Holy cow that's a lotta pumps!! I bet when all those are running that spinning disk will launch right out of your electrical meter :-) Congrats on making some good headway! I love the new gecko, looks great! A tile gecko is certainly a lot more fun around the pool than a real snake (got our first one last night while my 12 y.o. was swimming with her friend!)

With all that has happened to you, you still wont out the builder. I think that you must. If they have not shut their doors already I would like to worn the subs that they are going down.

I just finished up some pools that Aquazona didnt.
Left a lot of the subs with empty hands. Thats the part I hate.

Natural, did you notice the water crock on a neg edge pool.
That wont work, unless you like to waste water.

Barb- Thanks for the good advice! Arizona has a recovery fund that we are applying for, hopefully we'll see some funding from it at some point in our lives....we aren't going to count on it, though. We are going to press the issue with the ROC, the Better Business Bureau, and the Recovery Fund. We feel bad for the subs who worked on this pool. 95% of our contract was paid to our PB, so this has definitely been a bitter blow. The pumps, electric and Pebblesheen are a huge chunk of the pool cost, and we are paying it all again for the second time. It would be easier to swallow the bitter pill if we had water :). Right now, it's a lot of hard work in the dry, dusty heat!
We did pass our drainage inspection on Friday, and are scheduled for the final inspection on Monday. Please keep your fingers crossed for us! We have incurred a lot of additional expense to tear out some things our PB did that were not to code. No matter what, we're so close now that we are determined to finish it. Everything is hinging on this final inspection - when we're past it - PEBBLESHEEN!

tresw- HAHA! Yes, they put every single water feature on it's own separate pump. The waterfall, the spa spillover, the sunshelf spillover, and the negative edge all have their own pumps. We can run one feature at a time, or many. It's actually supposed to be more energy efficient. It sure doesn't LOOK energy efficient. My husband jokes that it's going to be like that commercial -"OK kids, turn on the light.........OK, now turn it off." He said that the Palo Verde nuclear plant nearby will probably dim considerably when we flip the switch :) We're terrified of the first electric bill. Most of the pumps won't run unless we're having a party or something (except for the first day - I'm going to run them ALL and run around jumping for joy).
You had a snake in the pool? YIKES. I so don't ever want to see one, I doubt I'd ever get back in the water again. I'm actually more afraid of attracting mountain lions and such around our area. I have visions of seeing a coyote or something curled up on the waterfall rock one morning. Gulp.

justa-pb- Hello. I never realized that our PB was never mentioned in this thread. Just figured I had listed him at one time or another. Our PB was Natural Settings Pools and Spas. The last I heard was that he was still building pools, that he has three other ones going. I can only attest to the subs that weren't paid for our pool, I'm not sure if he's paying other subs or not. He is still in business - I honestly couldn't say if he will stay open or not. My only knowledge is about what happened on our pool build, and to our subs. It bothers us that the subs didn't get paid, especially when we paid everything that was due to our PB according to the contract.
I'm not sure about your last comment - "Natural, did you notice the water crock on a neg edge pool? That won't work, unless you like to waste water". Are you talking about the rocks in the pool around the negative edge? Can you give me some more insight as to what the problem might be? Thanks so much..

Birdbath,
You are almost there! Good luck with the inspection. We've been using ours for a week now and it is true that you forget all about the build nightmares...of course it may take you longer than most to forget! We also have individual pumps to operate each water feature...which I didn't realize at the beginning. I do like that I can run them individually, but would have left out the bubblers in the tanning ledge if I had known it would be a separate pump. We also have a separate filter for the vanishing edge...another thing I wasn't counting on. Two filters to clean...glad that's not my job. Can't wait to see your pool with water! Post lots and lots of pics when it's done.
Judy

Hi birdbath,
Guys like this give us smaller builders a bad name, and I will get the word out on him.

