Old Sandstone-Edged Pools: Salvage and Reuse Value

A meaningful number of older pools across the Southern Highlands, particularly on estate properties around Burradoo, Sutton Forest, Berrima and the region’s larger country holdings, were edged with sandstone coping rather than the poured concrete or tiled edges more common on standard suburban pools. Sandstone was a natural choice for the Highlands’ original stonemasons and landscapers: it’s locally available, it weathers well in the region’s cold winters, and it suits the period gardens and homestead architecture found on many of the area’s older properties. When one of these pools comes out, the sandstone itself is often the single most valuable physical element of the job, worth planning around rather than simply breaking up and hauling to landfill with the rest of the shell.

This guide covers how your contractor assesses sandstone coping for salvage value, what the lifting and handling process actually involves, and what owners typically do with the stone once it’s out of the ground.

Why Sandstone Coping Turns Up on Older Highlands Pools

Sandstone quarried from the Highlands and the broader Sydney Basin sandstone belt was a common building and landscaping material through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, well before poured concrete coping and modern paving became the default. Estate gardens laid out from the 1960s through the 1980s, and in some cases considerably earlier, often used sandstone for pool coping, surrounding paving, retaining walls and garden edging as part of a single coordinated landscaping scheme. The stone was chosen to match existing garden walls, homestead foundations or established paving elsewhere on the property, which is part of why it still looks appropriate today even though the pool itself has aged out of practical use.

Because sandstone is a durable, non-porous natural stone rather than a manufactured product, it generally survives decades of Highland frosts, tree root movement and general wear far better than the pool shell it surrounds. It’s common for us to inspect a property where the concrete pool shell is badly cracked and failing, while the sandstone coping and surrounding paving remain sound, attractive and structurally usable. That mismatch, tired pool, good stone, is the starting point for most salvage conversations.

Assessing Sandstone for Salvage at the Site Inspection

Not every piece of sandstone coping is worth salvaging, and your contractor assesses this honestly rather than assuming reuse value by default. The main factors we look at:

• Condition of the individual slabs. Sandstone can crack, spall or delaminate over decades of exposure, particularly where it’s been in direct contact with pool chemicals or has suffered repeated freeze-thaw cycling at Highland elevations. Slabs with significant surface deterioration or structural cracks generally aren’t worth the labour of careful removal.
• How the stone was originally set. Sandstone coping mortared directly onto the pool’s concrete bond beam is harder to lift intact than stone that was dry-laid or set on a mortar bed that can be broken away cleanly. The fixing method has a direct bearing on how much can realistically be saved without breakage.
• Slab size and thickness. Larger, thicker coping pieces (the kind more commonly used on older estate-scale pools) tend to survive careful lifting better than thin veneer-style coping, which is more prone to cracking under its own weight once separated from the bond beam.
• Whether matching stone exists elsewhere on the property. Where the same sandstone appears in garden walls, steps or paving elsewhere on the estate, salvaging the pool coping to extend or repair those existing features is often the most compelling reason to bother, rather than simply banking loose stone with no clear use.

Expect an honest assessment of what’s realistically salvageable before the job is priced, rather than a promise to save everything followed by broken stone.

How Salvage Changes the Demolition Sequence

A standard concrete pool demolition works top-down: coping and surrounds first, then walls, then base, all broken up together and loaded for disposal or recycling. Where sandstone salvage is part of the job, the coping and surrounding paving are separated out as a distinct first stage, worked by hand and with careful machine assistance rather than broken up with the hydraulic hammer used on the concrete shell itself.

This typically involves breaking the mortar bond beneath each slab, lifting pieces individually or in small groups (larger slabs may need two people or light machine assistance), and stacking the salvaged stone in a staging area away from the main demolition zone. Only once the coping is clear does the standard hydraulic demolition of the pool shell proceed as normal. This sequencing adds time and labour to the job compared with a straight demolition, which is reflected in the quote, but it protects stone that, once broken, can’t be recovered.

What Happens to Salvaged Sandstone

Once lifted and staged, most owners choose one of a few paths for the stone:

• Retained on-site for reuse. The most common outcome on Highlands estate properties is using the salvaged coping to build or repair garden retaining walls, extend existing paving, or edge new garden beds created where the pool used to be. Since the stone already matches the property’s existing character, this is often the most visually coherent option.
• Stockpiled for a later landscaping project. Some owners aren’t ready to commit to a specific reuse at the time of pool removal and simply have the stone cleaned, stacked and stored on-site for a future project, a new terrace, steps, or a feature wall once the broader garden transformation plan is settled.
• Left for the landscaper to assess. Where a full garden redesign is planned for the reclaimed pool footprint, some owners prefer to have the salvaged stone assessed and specified by their landscape designer rather than deciding on its final use during the demolition itself.

No one takes payment for the stone or claims any interest in it, it’s yours, and what happens to it afterward is your call.

Indicative Cost of Sandstone Salvage

Salvage adds a labour cost to the job because coping has to be worked by hand rather than simply broken up with the shell. As a guide, on top of the standard full pool removal cost for the property:

These figures sit on top of the underlying pool removal cost, which follows the same drivers covered in our pool removal cost guide, pool size, construction, access and any heritage or rural considerations. The exact salvage cost depends on how much coping is present, how it was originally fixed, and how far the staging area is from the pool itself. As with every job, your contractor confirms fixed pricing at the free on-site inspection rather than quoting sandstone salvage from photos.

Heritage Properties and Sandstone Coping

Sandstone coping and surrounds are more likely to appear on heritage-listed properties and those within a Heritage Conservation Area, particularly around Berrima, Bowral and Sutton Forest, since these are the areas with the highest concentration of period estate gardens. Where a property carries a heritage listing, the coping or surrounding paving may itself be considered a contributing element to the property’s heritage character, which is worth checking with Wingecarribee Shire Council or a heritage consultant before work starts, separately from the question of whether the pool structure itself needs any approval. Our country estate pool removal guide covers the broader considerations that apply to premium and heritage properties, and our pool removal FAQ covers general heritage and approval questions. If the property is also a working guesthouse or B&B, our guide to removing pools at B&Bs and boutique accommodation covers the additional presentation and heritage considerations that can apply there too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it always possible to salvage sandstone coping intact? No. Some coping is too deteriorated, too thin, or too firmly mortared to lift without breaking. Expect an honest assessment at the site inspection rather than a promise of full recovery, with the job priced on what’s realistically achievable.

Does salvaging the sandstone slow down the whole job? It adds time to the coping removal stage specifically, since it’s worked by hand rather than broken with the hydraulic hammer, but it doesn’t materially change the timeline for the rest of the demolition. Most jobs with sandstone salvage take an extra half day to a full day compared with a standard demolition of the same pool.

Can you match salvaged coping to existing garden walls on the property? The stone can be lifted and staged so it’s usable for this purpose, but matching and installing it into new garden walls or paving is generally a landscaping task rather than part of the pool removal scope. We’re happy to recommend the sequence if you’re planning a broader garden project.

What happens to sandstone that isn’t salvageable? Stone that can’t be lifted intact is broken out along with the rest of the pool surrounds and removed from site with the general demolition rubble.

Do rural and acreage properties in the Highlands commonly have this kind of coping? Yes, sandstone coping and surrounds are common on the larger country properties and lifestyle blocks covered in our acreage and rural pool removal guide, since many of these properties had coordinated stone landscaping schemes installed alongside the original pool.

If your Southern Highlands property has an older pool with sandstone coping or surrounds, request a free on-site quote and what can be salvaged will be assessed before the job is priced.