How to Install Brick Pavers Around a Pool

Outdoor DIY projects seem to have a domino effect in our household. What started as a simple tree removal project quickly devolved into my installing brick pavers around our pool. We are always guilty of project creep and this time was no different!

Backyard & Pool Area Before
How to Lay Brick Pavers Around Your Pool Edge
1 | Dig Around Concrete Pool Skirt
2 | Choose a Starting Point
3 | Add Brick Paver Base Layer
3 | Lay the First Brick Pavers
4 | Install Plastic Edging Behind Brick Border
5 | Brush Sand Between the Cracks to Stabilize Brick Border
6 | Add Material on the Other Side of the Plastic Edging
Materials Used to Install Brick Pavers Around the Pool
More Outdoor DIY Projects You Will Love

Here is an inspirational image from my friend’s backyard. Their pool has brick pavers bordering their pool skirt and it looks so beautiful.

Backyard makeover inspiration | Building Bluebird

Here is another image with the bricks next to the white stone border and a garden full of green perennials.

Brick paver pool border inspiration | Building Bluebird — Bri

Backyard & Pool Area Before

Our backyard is really large and it includes an inground pool. The concrete pool skirt was surrounded by rocks and shaded by two large pine trees in the corner of our yard. We have always planned on removing the rocks at some point, so when we ripped out the fence to remove the trees, we took the opportunity to rent a dingo and remove all of the rocks in one day.

Here is the side of our yard and the two large pine trees that needed to be removed. They were beautiful but the needles were not great for our pool.

Backyard pool makeover with affordable DIY projects | Building Bluebird

Here is one of the listing photos from when we purchased the house. Since owning the house, we removed the large bushes at the back of the house and added a fence to hide the pool equipment. The garden beds were replanted, we removed the pine trees, replaced the rocks with sod and mulch, and added the brick border.

Here is that same area today.

How to install brick pavers around your pool skirt - Easy DIY | Building Bluebird

Installing the brick paver border around the pool skirt was surprisingly easy and definitely doable for beginner DIY’ers.

How to Lay Brick Pavers Around Your Pool Edge

Affiliate links used in this blog post, thanks for supporting Building Bluebird! For a complete list of materials used for this project, scroll to the bottom of the post.

Most of the flower beds in our backyard had brick edging when we purchased the house. When we reworked the flower beds, I pulled up the brick pavers and decided to install them around the pool skirt.

*Check out the complete tutorial for how to lay a brick border around your flower bed.

1 | Dig Around Concrete Pool Skirt

The goal is to install brick pavers flush with the concrete pool skirt. To achieve this goal, I dig a trench slightly lower than the height of the brick to allow for screening or paver base to be added between the brick and soil.

For this project, we pulled up all of the rocks surrounding the pool and planned to lay sod and mulch around the brick border. A garden edger or flat edge shovel are great tools if you only need to remove the border around the pool skirt.

We had a ton of old bricks around our yard and luckily there was enough to surround the entire pool skirt. Below you can see I quickly laid the bricks to make sure I had enough.

2 | Choose a Starting Point

I began the brick paver border at the back of the pool near the diving board. It is kind of a weird corner angle that is more like a 100-degree angle instead of 90 degrees. This left a small triangle that I planned to fill with sand screening. I can always fill the sliver with a piece of brick when I have the proper tools to make the cut.

The end of this section is at the path from the pool to the fence gate. This gave me some flexibility with the endpoint and I could end it with a full brick.

If a section of the border begins and ends with definite stopping points, I would recommend ending your border at the least noticeable corner. On the other side of the diving board, I started a border again and it ends behind a large planter in an area that is not often seen. The final gap is a little larger than normal but I filled it with more sand and it looks just fine.

3 | Add Brick Paver Base Layer

I leveled the soil so it was slightly deeper than the brick, then I added a layer paver base for the brick to sit on. The paver base helps with drainage and protects the brick from the soil which can cause the brick to erode faster.

3 | Lay the First Brick Pavers

I placed the first few bricks on the paver base and used a rubber mallet to make each brick flush with the concrete pool skirt.

Next, I used a small level to check that each brick is slightly angled away from the pool skirt. This allows water to run off the edge of the bricks and not get trapped between the bricks and concrete.

4 | Install Plastic Edging Behind Brick Border

If your pool edging is curved, cut the plastic connectors on the garden edging before attaching it to the ground.

Align the 6-foot plastic edging tightly to the back of the brick and hammer a spike into the first hole. I added 4-5 stakes for every piece of 6-foot edging.

Continue to lay the bricks and attach the plastic edging around the entire pool.

5 | Brush Sand Between the Cracks to Stabilize Brick Border

Once the brick pavers and plastic edging were installed, I added paver sand to all of the cracks. The sand helps to stabilize the border and keep everything in place. First I added the sand by hand, rubbing it into the cracks.

Next, we used a push broom to push the sand around the border to get more sand into the cracks. I repeated this process 2 more times around the pool as the sand settled and cracks opened up again.

6 | Add Material on the Other Side of the Plastic Edging

Once the border was secure, it was time to fill in around the pool. I mapped out the new flower bed where the pine trees once stood and laid sod where the rocks previously surrounded the pool. The grass feels so good on our toes!

We added mulch to the other side of the pool to create a large flower bed. Whatever material you choose, you want something to cover the bottom of the plastic edging.

Chris installed new fence panels in this section of our yard and I love how they turned out.

Here is the odd angle where I added extra sand to the corner, it looks great!

I took some of my brother’s bluestone he stored behind his garage to define the new flower bed edge and the mixture of natural elements looks so beautiful.

This summer we are hoping to replace the broken fencing behind the new flower bed. We are going to plant some shrubs and trees that create privacy and screening from our neighbors now that the pine trees have opened up the side of our yard.

Blue stone edging the flower bed | Building Bluebird

Materials Used to Install Brick Pavers Around the Pool

More Outdoor DIY Projects You Will Love

I hope you found this DIY for how to install brick pavers around your pool helpful! I really enjoy working in our yard and have lots of affordable DIY projects for you to try at home.

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