stone fixing in pool house

[jonnyc]

this is probably the most enjoyable contract i have carried out.
i had done a pool surround in the clients previous house.
the client who loves stone did their own research, created their own design and ordered stone with my help about quantities only.
I gave them the quantities for field stone and with the specials we ordered oversize and i cut and finished all the copings /treads /jacuzzi with a dewalt portable wet router.
it was the first time i had set stone on the vertical face as tiles and then it was ground back on site to come flush with the radius coping above.
they simply told me what they wanted , i costed accordingly.
this french brabazon stone is a dream to work with and have used on numerous projects inside and out over last 15 years.
for some reason it never gets affected by outside and has stood up against any competitor.

 

[Dave H]

Nice work as always Johnny!

 

[jonnyc]

i should have added that this stone had a sanded finish so it was very easy to grind and finish.
as a result we did not need to to have mitres running back from the roman end .
we simply laid the stone boning it in as turned round the corner and then put the polisher over it to take out the lips.
did the same for the corner coping stones where we could just grind face off to suit fall without an unsightly mitre on corner.
to be honest i had loads of work like this 4 years back and beyond but most people just dont want to pay for that little bit extra for the great finish now.
my dewalt is rusting in the garage.

 

[Peter]

Stunning work Jonny, you're a credit to your trade. So much to know about all the different types of stone too compared to ceramics and porcelains.

 

[White Room]

That looks a right gem jonny

 

[jonnyc]

That looks a right gem jonny

well thanks , i felt really good about that job but i was annoyed that the grouting between the glacier wall slabs showed up so light in colour.
when i did the grout mix i was quite religious about getting a good background colour to field stone . i always use ardex C2 colour even now as i hate the spf grouts that can affect glacier stone like this or english limestones that i specialise in.
I can mix different percentages of white/grey/limestone/beige to achieve almost any background colour to stone .but this grout changed after a few years. well it didnt actually because the whiting you see is surface only and can be rubbed off .
but i have done other glacier stone walls as features for pools since and i have found it impossible to achieve a seemless effect even if i have been able to bed big one sq mt stone with just a 1mm joint.

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

A few questions Jonny,! firstly a very nice job mate, did you fix the copings ? then if you did ,did the pool-guys then render/tile the pool ? what did you fix the tiles in the ss trays over the roller pit with ? who built the pool ? they seem to have over spec the skimmers......

 

[jonnyc]

A few questions Jonny,! firstly a very nice job mate, did you fix the copings ? then if you did ,did the pool-guys then render/tile the pool ? what did you fix the tiles in the ss trays over the roller pit with ? who built the pool ? they seem to have over spec the skimmers......

answer to your questions .
i fixed the copings and made them on site
the pool company rendered the walls before i fixed the copings .
they did a pretty good job and i simply oversailed the render by the overhang that i think was set at 30mm plus the bed for tile and mosiac.
this was over 12 years ago but i think that i insisted that i set the coping and they came in after it was laid level and filled in under coping where render was too low.
the pool company was heritage pools who i learnt only this week went under not long ago.
this was a shame especially for their master mosaic tiler who was as good as ive seen.
i am not a mosaic pool tiler but i understand the skill and have watched from above for many years as we have worked along side together.
i have only seen a few master craftsmen but one was certainly gordon smith
i stuck the stone in to the trays with bal fast flex rubber crumb adhesve.
not sure about over spec on skimmers. not my department. all i know is that i had to order some steel plates to bridge the top of skimmer .

 

[John Benton]

Class act jonny, you should be proud of that work

 

[afright]

First class