Finally-My SELF built pool, literally! 90 Pics too! Please look
Clicking on the link at the bottom will take you to 90 pictures of this adventure. You can then click on the pictures to view a larger pictureenjoy!
This is what I had to start with:
Several of you have been asking for the story on my pool. ItÂs not as dramatic as some, but it was quite a journeyÂso here goes!
We purchased a fixer-upper to get a better house than we could really afford and to build equity faster. The house was pretty bad, but the pool was the worst IÂve ever seen. The pool was not functional even before the prior owner lived here, which was 7 years.
I had a pool builder (also an acquaintance) come by to give me an estimate. He said ÂdonÂt buy that house! (I donÂt know if he was serious or if he wanted to buy it himself). He said that it would cost between $5,000 and $9,000 to put just the liner in and get it running again. He would put in expandable foam where the dirt had washed away behind the walls, dig it out and put in a linerÂcement bottom might be a little more.
The house was selling for half of what other average houses were selling for, but it was one of the smaller houses in the neighborhood. So we bought it anyway because of financial issues.
I thought the price to fix the pool was a fair price so I tried to get him back out. He didnÂt show twice so I was done with that. To be fair to him he was getting into his busy season; I just wish he had the courtesy to call.
So without a contractor I would do it myself. IÂve done a lot of building and renovation over the years and thought that this was doable. I started to backfill with dirt. I finished one section of 16 feetÂI was happy! I then came out the next day to find that the wall had collapsed. I was not happy. When I took out the panel to see what had happened I found that the old fasteners had rotted and were breaking under the pressure of the dirt. I now realized the severity of the problem  everything was going to have to be replaced. We did not have the funds to rip it all out and replace everything so I needed to save at least the deck (plus I love the look of a cantilever deck).
The adventure started. We had minimal funds from the sale of our last house, but we needed to fix up several things in the house too (like the kitchen remodel, flooring, and most important of allÂthe septic was failing!). Funds for the pool were scarce but we continued on. Other projects would be intermingled with the pool so it did not get 100% of my time. I was definitely multitasking. Then we found that the company I worked for was having severe financial problems. Projects had to be put on hold to conserve what little finances were left. Well, that company would not survive and it would be almost a year before we were financially able to start working on the pool again.... But the good news is that we are working on the pool again! Yippeee!
I would obsess over forums dealing with anything related to a pool. Since I had a wood framed pool, there was not as much information out there on this type of pool. I was asking questions on a forum and met a gentleman that was a pool builder and had actually worked on wood framed pools in the past. He answered my questions and gave me his personal number to call him if I had any questions. Was this guy crazy? Giving a DIYer your phone number? So I took advantage of that. I tried mostly to email him with questions to which he would always respond before the end of the day. I tried to send him some money and he wouldnÂt take it. I tried to send him a gift certificate to a restaurantÂhe wouldnÂt take it. I needed liner track and a linerÂhe offered to sell it to me so I bought it from him. He still only charged me the going rate on the internetÂwhat a great guy! His name is Patrick Fitzgerald from Sunbuilt Pools in Houston, Texas. I must give him a plug here as he was so nice to me.
The adventure would take a total of 2 years to get the pool in order, and another year to finish everything to what you see in the pictures. This was a total of 3 years (including the down time). Most would say that was too long and things should have went fasterÂbut the important and rewarding thing here is that we did this 100% out of pocket. We did not take out a loan to finish it  we saved every penny that we put into the house, and we are so much happier that we did.
My wife made me a beautiful little scrapbook of this adventure  I will always cherish this as it means the world to me.
Please click below and view the journey. Please make whatever comments you see fit  good or bad (IÂm a big boy now, I can take it!). Thank you all for being board buddies during this journey. I can't wait until all of you guys (and gals) see it !!!
Comments (47)
johnmgreen
zarbiya123
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