Our pool has begun.....pictures (hopefully)

16 years ago

We signed our contract about a month ago. Our pool will be 32 x 18, deep end will be 6.6', pavers, french grey interior, screen, waterfall. Since we signed, I am thankful I found this forum and have been glued to it since. It has been extremly helpful in trying to make those final decisions. My husband keeps warning me to not look at more pictures on here because I keep seeing things I love and I want to make more changes...lol.

Some items we needed to accomplish before they started on the pool was to take out a kneewall on an existing porch and concrete slab to open it up more. This was very labor intensive but it was worth it!! We rented a couple of tools from Home Depot and ordered a dumpster which was another thing we are glad we did (especially with how much we filled it with concrete). We then had the columns repaired/stucco. Then we put tile down where the kneewall was taken out. On Tuesday they came and formed and dug our pool and on Wednesday/Thursday they preprared and finished the rebar for inspection. Tomorrow or Saturday they will be doing gunite. Although I was worried about the size/width of the deepend, I'm sure it will be fine once everything is together. This pool is about 2 feet shorter than our previous pool and I really would have liked for it to be bigger however the cost is crazy compared to 7 years ago (when we put in our 1st pool) and we were also having to work within a certain amount of space. I am so excited now!! I know the 1st part of the building goes by quickly (I found out why, the workers/salesman want to get paid which doesn't occur until after gunite and the 2nd draw is due...lol) but I know it will slow down after gunite. That's fine, I would rather them not rush the job only to have issues arise later.

I love seeing the pictures others have posted on here so I am going to attempt to post some pictures of our process so far. Hopefully this works!

Here is a link that might be useful: OUR POOL

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Comments (9)

happymrsf
16 years ago
Congratulations- your pool looks wonderful. Looking at the deep end I am surprised that is is only 6.6' deep. It looks much deeper. We are only able to go 6' due to our pool only being 25 ft long, but builder said it will probably be an inch or two deeper at final dig.

Signed our contract about 3 weeks ago. Final plans got to the city this week, so as soon as they issue permits we will be ready to go!

Love your tile. Can you share the name/mfg? Looks like it would blend nicely with the stone I am choosing. That is my biggest stress right now. With all the samples I have gotten so far, I probably have enough to tile the whole pool!
kajones2
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks happymrsf! Since my husband is 6'4", he wanted to go that deep and since our kids love to jump/dive into the pool a lot we felt that was best. I haven't actually measured it but it does look pretty deep. Not sure how much the gunite and plaster will take up.