On the right side of your pool there was a concrete crock. a waterfill box for the pool. On neg edges you fill the trough and use the neg edge pump to fill the pool. On a neg edge pool, when the wind blows ect the water fills up the trough, and drops the level in the pool. Well if you have a float valve at pool level it will keep trying to fill the pool, wind keeps blowing water over neg edge, and trough overflows down the hill. Plants like it but not good for the water bill.
If they have a fill line in the neg edge as well then just dont hook up the other one. If they dont have one in there then you will need to get it run before you pebble.

just a pb - Thanks for the clarification! We had the plumbers out here and four pool companies for estimates, etc. This was a discussion among four people for about an hour :). They were verifying that everything was hooked up OK regarding the negative edge. We do have a water leveler float valve in the negative edge. Everything should be alright - thanks for making sure that we were aware of it!

What is going to stop water from migrating through the raised wall from the wet side & into the dry BBQ area side? I don't see any membranes on the wet side...

Plaster IS NOT 100% waterproof, and god know neither is the gunite... water will wick through & start to create ugly calcium bleeding through your gecko mosaic.

Wait until you see the VE wall after a few months...

I bet that the LOW BIDDER won your business, didn't they???

A float valve auto-fill???

It will constantly go "wosh, wosh, wosh" with the surging of the wave action. The on-off-on-off... can cause hammering in the water inside of the house. Besides the constant hissing noises will drive you NUTS!

See if it's not too late to get an electronic auto-fill (like a Levelor). It has a built in delay so that it will ignore the wave surges caused by wind, bathers, etc.

Low bidder - uses low end products in order to be the low bidder.

Sorry to be getting on the wagon so late, just found your project.

What an abortion. What is all of the waterproofing?? I didn't see any behind the stacked rock work (pool side), spa side of the raised dam walls, pool side of VE, inside of catch basin...

I didn't see any brown coat (leveling bed of mortar) under the masonry.. looks like they just stuck things to the gunite...???

Low bidder wins again!

Whats up with all of the little crappy b.s. GFRC pads for each pump, filter, heater, etc???

When it rains (is does rain there once & a while right??), those things are going to get undermined and washout all around them.

How will you walk around them when it's all muddy?

After the cheapo pads crack (they will in a few years), how are you going to pour a REAL concrete slab UNDER the equipment??

You're right, you're going to have to REMOVE all of them, sleeve the plumbing, pour a real concrete slab, and reset all of the equipment.

Low bidder wins again!

Wow,
and I thought I was a neg person.
He does have a little bit of a point. You should "thuroseal" or similar product all freestanding pool walls. We do it on interior and exterior of all neg edge and bar walls. Just one more layer of protection.

Just a pb...
I hadnt noticed it yet but really hadnt picked the pictures apart yet. I completely agree.
We use Levelors on every vanishing edge application, unfortunately NS didnt. That might start to explain why I thought this pool sounded quite a bit less than I would have guessed. Construction methods...

There are many unfortunate mistakes that whatareuthinking has nicely brought up.

I actually heard of Natural Settings going under just this last Fridayw hen speaking with an equipment manufacturer.
Too bad...
Just a pb... help me out here. Mossman, Phoenician, Legacy, Luxury... have I hit it yet?

