Hello twochicklets, I really like your pool and particularly your deck. We were initially considering "gold" travertine, but it seems very "busy". We saw the "ivory" travertine in a store, today, and really liked it. It looks really nice in your pictures, too. A few questions: - Did you seal the pavers or is it wet in the pictures? If it is wet, what does it look like when it is dry? Do you have a picture posted on this forum of the deck when it is dry? - Is your coping the same color as the pavers? - What size are the coping pieces? Thanks.

Wetdog, A lot of good insight, but I thought I'd add a few notes. In the concrete business, cracks are certainly very common. The pictures Mike posted show primarily shrinkage cracks, which are a result of the shrinkage previously noted in another post (~1/8" in 10'). Control Joints or saw cuts are meant to relieve the stress from shrinkage by allowing the crack to occur where it is more cosmetically acceptable. One of his pictures shows a classic condition on a re-entrant corner - this detail creates a lot of stress (because the concrete is shrinking in two different directions). The only real solution I'd suggest here is a saw cut or control joint on a diagonal. The picture of the drain shows what we call a "restraint to shrinkage" or RTS crack. Here, you would need to put a diamond or similar shaped cut around the drain with diagonal "spokes" around it. Shrinkage cracks can be minimized by limiting the amount of water in the mix (with or without chemical admixtures to assist flowability), and by proper curing. Water curing is most common in residential construction, but can be tricky in terms of the surface cosmetics (if water pools in an area, the conrcete can be lighter in color). Some of the other very small cracks that show up when your concrete is wet (they look like the surface of a dry lake bed) are what some call "hazing" or "map cracking". These occur while the concrete is still in its plastic (wet) phase. These are the cracks that fibermesh can be affective in handling. The fibers tend to hold the cement matrix together during the curing process, but are not nearly strong enough (too low tensile strength) to prevent the shrinkage cracks I spoke of above. So while all concrete cracks, I'd suggest the following: - never allow them to add water to the mix on site - request a mix with the least amount of water possible "low w/c ratio" in concrete speak - make sure control joints or saw cuts are properly laid out to relieve stress from shrinkage - properly cure your concrete (ask about curing compounds like Confilm that will not affect color) - consider fiber to prevent map cracking/hazing

Checking in again. The Granite got installed on the waterfall wall... finally. And of COURSE in the act of doing so, they slung black crap all over my white stone. The black crap has now been sitting on the white stone for about a month. The PB says they can try to sand it off and seal it, but it might "stain the stone" at this point. Now remember, I have been BEGGING these ineffectual losers to sand and seal my white stone for over THREE MONTHS now. If they had done if before the granite was installed, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. So the fact that they tell me now that it might be too late is INFURIATING to me as a human being with the common sense god gave the common DOG. There are also a large number of "odd jobs" that need to be taken care of by the pool company like fixing the fence they wrecked on day one, replacing water main covers, etc and so on, which I have no doubt will never get done. In one week we will be entering month SEVEN of this project. I have never been more dissatisfied or angry.

OK, The pavers are done, and salt is in the pool. I am putting stone to match the house on all of the retaining walls myself in the next few weeks, then I will cap them off with bricks that match the house. Finish grading and clean up is tomorrow. I then have plenty of planters (4) to landscape too. Overall A&S was fine to work with. Like I was told in the beginning, their on site management could be better. Sometimes it seems they would rather have the subs do something wrong, and then fix it later, than to just keep a project manager at the site more often. But, they did respond quickly to all of my requests and changes. And I am a picky person when it comes to projects like these. Anyhow, I appreciate all of the ideas, suggestions, and comments from you guys and gals. Here are some photos. I will post others after the stone is on the walls and the landscaping is in. (BTW, the pavers are Dublin's Potomac 3 peice, and the water is very dirty from all of the paver dust... it actually is a much crisper blue than is appearing here)