The tile is called Slate Valley Ginger and the mfg is Lauderdale Tile and Marble. It is something new that our PB just got in. Good luck on your selections! That was one of my hardest decisions. We had existing tile that we had put down on our screened in porch so I was trying to find something that would blend with that nicely. I almost drove myself nuts!! In the end, I matched up the pavers/tile/plaster the best I could and I am hoping the tile on our porch doesn't look bad with it all. We shall see..... Good luck!
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Finally got plaster on Thursday. It was soooo pretty until Friday. Because of our water issue they immediately filled it and on Friday they added all kinds of stuff. Chlorine has been over 3.0ppm ever since and pH (could be false reading) is over 8.2 I know it was an acid start up but that's all I know. When they tested the water features a pipe broke underneath the deck to the bubblers. Mud went flying everywhere...into the pool and out into the yard. The water is horrible now. Three of the four deck jet caps have been ruined because they didn't install them correctly. The deck has already hair line cracked from the pool all the way to the side. I'm so sick. I know it'll look better in the end but geeeeez I've never had so many problems with a pool. The guys came today and punched two holes in the deck to locate the broken pipe. They fixed that and all the water features now work...though the sheer decents are still lacking in appearance...not sure if there is not enough pressure in them or just the counter wind is crazy right now. In fixing the broken pipe the plumbers busted a main sprinkler line and flooded the side yard. They had already left by the time we realized it was a sprinkler and not left over water from the work they'd done earlier. What a mess. All the various crew members not calling to tell us when they are going to be here and the carelessness of them...I like our builder but I am starting to wish I would have chosen another company with different subs. The flagstone coping is getting chipped badly from people walking on it and dragging their hoses across it. Anyhoooooo, sorry for venting. I just don't understand why we had to go through so much crap to get a pool. It's not really any one person's fault...I realize that...but all the little stuff adds up. So I guess what I'm wondering from experienced people here is. Chlorine is through the roof but I read on the expensive test kit if pH was over 8.0 then Chlorine is inactive. I can't even use the FAS-DPwhatever kit....it's so complicated. Had to go back to using the cheappie Pentair kit the PB gave me. Pool has been running most of the time with the slide and waterfall running to try and lower the chlorine. Any suggestions on what I should do from here? Maybe I should move this to the Troublefree pool forum??? Oh Kelly, they did use the blow torch! What a flame!!! Water started coming back through the walls in a couple places as they were finishing up. Looks like it's holding now. Time will tell. Only one bright stain and that is where one of the relief holes were. Blessings
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I'm not sure I understand your question. With a pool cover, you actually lose less water because it's not evaporating. When you say "cover housing", I think you are referring to what I call the "trough" -- the hole that the cover retracts into. There should really not be any pool water in that trough. When it rains, you will use a pump (like a sump pump) that will sit on top of the cover, it will have a water house attached and you can direct the water it pumps off to go wherever you want. We alternate between pumping it into our yard, or pumping it to the deck drains which is tied into the underground gutters and directed to the street. When you retract the cover with any water on it, it may slosh into the trough -- BUT if there is much water, the water gets heavy and the cover will not operate. It's trial and error but once you do it a few times, you will figure it out. You can back up the cover and then start it again and let it dump into the trough. Our trough is covered with Trex (plastic wood-look). Our builder thought it would be better than using concrete coping because the coping would be so heavy to remove when you need to access that trough. But our builder has not built many pool covers, so I'm not sure that was the best advice. I sort of wish we had a different design there. I haven't looked under there in a long time to see if there is much standing water (could be mosquito problem??) but I don't notice mosquitos coming from there, and when we have looked in there, nothing has concerned us. My husband removes the Trex in the spring after the oak trees are finished with all their mess and cleans / vacuums the trough out. We have the crepe myrtle that sheds and so there is debris that will get dumped into that trough throughout the year. Obviously if there are lots of debris, after a storm, we clean that before retracting the cover, but we don't clean it every time by any means. Overall -- I still love having the cover. BIG piece of mind on the safety front with 2 kids now! We can still enjoy our yard in the winter without safety concerns. The pool stays much cleaner. We use less chlorine and water.
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joanneswimsct pool build has begun!!!!!!!
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Hi Amy Welcome to the forum; it's a wonderful resource that I am addicted to! We did look at gunite but could not justify the price difference b/ vinyl and gunite. My PB does not install gunite and I only know of 2 PBs who do; Landmark and Murphy and Sons. We loved Landmark but could not afford the price. We, too, are building a simple pool w/ no bells and whistles except for the pool enclosure which will allow for (hopefully) year round swimming!! We are installing a heater (propane) but hope to utilize the enclosure to help w/ heat as it is clear polycarbonate and solar will increase our air temp by 30 plus degrees! Assuming that will transfer to the water somewhat... This forum is an invaluable resource for all of your questions; I am grateful for all of the help and guidance I have received over these long months! If you have a question, chances are someone here can handle it for you! Best of luck w/ all of your decisions! Joanne
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My pool has arrived
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Update: Well.... the rain is absolutely making me crazy. Immediately after the pool was put in the ground, it rained for two weeks straight. Nothing we could do but keep a pump running 24/7 and wait for rain to stop. Last week, it was clear enough to allow the installation of the pipes, lights, skimmer, etc. by the pool builder. We were ultimately able to get piping across the yard to a newly installed cleanout at the sewer line across the yard & I hope the slope is enough to not cause problems later. It has been inspected and approved. We had to go rent a trench digger from Home Depot and drag it home because the plumber was "crying" about digging the trench. The pool builder covered and graded all of his trenching up, and the plumber was bothered that they did not leave the trenches open in order to make his job easier. So, we fixed the issue by getting the trench digger for him. The electricians began their work and have taken a whole lot longer than we thought it would take. Also, the pool installer dug up electrical lines to our back house, which means more for the electrician to do to repair it. Then the electrician was bothered that the pool installer buried the wires when he graded, because the electrican tried to un-bury them and couldn't find them in order to tie back in to the original cables. Therefore, the trench digger came in handy again, as the electrician then had to use it to trench to the back house in order to lay new lines. Of course, the electricians did not get finished before it started raining again last weekend. Finally, today, the "electrical rough install" was inspected and approved. Of course, it has been raining again all day today. The electricans still need to come back and finish, but at least the ground is ready for the deck.... IF IT WOULD EVER STOP RAINING LONG ENOUGH! Our back yard looks like a large ant farm... The mud is making us crazy with the wet dogs, gate that we keep having to prop up so the dogs won't get out, etc.... I finally gave up on my poor kitchen floor.... the dirt... the mud.... the dogs... Weather forecast was initially for 6 good sunny days after today, and now it has changed to rain starting again on Monday.... I actually brought a couple of tarps home this morning in an attempt to help... I guess something is better than nothing. Anyway, I am amazed that this fiberglass pool has been sitting in the ground for a month without concrete yet, with all this rain, & she's holding her own. The installer has been great with checking on us and making sure a pump is running when necessary. He was even out of town today and had someone from another pool company come by to set up a pump again, as he had taken his with him last week. I am so glad that I purchased a pool that "required" that it be laid in, and backfilled with gravel. I think this has helped us. This was the first pool in gravel that this installer has done, and he said that if this has been sand, we may have had an issue. The first two weeks, the pool wasn't even backfilled all the way.... and it remained level. Anyway, the concrete guys left their trailer with sand in our yard last Saturday.... Now we just need the weather to cooperate!!!! Tomorrow my husband and I will be turning dirt over and doing whatever we can to help this dirt dry & hopefully the rain forecast for next week is small enough that we can stay dry enough to get concrete poured early next week. I told my H that next spring we will be enjoying our little pool and laughing about this muddy fiasco........ Hope I'm right.
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scrapula
16 years ago
Taking out that wall was a good idea. It really opened up the lanai. Keep the pics coming!
houseful
16 years ago
Looks good so far! It's fun watching the progress, isn't it? I really like your tile choice. I'm sure your patio tile will be just fine. It is so weird (but I like it) to see how everybody's backyard is open to everyone else's. You just don't see that here - we have block walls separating everything. I do like my swimming privacy, though ;)