whatrUthinking- Thanks for the suggestion regarding the elecronic waterfill. I'll ask about it tomorrow. As far as waterproofing goes, I know they are applying a sealer before they Pebblesheen. My husband and I applied a sealer to the inside of the BBQ area as well, although there are many areas that won't actually have water on the opposite side. Our biggest concern was where we were putting the gecko, so they are also going to seal the "wet side" of that wall before Pebblesheening.
If you look at the pictures of when they were applying the stackstone to the spa and other areas, you can see a difference between those walls and the trough walls. They did apply a smooth base of something over the gunite - I don't know what and it wasn't brown in color. It was very smooth, though, before they attached the stackstone. The trough wall was just sealed by the shotcrete company two weeks ago. After we fired the PB, I had them come out and inspect our pool. They were one of the few subs who got paid. They were extremely helpful, reinforced a few areas on the outside of the trough and then sealed the entire inner walls.
The cement pads should be fine. We average 6 inches of rain a year here. There's not really "mud" to speak of - only wet dust! That entire area slopes down from the equipment and continues down into our wash, about 40 feet below. If we get 40 feet of rain, we'll have bigger problems than the pool equipment. Before my husband and I got married, we each had a pool at our old houses out here. My pool had the same equipment pads and was over 17 years old. They were still in good condition. If the worst case scenario happens, then we will deal with it as needed. We've had at least four pool building companies out here and multiple subs in the last few weeks to look over the pool in it's entirety. We wanted to make sure everything was alright, that it was to "code", and that everything was solid.
You are right that our PB was the low bidder (not by much), but you are incorrect in thinking that's why we hired him. The honest reason was because he has won over 70 awards as a PB, I had seen one of his spas in "Pool and Spa" magazine, and he had no quality complaints or other issues against him with the ROC or the BBB. I loved the way he used natural rocks in his pools (a reason that I also love natural_one's pools - another builder on this forum). We actually debated for three days over two of the designs and bids. I had given my design to three pool builders to give me an official "drawing" and estimate of the pool. We chose him because of his previous work, his good record (at the time), and his use of natural stone. The fact that he was just a few hundred dollars lower didn't factor in. I almost went with Malibu pools, but again, I liked the way the other PB used real boulders. Paying the highest bidder doesn't always mean you'll get the nicest pool. Likewise, paying the lowest one doesn't mean you'll always get the worst. I still believe the most important thing is their past history, references, their record with the ROC and their record with the BBB.
He was the only builder who used surface select boulders, the others used fabricated. The quality of his work appears to be fine until the last stage when they were stalling for time. His "tile guy" appeared to be the only one left of his crew, and attempted to run some electrical sleeves. We had licensed electricians come in and totally redo everything to code last week. I appreciate your concerns, and that is exactly why we have been going over everything with a fine tooth comb the last few weeks with multiple builders and experts in the business. I'll let you know in just a few short weeks :).

Your getting close. But closer to Mossman, and Phoenician, Legacy is soso, and luxury is on his way down, allready not paying subs.

just a pb - You made me laugh! Yes, whatruthinking is a tad negative, but he's just trying to point out some potential problems. That's OK. The stuff you call "Thuroseal" is what they are going to apply to our walls. I couldn't think of the name of it. The trough has already been done, they're going to do the remainder. Thank you for your advice!

natural_one: We do have levelors placed - I know that was a big concern of some builders when they came out a few weeks ago. They climbed all over this pool and all said that the current setup would work well. Hopefully, they're right. One of the reasons why our PB had a lower bid was because we negotiated to do some things ourselves - the deck, the main electrical line from the far side of the house to where the equipment was set, we provided all of the stackstone and flagstone, and we built the fence. His original price had started out as the highest bid, not the lowest. It was only through some negotiations that we lowered it. The people who actually built the pool (our subs, because the PB was never around) are all very reputable. Diversifed shotcrete did the guntite - they were great. Nichols excavating did the excavation work (the lead man, Rob, was absolutely terrific with elevations, etc.), Discount Steel did all of the steel work and Jay's plumbing did all of the plumbing. Our electrical was done by Springs & Sons. We have heard nothing but good remarks about all of them, and all of them seem to be very reputable. I really don't think we'll have major quality issues. Our only issues seem to have come at the very end - but hopefully those have all been addressed. The negative edge tile was off by 1/8 of an inch on part of the right side, so we have a tile company re-setting those tiles this week. The thuroseal and the Pebblesheen are remaining. Final inspection is supposed to happen tomorrow, so we'll see! Thanks for all of your input and guidance on here - you have been terrific.

Birdbath, that "whatareuthinking" person just posts to try and get a rise out of people, he's a classic online troll. I wouldn't pay much attention to his comments.

Regarding the autofill, we have a float-type and it is completely quiet. The only way we know when it's on is when we feel the cooler water coming into the pool (you have to put your hand right next to the inlet). It is unaffected by wave action because it is independent of the pool other than the supply pipe which is well below the waterline. It doesn't cause hammering, that's laughable because it's the exact same valve & float assembly as a toilet (which is specifically designed to inhibit water hammer). Not trying to talk you out of switching to an electronic version, but in case you can't then I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

The post count on this thread is approaching the max of 150, I'm just warning you now because it caught me unawares on my thread :-) Almost time for part 2!

tresw...I agree, I have seen several posts by him...always inflammatory. I just had to correct him on another thread about the chemistry of salt systems....the guy talks about not enough sodium hydroxide being made to offset the pH of sodium hypochlorite......totally idiotic as the pH of sodium hydroxide is 14...its lye!
He loves to critique and tell everyone how they did things wrong.

tresw- Thanks for your support :)
I just talked to my husband about the float - he's sitting at the airport right now - and he said exactly the same thing as you about it. He's not very worried, and since you're not either, I won't give it another thought. Life is too short to whine about a little float, anyway. Besides, I plan on plying my guests with enough alcohol that any imperfections in the pool or geckos will be covered by either a) upbeat music b)the sound of the negative edge c)their blurry vision or d)their hostess. :)
You're right about the thread!! That's OK, I'm about ready for the "Part II Happy Ending". On to Pebblesheen and water!

