Ouuuh, arbisi, thanks for the warning, we were planning on putting the Palm trees right behind the waterfall, so VERY close...what do you mean by messy? Leaves, dropping of any kinds? do we need to reconsider? Anyways, things are progressing quite nicely, although we are, both my husband and I, ready to be Project Manager as we feel we have to be there every step of the way and coordinating with the different crews...We had a feeling this was going to be that way with this pool builder and we weren't wrong. Masonry crew started and we're happy with the result so far. Little hicups on the waterfall (I knew gunite poeple had shot a way too big spot for it, 8 ft accross when waterfall was only supposed to be 4ft wide...oh well, PB did say I needed to trust more and let them do their job, right? we're going to end up having a 3 to 4 tons waterfall when we only had asked for (and will pay for) a 2 tons). But so far so good. Our Masonry guy told us for sure he was going to put our pool in his book, yeah!! Still undecided on the satin matrix color though...ughh...

ventinc- Sounds like a great pool and you've put a lot of thought into the design and equipment. Related to hydraulics, the 2" returns and 2.5" suction sounds light for high flow needs, such as cleaning and waterfalls. Most high efficiency plumbing circuits have 2.5" returns and 3" suction if your runs are 50 feet or more. Also, I see you mentioned you're on a budget and yet I see 2 variable speed pumps. Have you considered 2 speed pumps instead. This will save you about $1K and will still offer tremedous energy savings over single speed pumps. If you're comfortable with the exta cost of two variable speed pumps, I would recommend placing one of the variable speed pumps on the spa and use a 2 speed or a 1 speed for the waterfall instead. The 2 speed will allow a light trickle or a roaring waterfall depending on your mood. This is what I've done with our waterfall and would not do it any other way. Variable speed on a waterfall is a bit overkill in my opinion and at higher flow rates, they are no more efficient than a 1 speed or a 2 speed. Hope this helps!

So a month has flown by and we finished our second gunite shoot last week so I finally have a little extra time to give an update and post some pictures. First: There were some concerns brought to my attention about the quality of the plumbing (crossovers/heat bending and such) work so after looking into it a bit here is what I did. 1. I had 25 yards of sand and AB gravel delivered to my yard. 2. I proceeded to backfill the plumbing trenches with sand by hand/shovel and water hose until a good layer of sand was underneaththe plumbing. This took two days but I think it was worth the effort. 3. I then used a mix of AB and sand to continue filling the trenches 1/3 up, and any crossovers to get adequate support. 4. I then hauled out 30 yards of trenched dirt/rock as it was not my intention to use any of this crappy material to fill back in the plumbing trenches. 5. On the first gunite shoot I used the gunite rebound (3 or 4 yards) and lots of water to continue filling trenches. 6. The next day I used a bobcat to finish backfilling the trenches with AB gravel to grade level. 7. The plumbing has been under pressure at 40 psi for over a month with no problems. (I was told by some very reputable plumbers that setting the plumbing pressure any higher then this is a bad idea.) Undoubtably my plumbing will last for 20+ years maintainance free! :) Second: I took some extra time and expense to have the engineering firm I used send out an engineer for two on-site inspections just before each gunite shoot. It was good piece of mind for me to have the engineer on site and give final approval of the construction before gunite. Neil Anderson is the engineering firm and I am not sure if you could find one person in Northern CA who would disagree with the statement that they are the best there is. All right, onto the pictures and the progress. One week later it was time for the second gunite shoot: So I am calling it a little over half way done at this point and it has been time consuming road to get to this point as an owner builder. But I still have to say that doing an owner/build is a GREAT way to go. I would recommend it to anyone instead of using a pool builder unless you live in TX near Kelly. Then I would just use him!

I would not use the salt system, and instead us a Del Ozone machine, with a tablet chlorinator dial to the lowest setting, and a DE filter. Salt is corrosive, and maintenance is costlier. Ozone is the cost effective sanitizer. It can help reduce the need for repeated chemical purchase costs. This is what I use, I have the Eclipse 4 and could not be happier. Enjoy Here is a link that might be useful: Del Ozone Residential Pool Application