Hello GardenWeb Forum: My question concerns an old pool (built 1977) and its surrounding patio which is made up of flagstones.

Over time the flagstones that border the edge of the pool have come loose to the extent that they're totally removed from the gunite cement below and any mortar between has crumbled or stopped adhering to the flagstones (these flagstones actually go out about 2 inches over the top edge of the pool to form a coping/ledge over the water, so you can imagine the occasional plunge into the water if/when someone mistakenly steps onto a loose stone).

I should mention that we are looking to do a quick fix-up on the flagstones- with this pool, being as old as it is, we're not looking to do a major overhaul or repairs on everything that's wrong with it; we just want something that will hold these flagstones in place for a few more years. Also we're not concerned about asthetics here- we can sacrifice the 2 inch overhang/coping for more stability... .we just want these flagstones to stay fixed to the surface underneath.

On my father's insistence, we put some cement down on the areas that had loose/missing flagstones to recreate a flat surface over the gunite, added some bonding agent and put the flagstone down (with mortar in between the cracks) in hopes that it would hold. It did absolutely nothing.

I'm pretty confident that there must be some kind of special cement, adhesive, or combination of the two, that will really help keep these flagstones stuck and in place. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.