Good luck.

Congrads Dave... I would not be surprised if you dont get to a completed pool very soon.. From what I hear, a lot of the PBs are complaining about not having much to do...

Thanks ethiojazz, not surprising that there is a bit of a lull given the economy. I've finished taking out the deck, the septic line is moved, and the trees are down. Have someone coming tomorrow to work out removing the hot tub so should be able to hand over the site to the PB next weekend!

Wow, you had to do a lot of prep to get ready! I was griping about having to move a phone line, haha!

I'm sure the economy is impacting the pool business, but winter is very slow for them every year. Everyone wants to build their pools in the summer! Winter is a good time to build because the PB's are slow, so you typically get the best crews on your project. Plus you get more personal attention from the PB super because they're not spread so thin. The drawback of course is unpredictable weather, but my attitude is 'what's the hurry?' We can't swim until it gets warmer anyway.

Good luck and keep us posted!

A lot of work over the last few weeks but the area is finally cleared. Hot tub and deck is gone, fence pulled up from the pool area, and a few trees taken down. PB was out this week and sprayed out the outline, we made a couple of minor changes once we were able to see the shape/location, permits are in the work this week. Hope is to start excavation the first week of March. I still have to work with the propane supplier to get a 500 lb tank installed and hope to have them out next to get the best idea for placement. We're looking at a whole house generator down the line so hoping to use the new tank to handle both, we won't be heating the pool but will heat the spa all winter but for the few times we'd need the generator (we hope!), should have plenty of propane. We're going to bury the tank and I'll dig that hole if I can't talk the pool excavator in to it when they are here. I have a small tractor with a 12" backhoe bucket so can do it myself if needed but probably a few scoops for the PB?

Here's a picture of the cleared area, you can see some orange paint marking the pool lines. This is standing on the deck on the back of the house looking towards the right where the pool will be using the existing stairs- further to the right is a 20'x25' fish pond that we'll work in to the landscaping- one of the decisions we made after seeing the original layout of the pool was to shift it further from the pond to give us a bit more room to work in a natural path, some drainage, etc.

Will try to keep folks updated.

Dave Martin
Leesburg, VA

Hi Dave...

Well it looks like its happening?? Are you going for a pool with a cover?? what about some of the interior finishes going to be... And do you get any sun exposure to warm the water or are you going to heat it....

ethiojazz- No cover other than one to close the pool for the winter, there will be a hard cover on the spa. We'll be using a Pebbletec finish, not fully decided on what color but will go dark. We have one more tree to take out but should have direct sun on the pool from about noon to 5 pm at least and with a dark finish, hope it will be warm enough.

Hoping to start excavation first week of March, will try to keep this thread updated.

PB was out on Friday and started digging, hoping to be shooting gunite late this week. Here's a couple of pictures.

Dave Martin

One more

Dave Martin

Here's a couple of shots with most of the plumbing and gravel in place. Steel is getting set today and they hope to shoot gunite on Friday if the weather holds.

Thanks for looking.

That looks like a lot of rapid progress... So quick questions for you... One or two skimmers?? 2 lights in the pool?? How about returns??/ whats the plan for pool equipment?? And who did you decide to go with finally??? Some how I forgot :)

Good luck and if the rain today did not slow them down I bet you will have a shoot on Friday for sure...

A couple of new pictures and some answers to the questions above.

Looks like gunite will happen tomorrow (Friday). There are two lights in the pool and two skimmers. There are 3 returns in the pool and one line, two outputs in the spa, the returns in the spa are plumbed separately from the spa jets themselves.

NVBlu is doing the pool, had the needed inspections completed today so as far as I know, they will shoot the gunite tomorrow, we're also scheduled to pick out/finalize our pebbletech and tile selections- leaning towards a Tahoe Blue but may go darker after discussion.

Equipment is Jandy- filter and will use an Aquapure salt system with a separate ozone unit. Were looking at a Delzone combination salt/ozone unit and decided it wouldn't integrate as we'd like with the remote and the PB said they weren't using the units at this time because of some concerns, didn't go to the details. There are 4 pumps, one for the filter, two for the waterfalls (one four foot and two 2 foot fall), and one for the cleaner. Will also have a Jandy remote unit. The spa will also have controls at the unit for basic operation without the remote.

Thanks for the update and the pictures... It looks marvelous... I wish you the best and hope gunite does happen tomorrow...

Hey Dave..

How did the shoot go?? and how is the progress coming along??

Haven't been here in a while but here's a coupls of shots of the pool and decking, nearly finished, having an issue with the heater but nearly ready to go. Finish is Pebbletech Black Pearl, flagstone coping, with a grayish stone on the wall/spa, not sure what it was called.

[IMG]http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh277/davemartin88/pool1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh277/davemartin88/pool2.jpg[/IMG]

Haven't been here in a while but here's a coupls of shots of the pool and decking, nearly finished, having an issue with the heater but nearly ready to go. Finish is Pebbletech Black Pearl, flagstone coping, with a grayish stone on the wall/spa, not sure what it was called.