We were going to put the straight edge travertine on our wall and bullnose around the pool edge. Come to find out, it came in bullnose and the tile guys were just going to cut off the bullnose edge.....and it looked bad as it wasn't pollished and had the 'saw marks'....so we just went with bullnose all over.
I'm sure if you buy it with the straight edge, it will look much better. I didnt even know they made it as a straight edge however. All the places we looked only had the bullnose. Different regions perhaps??
I'm sure it would look fine, but might chip more easy than bullnose. That's a big saving's though......ask your PB if he can show you some in person is all I can think of.

Thanks janetlong and paradigmdawg for replying to my post!

Paradigmdawg it will be classic/geometric pool.

{{!gwi}}

We are sort of mixing classic with contemporary by doing the black onyx plaster and ivory french pattern travertine patio (existing patio is light pink/peach brick).

Janetlong I am ordering the travertine myself directly from Florida - there is not much of it locally here in NC plus it's much more expensive here- and a mason is putting it down over a concrete sub-base that the pool builder will be pouring.

You are right that travertine coping only comes in bullnose. I was just thinking of using regular 12x12 and 16x16 pavers as pool and spa coping respectively since we are using travertine for the patio too.

Unlike other stone pavers that have sharp edges, the samples of the travertine that I got seem to have a relatively smooth tumbled edge that's why I thought it might be ok as coping.

One concern is that there might be little pits/holes that are visible on the side. Another concern is my husband thinks it might not be as comfortable as bullnose around the spa as far as leaning your head on it.

Any thoughts?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I would definitely want a rounded coping in a spa. It would feel better leaning on it. We got the honed travertine, it's smooth and does not have the holes in it. Is that tumbled?? We are doing salt and didn't want water to get in there....whether salt or reg. water and creating damage. The downside, its more slippery.
I wasn't able to see your design. The link didn't work.

If you get the tumbled travertine I think that would work just fine as a coping. Or what you might do is get the coping to go around the pool and then to save the money you just spent on coping have the rest of the deck installed on a sand base. That will save you big bucks. Why spend all that money on concrete just to cover it up when sand works just as well and many would say even better. If you need to replace one for some reason you just pull it out and drop down another. Also if you do spend all that money on the concrete how is the PB going to handle the expansion joints? Is he going to use a rubber membrane? IS he going to use $20 thinset or the $3 thinset?

squared travertine works great in many coping applications. Im sure I have many pictures of it, just need to find them.

And like neilaz said, definitely consider the sand set method for your deck behind coping. great drainage, cost savings, cracking, etc. I would recommend a deeper footer for the borders than just wet setting as Ive seen companies do. Even with the additional cost of a good footing border, the savings can be worth it.

hi, this is tumbled travertine, bull nosed. it isn't as dark as the honed. the color is noche, and they sell it through NPTG; called Dorado stone. it comes from Mexico.

Hi everyone, thank you so much for sharing your input. There are so many desisions to be made and it really helps to hear everyone's opinions.

Our pool finally got started last Fri but I have not been able to get online much or post anything as our computer keeps crashing. (We probably need to get a new hard drive which stinks). I'll try to type fast in case it happens again.

jjnc thanks so much for sharing your pics. Your pool looks great! You'll be ready to swim soon!

It looks like we'll just bite the bullet and just go with the bullnose. My husband doesn't like the thought of having pits and holes on the sides of the coping which is natural with the tumbled stone and I am also a little concerned about the salt getting in them and corroding the stone faster.

neilaz and natural_one I had thought about doing the new patio on sand but everyone that's seen the yard suggested doing the concrete - not sure if it's because the brick patio is also set in concrete or if it's recommended in this area. I also got some pretty competive prices on both the concrete and stone installation so it was only a ~$900 difference between setting on sand vs. concrete and everyone locally -landscapers etc. - said go for concrete.

I'll be posting some pics of the pool progress in another thread.

What about the expansion joints , rubber membrane and using high $ thinset? By not using any of the above you can cut the price down and have no problems in the short term but beyond 3 years is when trouble spots will pop up. Long enough down the road to now be your problem not PB. Maybe those things are over kill but.... Just my thoughts. You can still sand set on the concrete but doesn't sound like a comfort zone for those in your area

neilaz, tell me more about expansion joints and rubber membrane. That has not come up in any discussions with pb. Thanks.

Maybe the correct term is Control joint in this case. They are to control random cracking. The hope is the concrete cracks in the joint and not the slab. Like the depressed areas you have in your driveway. Covering these joints with a rubber membrane lets the tile move rather than crack. You can also tile up to the joints but not over them and fill the area with a matching caulk. I am sure there are other ways to help insure the tile (paver) does not crack. And being a paver rather than tile maybe that makes it less likely to crack. I tend to be an overkill kind of guy

jjnc, what stone you used on your raised wall? we are building our pool are trying to decide on split face travertine or stacked stone, but I have seen very bad stacked stone work. Yours looks great.

I'm resurfacing my old pool and I want to have travertine pavers installed for my deck which is presently concrete. I'd like the modern look of the coping not hanging down into the pool but instead just have the coping go up to the edge. I was told I'd have to have my pool raised and if I left the concrete down the new tiles would probably crack. Any opinions on that?