Quote: "I just had to correct him on another thread about the chemistry of salt systems...."

I got a chuckle out of that, I'm no chemistry expert but it's entertaining to see that yahoo get put in his place :-)

Quote: "You're right about the thread!! That's OK, I'm about ready for the "Part II Happy Ending". On to Pebblesheen and water!"

Well I could have sworn when I looked at the thread yesterday that it said it has 139 posts, but today it says 116 (I guess this makes 117). So it's not as close to 150 as I thought when I posted that. But yeah, a "Happy Ending" thread would be a good way to wrap the whole thing up!! It's going to be a beautiful pool and you'll be able to entertain your guests for hours with tales of what it took to get it done, LOL!

Birdbath, so sorry to read about your pool. Recently, I havent been online as much, some how I missed this. I hope you get pebbleteced or sheened soon! I was following your post months back....I remembered I loved your tile, I almost picked the same tile so I am curious to see how it looks with water:) Good luck:)

Thanks for the supportive messages - this forum always makes me feel better.

GUESS WHAT?!
We passed the final inspection today! WHOO-HOO
We are now ready to fix the 10 feet of tile on the negative edge (it's 1/8 inch too low), and line the edge of the outer trough with bullnose tile. This can be done in a day, and then Pebblesheen. I am waiting to hear back from my phone calls today. I'm hoping to finish this week (I am pushing everyone to the MAX), but it will probably end up being sometime next week. The next pictures I will post are going to be PEBBLESHEEN ones. Just hang in there with me a few more days.

congrats! did someone say pool party?!

That is wonderful news! I'm so happy for you! That's a HUGE step down!

Birdbath,
Congrats on passing the FI! You will be drinking 'ritas and swimming around that pool in no time.
I am going to post pics of the progress on my pool later today.
We just passed the bonding inspection. It's been 7 days since they started, and are supposed to do the shotcrete tomorrow or Wed.
Again, glad to hear that your big troubles are in the past.

Birdbath, HURRAY FOR YOU!!!! I was so excited to catch up on your thread and find out you passed FI! Congratulations! I cannot wait to see your fill! I showed the thread to DH the other day and he was just speechless at the design of everything and how beautiful it will be once it all comes together, he also says Congrats!
I am glad to see that others feel the same for whatruthinking, maybe his screen name should be whatamiwriting?
Anyhow, this has been an entertaining thread but I would be remiss if I did not caution anyone on here about legal ramifications of mentioning companies in a negative light?
While it is very entertaining, it can also be considered libel/slander and used in defamation suits, sorry, my mother is an attorney, its just in my blood...
I stick to stocks and bonds, and slander the market in my inside voice daily though too.... :)

Susanna... rofl... I was thinking more along the lines of wherearemymanners. :-)

Susannap2,
It can not be considered slander if what you are saying is true. At least this is what my attorney told me.
Smbnobles, I was thinking about "WhyDoIHateLife"
And thanks for your comments last week on my thread.

I am so sorry that you have had so much trouble with the build. I am happy that it is finally coming together for you and you should be swimming in no time.

Love the gecko's.

Birdbath, so did you decide on your pebble yet, or are you waiting to see my midnight blue first :)
Cant wait to see yours done, still the most amazing design i have seen.

