I came on here to ask this very same question and amazingly this post was the most recent. Our deck is 12 years old (pool and deck re-do). We had told the pool guy that we wanted more joints for the concrete to expand but he still did not put enough in. I'll be checking back before running over to Home Depot or Lowes as I would prefer to get the opinions of the folks here rather than the box stores.

Our pool was installed last year and we had a 2 cracks form within a couple of weeks of the pour. We had the same guarantee from our pool builder that Grassy mentioned above. However, since 2 weeks seemed a little ridiculous, we still called the concrete installer who came back promptly & investigated our issues. The first one was a good size crack and the installer admitted that they should have placed the expansion joint differently. They broke out the entire section & re-poured it within a matter of days and did the expansion joint differently. The other crack was smaller & more spidery in nature. It was closer to the pool and ran through a section of the concrete that butted up against our aluminum coping, included the skimmer access, and had wire mesh underneath. Based on how the surrounding sections had been poured, expansion joints, etc. it would have required many additional sections to be removed & re-poured to keep everything looking consistent. We agreed that it was acceptable to live with that one, which of course was the smaller & less unsightly of the two cracks. It's now one year later and we have had no additional cracking after a typical Michigan winter. The crack we agreed to live with expanded slightly, but I just stare at the pool as I walk by. I do believe that some cracking is part of the nature of the beast. However, with all that said yours looks rather agressive to me and leads me to wonder if they compacted properly before they poured. I'd complain for sure.

We have a little bit of everything. The majority of our decking is made with Kool deck. We do have a 1' border all the way around the pool that is stamped/painted concrete. It's made to look like stone. I love the look, but I will tell you that the painted concrete gets extremely hot. As far as "salt wash" goes, that's just unpainted concrete. After they pour the deck, they sprinkle the surface with pieces of rock salt which are melted away with water after the concrete has cured to leave small decorative holes. While this is appealing to the eye, it is also very hot. I think your choice all depends on where you live. We are in Phoenix, AZ (about 1 mile from the sun these days) and the stamped/painted concrete is so hot you could honestly get 3rd degree burns on your feet. The Kool deck is hot, but definitely cooler than the concrete. I agree with Grassy on the color. Pick the color you like and go two shades darker. We were also told to do this and I admit I was scared because the sample was so dark. I'm so glad we did. The color is even a tiny bit lighter than the one we wanted... Good luck with your pool.

I was able to view the picture by copying and pasting the link. What's the scale? Those look very close to the edge...is that correct? Is this a recent development or not? Is it all the way around the pool? It could just be superficial cracking that can be patched. However, if it is an indication that the whole lip is wanting to spall off, that edge might need to be chipped out and redone. Another possibility is that the pool was poured, and then a second pour was done for the apron around the pool. Since the inner perimeter of the apron may be supported by the pool and the rest of the apron is supported by soil, if there has been any settling in the soil under the apron over the years, the cracking could be occurring because the apron has settled a bit, but not uniformly. I would definitely contact a pool installation company because pools are a specialty and standard concrete installers might not be able to diagnose the possible problem as well. Here is a link that might be useful: