Pool Surround Paving Cape Town | Travertine & Slate

We lay pool surrounds across Cape Town in tumbled travertine, cleft slate, outdoor porcelain and clay brick, with bullnose coping at the water's edge and a textured finish wherever feet get wet. The deck is set to fall away from the pool.

We come out, measure the deck and the coping separately and check the levels against the pool beam, then turn the measurements into a written quote. The measure-up is free, with no obligation.

The short version

Grip is a product figure. Ask for the tested wet slip rating of the exact range you are quoted, in writing.
Three materials, three kinds of upkeep. Travertine is the most porous of the three, slate usually needs less sealing, and outdoor porcelain is usually sold as needing none; check the data sheet.
The coping goes first. It is bedded onto the pool beam and left to cure before the deck is laid.
No rate card. You get a written price after we have measured your deck and coping.

Grip Belongs To The Product, Not The Stone

How well a pool deck grips when wet depends on the specific range and its finish, not the name of the stone, so get the tested wet slip rating in writing before you agree to it.

Close-up of a pale, pitted travertine bullnose coping at a pool edge, wet with splashed water and small puddles, with the textured deck behind it — A textured coping edge after a splash. How it grips depends on the range, so ask for its test result.

Kept out of the splash zone: polished or honed stone, glossy porcelain and steel-floated concrete. We don't quote them there.
What we lay around a pool: travertine in a tumbled or brushed finish, textured slate, an outdoor porcelain with a textured surface, or clay brick with a textured face.
One name, many products: two travertines or two porcelains from different quarries and factories need not test the same, so compare the certificates for the ranges you are quoted.

Travertine, Slate, Porcelain Or Clay Brick

In our view, choose for the look of the house and the upkeep you will actually do, then check the exact range's slip rating and data sheet.

Four paving samples beside a swimming pool: pale travertine with small holes, dark riven slate, a smooth pale porcelain slab and a red-brown clay brick paver — Travertine, slate, porcelain and clay brick: compare samples in your own light before you choose.

Tumbled travertine

A pale sedimentary limestone, and the most porous of travertine, slate and porcelain, so it needs a sealer re-applied as the product's guidance says.

Cleft slate

Dark, and riven where it split along its cleavage planes. It usually needs less sealing than travertine, but some slate sheds thin surface flakes, so the bedding has to be right.

20mm outdoor porcelain

Uniform and modern, and usually sold as needing no sealer; check the range's data sheet. Re-setting a single piece is specialist work.

Clay brick

Red-brown and traditional, with the same textured-finish rule at the water's edge.

We weigh travertine, slate and porcelain up in our travertine, slate and porcelain comparison. If you want to carry the paving on past the pool into a patio, we quote that on the same visit.

The Coping At The Pool Edge

The bullnose coping is agreed with you on site, bedded onto the pool beam and left to cure before any deck paving goes near it.

A row of pale travertine bullnose coping pieces with rounded front edges along a pool, with the matt travertine deck behind and a house and garden beyond — Bullnose coping: the rounded edge between the deck and the water.

Matched to the deck: travertine coping for a travertine deck. For porcelain, bullnose can be made off-site from the same porcelain and shaped to the pool, so the edge need not rely on cutting on site.
A textured face: the rounded edge is finished like the deck behind it, never polished.
Old coping replaced: worn quarry-tile coping can come up, and we look at the pool beam while it is exposed.

Pool Deck Materials

TravertineSlateBullnose CopingOutdoor PorcelainClay BrickGranite Setts

How We Build A Pool Deck

Five stages, with a deliberate pause in the middle while the coping cures.

A pool deck under construction: pale stone coping set along the edge of a full pool, a few deck tiles bedded on mortar over a concrete slab, and a stack of tiles on a wooden pallet — Coping in place and the first deck pieces going down on a mortar bed, with the pool covered at one end.

Site visit & water-line check

We measure the deck and the pool perimeter, check the coping levels against the beam and agree the bullnose detail with you on site. The written, itemised quote follows.

Base & falls

The base is built up and compacted, with a reinforced concrete sub-slab for stone and porcelain surrounds. The CMA's block-paving guidance calls for a fall of at least 2% in any direction, and we set the deck to fall away from the pool so splash drains off rather than back in.

Coping bedded & cured

Bullnose coping is bedded onto the pool beam and left to cure before any deck paver goes near it.

Deck laid & jointed

Stone and porcelain go down on a mortar bed over the slab and clay brick on a screeded sand bed, and the joints are filled with a product suited to the paving and the bed, applied to its maker's instructions.

Seal, clean & hand over

Stone is sealed with a penetrating sealer where the product's guidance calls for one, the site is cleaned, and we walk the finished deck with you. Flooding the surface and looking for standing water is one of the checks worth making before you settle the bill.

What A Pool Surround Costs

We don't publish a per-square-metre rate. We measure the deck and the coping separately, and each goes on its own line of a written quote.

An old curved pool with red quarry-tile coping and cracked tile decking, part of the deck lifted to expose the concrete beneath, with lifted tiles stacked beside green pool water — Lifting old coping and decking, and checking the beam underneath, are priced before the new surround goes down.

The material

Clay brick is the affordable end, slate and tumbled travertine sit in the middle, and outdoor porcelain is the premium option.

The coping

Priced per linear metre on its own line, because every bullnose piece is a shaped, finished edge.

The old deck and coping

How much has to come out and be carted away, and whether the pool beam needs repair once the old coping is lifted.

Access

A deck reachable only through a side gate is more labour than one a bakkie can reach.

The coping is the clearest example of what a pool deck adds to a paving quote.

Frequently asked questions

What's the safest pool deck material?+

Safety comes from the surface finish of the specific product, not the name of the material. Around a pool we lay textured finishes (tumbled or brushed travertine, textured slate, textured outdoor porcelain, textured clay brick) and keep polished, honed and glossy surfaces out of the splash zone. Ask for the tested wet slip rating of the exact range you are quoted, in writing.

Will salt and chlorine damage the pavers?+

It depends on the specific product and the sealer, not the material name. Ask the supplier whether the range suits a pool surround, including a salt-chlorinated pool; where a sealer is needed, we use one the stone's supplier recommends. Resealing follows that sealer's own guidance, which is why we don't publish a re-seal interval.

Can you work around an existing pool?+

Yes. We cover the pool while we work to keep debris out of it, and where the layout allows we phase the deck so you keep access on one side. We plan deck work with the pool full; if coping work on your pool means lowering the water level, we tell you at the measure-up.

Do you replace old quarry-tile coping?+

Yes. We lift quarry-tile coping that has spalled, lifted or gone sharp, check the pool beam while it is exposed and tell you if it needs repair, then bed in new bullnose travertine or porcelain to match the deck. Whether the water level has to come down depends on your pool; we confirm it at the measure-up.

How long does a pool deck take?+

It can take longer than a patio of the same size, because the coping has to cure before the deck is laid, so the schedule has a pause built into it. Built-in benches, planters or steps add time again. We won't put a day count on it before seeing the site; your written quote is the place to agree the schedule.