Hello again!
You guys are so funny! And thank you so much for your kind comments. They really do make me feel better after some rather, well, unkind ones.
Yeah, I remembered the "whatruthinking" guy as soon as he posted on this thread. He had written some horrible things to other people on here - there was one thread in particular where he was slamming the tile color that someone had chosen. He's a pretty miserable man. He wanted desperately to get me upset, which is why I thanked him for his comments. It usually stops people like that in their tracks and they go away. Hope he doesn't land on anyone else's thread! Well, the tile company is coming tomorrow to fix the infinity edge and put bullnose tile on the upper edge of our outer trough. It will give a nice finish for the stucco to come up to on the outside wall, and the pebblesheen to go up to on the inside of the trough. Then, Monday is the big powerwash, etc. to prepare for Pebblesheen. We are just finishing up the coordination for our water trucks and the Pebblesheen company. Our well will just not be able to handle the water demand. They are trying to decide between a Tuesday/Wednesday Pebblesheen and acid wash schedule or a Wednesday/Thursday one (you know which one I'M rooting for :) ). It seems so unreal that this pool is down to a FEW DAYS. All of you need to stand by next week, because I'll need one of you to take pictures and post them for me - I will probably faint away at the excitement of it all and fall into the trough or something.
Oh, I'm getting directions to a pool with Ocean Blue in it. Just not sure if I'll drive over there today or tomorrow. The only other option for me is to go with an experimental Pebblesheen color. One of the builders had steered me to a housing development where they did 16 experimental colors in Pebblesheen! I was out the door before the phone call finished :)! We found a color we really liked and we can get it if we want. The only catch - there's always a catch - is that if there are problems in the future, it will be very difficult to match as it is not a "standard" Pebblesheen color. Hmmmmmm.....such decisions. But such fun ones! For the next few days, I have to work round the clock and try and finish the gecko mosaic in the BBQ, finish figuring out how to put the stackstone up, and complete the landscaping. Hubby is out of town teaching a class until late Friday, so guess I'll entertain myself out there. Is it next week yet?!?!

I'm so excited for you! I can't think of anyone on here more deserving of having their pool finished, than you! Your attitude throughout all of this has been phenomenal. I'd have made the whole board miserable with my whining...lol.

Please don't drop your camera in the water. We're dying to see the pictures!

Birdbath...go with the earlier in the week pebble if at all possible. Warning...this is unlikely to happen to you but happened to us...our pool was plastered the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend and filled by trucked in water on Friday. Well, major leak problem...lost 6K gallons of water overnight!!! Then had to get repair and try to get water truck on the long weekend. Thankfully the water guy is really, really nice and came out on that Saturday afternoon when we were sure the pool would actually hold water. So...give it time for repairs, more water if you can without going into the weekend. Can't wait to see it!
Judy

ok, read this whole thing and must say that that is a stunning pool!! wow, so exciting! Good luck with it- I will be looking for the finished product!
Absolutely gorgeous, the stones, vino, the other gecko, the bar, the stools the shape, the landscaping(or the getting there), need I go on??

smbnobles- Thanks! :) You haven't been whining, and I'm so glad you're on this board! I will do my best not to faint away when they arrive with PebbleSheen.

jmck nc- Thanks for your great tip about the water. I'm glad your water company was accomodating and was able to help over the holidays. I think our schedule will now allow two days for filling the pool. Hopefully, that will be enough. Keep your fingers crossed.....

teddas- You SO cheered me up! Thanks a bunch for your generous comments. We are definitely on the home stretch and should be finishing up this week. It has been a very long haul. I'll post new pictures just as soon as I can.

Well, we've been busy trying to finish up the BBQ kitchen and some other stuff. It has been terribly hot here, about 110 degrees. It's difficult to work for long periods out there now, it's just brutal. It's also maddening because I had sent numerous emails, and calls,to our ex PB all winter about how we needed to FINISH so that we wouldn't be working in extreme weather conditions. And here we are....AARRGGHHH. We have managed to paint the view fence (by hand!), run electricity to the BBQ area for our refrigerators, finish the gecko mosaic wall, plant a few more flowers, and re-fill all the trenches. We are absolutely exhausted, dirty and tired. The only thing keeping me going at this point is that this should be the very LAST weeend that we endure without a pool! :).
Here's the latest schedule in case anyone is curious -
Monday, they're going to powerwash the pool.
Tuesday, they have to prepare the barstools for Pebblesheen - they rough them up in order for the interior finish to stick to the vertical portions.
Wednesday - PEBBLESHEEN!
Thursday- Acid wash, and then the water trucks start arriving at 11 a.m. to fill it. The pool is estimated to be 31,000 gallons, so it's going to take many trips. We may possibly have to finish up with water on Friday.
The only thing making me nervous at this point is that the tile guy did not show up today to fix the negative edge. I already left a message, we need him to finish up quickly!!
I'll post new pictures just as soon as I can. It's a total mess out there with all of these different projects going. I need to clear a path for pictures!

