scott Scott

chickadee4, The foam is perforated near one edge, usually about a half inch depending on the width of the foam. It is easiest to use adhesive or silicone to keep the foam in place. Do not adhere above the perforation. After the pavers are in place you can remove the foam top and pour in the joint seal. Use tape along the back of the coping and pavers to make a clean edge. You can sprinkle a little sand on top of the joint seal to give it a little texture, but it is not recommended by the manufacturer. Forget about the reference to tar. Make sure joint is clean before applying seal. Deck-O-Seal a common product and easy to pour. Good luck.

DocZ, This area is often ignored, but it should also have an expansion joint. Joints are particularly helpful if the deck is poured all around the back of the spa. If the deck is only 3' or so, then the deck installer may be counting on the nearest expansions on either side of the spa to do the job. Concrete generally shrinks slightly after its poured.

You're funny. I'm probably the only guy in my area who still owns a torch for old pool plumbing. I guess that makes me a master plumber just like you. I did learn it from a guy 25 years ago but by no means did I pick it up the first time. But hey, I can plumb a pump in with record time over guys who know what their doing and that comes from doing it OVER and OVER. And, it looks nicer and takes into account TDH on the system. Again, those extras come with experience. I've got 25 here and I would not expect to be able to some jobs as I've not spent 25 years doing that particular task. I never built a pool but built my own. I still hired out the brick coping as I was not a tradesman at the miter cuts. Yes, I could have tried but it would look like doody. I wanted it nice. The art of masking is not what you want if you want a job to look like it belongs there. But, I'll play along. Here are the most common MISTAKES in DIY caulking: 1. The product is applied when the ambient temp is not the best for cure. The can says one thing, but experience tells you otherwise. 2. Prep is not done correctly. If the DIY'er decides that sand is a good idea for the void AND chooses the right sand the odds are great that the sand will not hold in all places and the DIY'er will not see this as a critical failure prior to pouring. 3. Assuming the prep is done right, the can specs on mixing are rarely followed. Material does not mix and react and failure or premature failure of bonding occurs. 4. There are no instructions anywhere on how to transfer a gallon can into a hole the size of quarter. Experience and your own fair share of dumping cures this. I've never seen one first timer do this without loss of product which we knows is expensive and a tad bit messy. 5. Once transferred to the bottle, the pour is usually overpoured. Rarely underpoured. Rarely finished to look natural and always masked which looks horrible. Keep in mind, we're not dealing with a thin layer of paint. 6. In between bottles, there is always someone who will step in it and track it around the yard. After poured, rarely does anyone remember to turn off the sprinklers, keep the cat and/or dog in for 24 hours, at which point the rest of the yard is caulked and possibly some carpet, tile and maybe a couch. Not to mention, Rover or fluffy walking around like their doing the hokey/pokey. 7. Finally, there's the last complaint from the owner, "I ran out with only 8" to go and had to mix another $50.00 gallon." Experience and the school of hard knocks has cured this in time too. I've seen all of this and I don't think we said it can't be done. It just looks better with experience and there are a lot of other issues one needs to be aware of. Glad to hear you do a lot for yourself. I'm a big believer in not paying for something you can do if you're capable. I also like to see people happy with their finished product and I like to see contractors proud of their work as they know it has come from years of applying their trade. Uh, monkey business. Thanks for the morning laugh.