Pool deck

The Model Aquatic Health Code's glossary nests four deck terms inside each other, and every one of them is written for a public aquatic facility.

The code defines deck as "surface areas serving the aquatic venue, including the dry deck, perimeter deck, and pool deck." Perimeter deck is the hardscape immediately adjacent to and within 4 feet of the edge of the pool, also known as the wet deck area. Pool deck is the surface beyond that band, expected to be regularly trafficked and made wet by bathers, and wet deck is the sum of the two. Elsewhere the code says perimeter deck and pool deck are the same as the wet deck area in the ASHRAE 62.1-2019 standard. All of it is public-pool text from voluntary guidance, and the 4-foot band is not a residential rule. The cap row at the top of the pool wall is a separate element, defined at pool coping.

Outside the code, four paver and stone documents give the pool deck a line of its own.

ICPI, writing about concrete pavers, says penetrating sealers are useful around pool decks to minimize degradation from chlorine. Techniseal's Product Guide lists pool decks among the uses of its (iN) Natural Look Protector. The Natural Stone Institute's outdoor line covers pool, patio and hot tub areas, with clear water and a mild bleach solution for algae or moss. SEK-Surebond recommends an anti-slip additive for increased traction around consistently wet areas such as pool deck surrounds.

Each line belongs to its publisher, and none is a residential pool rule. Whether an additive suits a sealed deck is taken up at anti-slip additives on a pool deck, and whether travertine beside treated water should be sealed at all is taken up at should outdoor travertine be sealed. A travertine deck may carry one of the finishes NSI's design manual lists as commonly available, from polished (glossy) to tumbled (a weathered, aging finish); the tumbled unit has its own entry at tumbled paver.

Slip runs through two of those documents: SEK-Surebond's additive line, and ICPI's own caution about sealer.

ICPI says to be careful not to over-apply sealers such that the surface becomes slippery when cured, a line written for concrete pavers in general rather than for pools. These documents publish no slip or skid number for a deck; wet and dry slip performance is the sealer maker's to state. Whether sealing makes a pool deck slippery is answered in the white, cloudy or slippery sealed pavers section of the paver cleaning page.

Where a pool deck sits beside impact windows or doors, NSI's bleach line for the deck bears on the glass.

NSI's line names bleach, and the National Glass Association's examples of materials that may harm laminated glass begin with bleach or other solutions containing sodium hypochlorite, then acids and ammonia, in a list NGA says is not exhaustive. PGT says its hurricane windows and doors are made with laminated glass, and Cardinal calls its Sea-Storm glass impact-rated laminated glass, so impact windows are built with laminated glass on those two makers' own lines.

Put together, a bleach solution meant for the deck has to stay on the deck and off nearby impact glass. Why deck pavers turn green in the first place is taken up at why pool deck pavers turn green.