Wow. 110 degrees. I'll never complain about Houston's heat again! It was 95 and had to be about 90% humidity here today and I was dying outside, and I thought that was bad! YIKES!

Fingers still crossed here for you!

I can't wait to see this finished! It's finally coming closer! :)

smbnobles: Yeah I felt the same today! I was like ugh sooo hot but hearing 110 makes me shutter! LOL

That's fantastic news, here's hoping you're swimming by next weekend :-) Our pool has turned my wife into a party planning fiend, we had 2 parties in a row last Saturday, LOL! It's great having parties outside because the house doesn't even get dirty :-) And there's a lot more room to move around. Yours is going to be a great party setting!

What a spectacular pool! Definitely up there with the best of this forum, which is saying a lot. Keep the pics coming.

Thanks, everyone, for the support!

Well, my husband and I canceled the Pebblesheen that had been scheduled for today. I still can't believe it. We were working on our BBQ kitchen sink a couple of days ago, turned on the water to it and then went inside to avoid heat stroke. When we went back outside, we heard water running. Uh-oh. It turned out that the cap to the automatic filler in the trough had not been glued on, so our trough had filled up with water (let me just add that in spite of the problem, the water STILL looked kind of inviting in 112 degree weather!!). No big deal, we glued the cap on and then noticed the trough was really leaking - a LOT. We called the shotcrete company, they came out and looked at it. The lead man was incredible - very forthcoming and honest. He said that they could just dab a sealer in the trough, but he didn't feel comfortable with that solution. He recommended that they ADD another four inches of shotcrete to the base of the trough. It's a deep enough trough to do it, and it would be the safest way. The catch was, it would need to cure again before the Pebblesheen could be applied. The choice was ours. So, we made the obvious, practical, and incredibly painful decision to add extra shotcrete and wait. So, they came out yesterday and fixed the trough. Everything had to be rescheduled as a result and now they are applying thoro-seal (?) for the next couple of days to all pool walls and the trough, completing the tile, and we are re-scheduled for Pebblesheen on Monday. WATER on Tuesday. I know it was the best decision, but every day added on is just so difficult. I do consider ourselves very lucky, though, that this was discovered before we added the water. It would have been much more difficult to repair at a later stage. It was a fluke that the plumber forgot to glue that fill pipe - and we are thankful for it. It was also a blessing that we turned on the water for the sink in the BBQ, or we never would have known.
We have been working on the BBQ area to keep ourselves distracted now, maybe we'll actually finish it before the pool gets done. The gecko wall is almost complete, we have added BBQ lights, and we now have the refrigerators placed in the BBQ area next to the grill. Here's the latest incredibly, incredibly dull pictures of our latest baby steps towards water. FIVE more days, FIVE more days, FIVE more days. I'm now living vicariously through the rest of you again. Please post some pictures of your water or something to keep me going!! Any and all pictures will be appreciated :).

Here's a picture of the shotcrete company doing our trough again (de ja vu, haven't we been here BEFORE?)

Here's the almost complete gecko wall....

Oh, and you're all invited to our 4th of July party at the POOL. The Blue Gecko Bar & Grill will be officially open. We have a great city view up here and the fireworks are at the race track right behind our house. Free swimming and hot dogs :). I'm trying to think positive here.

I swear, waiting for pics of your pool with water in it has me as anxious as I was awaiting the birth of my last child. LOL. Every time I see your post at the top, I get all verklempt and excited for ya.

The barbeque looks amazing. All that's missing is some shimmering water right beyond that wall. You made the right decision - no doubt we all would have done the same. Continued good thoughts coming your way that you'll be swimming soon.

I'm with banana_fanna. I just KNEW I was going to see water. I feel like I'm at a suspense movie that just won't end. lol I can only imagine what you guys must be going through. I'm sure the heat isn't making it any easier for you either. Just know you have a lot of fans and people who are pulling for you. When you finally do post those pics, there will be a collective sigh from around the entire country. We're pulling for you.