What about plumbing and electrical? Doesn't that happen before shotcrete? My BIL and I just spent the last 2 days in 110+ temps relocating our plumbing and electrical (long story, I'll post about it later). I suggest you take detailed pictures of all plumbing and electrical just in case. It'll save lots of digging later.

Looking forward to more pics :)
houseful
16 years ago
Nevermind (blush)! I see your plumbing!
kajones2
Original Author
16 years ago
Yes, it is fun seeing all the progress! Tx for the tips on taking pictures. I am taking lots so that I have that for future reference like you mentioned and so I can make a scrapbook. I agree with you on the swimming privacy. Unfortunately in this neighborhood you can only have 5' fences and they can only be either black chain link fences or vinyl fences. I would definetly like a vinyl fence for privacy but they are so expenses since the size has to be cut down, etc. Since we are spending so much on the pool, we will landscape some about the screen and maybe put up a fence later. Now I am working on my research of plants, etc. so I can get some nice stuff put up after everything is completed. Gunite was done today. The majority of it was covered due to rain so I can't get good pictures of it but once that comes off, I will take some and post then. Right now I peaked under the cover a little and I am pleased that I added that additional step to get in/out of the deepend swimout and the height of my additional bench in the shallowend for sunning purposes.
kajones2
Original Author
16 years ago
Updated pictures....Gunite was done yesterday. Pregrade for the deck will be next and then plumbing.
thejimbar
16 years ago
Very nice, good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pool Project Photos
kajones2
Original Author
16 years ago
It's been awhile but I finally have updated pictures.

That 1st week went by fast but since then, it's been slow it seems like. Our neighbors are also putting in a pool by the same PB so I think that might be slowing it down some as the PB is trying to coordinate everything being done at the same time. They are getting a spa, etc. so their pool is a little more work. Anyways since the last pictures plumbing, electrical, a little bit of deck forming and the beginning of the tile work has been done. Also the sheer descent was put in. They should be done with the tile work tomorrow I believe and then the footers & cantilever edge needs to be poured, then pavers, screen, interior finish, and somewhere in there solar. I'm excited that is seems to be getting close. I hope I can enjoy it some during the hot months :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Updated pictures

Our pool has begun.....pictures (hopefully)

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happymrsf

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Our pool has begun.....pictures (hopefully)

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happymrsf

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