You know, we really love the SouthWest and vacation there frequently (New Mexico, Arizona, Las Vegas, and Southern Utah). My favorite memory of Phoenix is that one morning, after spending the night, we went out to our car to get on the road around 10:00 in the morning. The handles of my car was so hot, we had to get a papertowel to use as a potholder just to open the door. By the time we ate brunch, it was like an oven. But, within a couple of hours or so, we were in Flagstaff and it was 65 degrees. Amazing country, and we sure love it.

Uuuughhh!! Talk about cliff-hangers! I saw your post and rushed to see the ocean blue. This Fracks! (yes I watch Battlestar galactica) Hang in there Birdbath...your almost there.....I think we are both going to have water at the same time. As you told me, things happen for the best. Glad you found this and fixed it before it could have been a disaster. Looking forward to Monday.
CD

Talk about a blessing in disguise! I know you have to be bummed out, but it's only FIVE more days, FIVE more days, FIVE more days...

Oh, and here's some water for you. :-)

{{gwi:2023201}}

banana, stonesmama, cdavmd, smbnobles -

LOL!! :) It IS nerve-wracking, isn't it? You're right, it's like one big long suspense movie, like a really bad "B" movie or something. It's 112 degrees right now, good GRIEF. I laughed about you needing pot holders to open the car, but it's so true! The BBQ area is so hot right now we can only work for about an hour at a time. I think I'll put the sprinkler on this weekend, just so I can endure it a little better. Wish we had a pool.......................OK, wish we had a pool with WATER. Tired of looking at my big, empty, three-tiered flower pot in the backyard. Give me petunias, or give me water. Either way, this big empty shotcrete shell has gotta go. They start the thoro-seal process tomorrow, so at least we'll have a different color to look at for a few days. If pebblesheen doesn't happen on Monday, I'm filling this dang thing up with water anyway. It will be fairly watertight with all this sealant. It might even be a new hit color - "thoro-seal brown". I'm not trying to wish anybody's weekend away, but I'm hoping that Monday morning comes around very quickly!
This thread is going to max out, so on Monday morning I'm going to start a new one (the FINAL chapter)! You can think of me on Sunday night, with my face glued against the window, looking for the Pebblesheen truck. When you hear the joyful screaming from the southwest, you'll know the truck is here :). Until then, I am offically on strike from posting on this thread. Thank you, smb, for the beautiful water picture!! Anyone else want to throw theirs in for a finale for this thread? See you all at pebblesheen!

wow, i would like to say im very impressed and inspired by the design you've chosen for your infinity edge pool, and may use this as a great reference. Im as well deciding to have an infinity edge pool built.

i would really like to know the cost that you can estimate how much this would be to have all this built.

if you can please email me to tell me the approximate cost if you get a chance.
my email is cdjguy148@yahoo.com

i would really like a pool similar to this type of design.

bump...any updates? I am so sorry to read about all you've been through. Hope to see your finished pool soon!

drmarvell,

the link below should take you to the outcome happy ending and finished photos

Here is a link that might be useful: Birdbaths happy ending

I am not an "on line troll" trolling & sniping hit & run's.

I am one of the World's leading aquatic designers, who internationally designs & builds pools. My work has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, CNN, HGTV, & the Robb Report. I prescribe to the absolute highest standards in the world for hydraulic performance and execution of installation. I also perform expert witness & forensic studies of failed pool structures.

I am not negative against any homeowner's specific project... I am negative against lazy, incompetent, and ignorant contractors who refuse to build to the MINIMUM standards established by the various performance standards.

Though they are not "building codes," there are various minimum installation standards that have been established by various trades that must be met (TCNA, ANSI, ACI, ASA, ASME, etc.).

You are indeed a classic troll, popping in uninvited and taking nasty snipes towards those involved in even the highest quality projects. Even the name you choose to post under is rude. If you think your pedigree is so good, then quit hiding behind your moronic nickname and tell everyone who you really are and who you work for. There are plenty of helpful people around here, several of which are pool builders. They manage to make suggestions without sounding like an a-hole, a skill which you most definitely lack.