We have lived in our 1913 Foursquare for over 7 years now. I have definately had a love/hate relationship. When people ask, what are you doing this weekend, I just want to smack them. What do you think? WORKING ON THE HOUSE. It's ALWAYS something. There's also the question, why don't you just hire someone? Sure, we could hire someone to remodel the kitchen. But what about the roof? and the siding? and the deck? and the bathroom? and the floors, walls, attic, basement, on and on and on. If you hire someone to repair everything, then you've put way more money into the house then you'll EVER get back. It gets overwhelming at times. I seriously don't know what I'd do with my free time if I didn't have this house to work on. I really resented it until one day, a few years ago my kids told me I could never sell it. That they loved this house and one day I would have to sell it to them. I was shocked. THIS house? The one we slave over and that is constantly in chaos? The same house that tells you it's NOT okay to invite your friends over, until the deck is rebuilt, b/c it's too dangerous for guests. THIS HOUSE? And that made me really rethink it. The house is huge. The house has 8inch tall baseboards and working pocket doors. The house has 2 acres of wooded yard and allows them to do what they like in the yard. This house isn't so new that they have to worry about denting the floor. But it's much nicer than the smaller ranches that some of their friends live in. The basement was remodeled for the three boys and their friends. They have sleepovers there (with extra insulation, so I can't hear them!). If they want to change their room, or we need to add something, we just knocked down a wall, or build it in. Can you really do that in a new house? This house has sucked us dry, financially and emotionally. But it also has made us rely on ourselves even more. We find out how to fix things and we teach our kids that you do NOT have to be dependant on others to get things done. In the end, it has been worth it. And with at least another 2 years (hahahahaha, isn't that funny) worth of work on the house, we will continue on. What also made me feel better was watching my friends and family with their NEW houses. I have already see two people who built houses within the last 7 years need to replace ALL of the windows in those houses. Really. Also the furnaces. One friend needed to replace the exterior doors in his 5 year old house, built in an expensive neighborhood. PLUS, the siding. Just b/c it is new doesn't mean it's done right. Watch 'Holmes on Homes' on HGTV. BIG eye opener. Sometimes, you forget how your house looks nice. I find that it's good to take pictures and look at them on the computer. When you're walking into your living room every day for a month and only see the floors that need refinished, you miss the antique fireplace mantel you bought and installed and the stone tile you added. The walls you redid and the built ins. When I take a picture and look at it, I see the beauty of the ROOM, not the damage to the floor. Also, it's good to compare the new pictures to the old ones. Were there really hearts on the country blue wallpaper? hahahaha Lastly, dealing with the PO's previous mistakes are always What were they thinking? Just when we thought we got all of them corrected, we take down the deck to find they didn't use flashing on the ledger board. Sigh. I always worry that once I remove every last trace of the 80's, it will be time to remove every last trace of this decade. :) Sorry to go on and on, but I just found this forum and I'm glad there are people here that are just like me. Working on their old home, loving it and hating it. I wonder if everyone has lists for every room, if by the time you get to that list for a room you change your mind, if you have more than 4 projects going on at a time and if you think you'll be done by the time your youngest time graduates high school. If your idea of a great Sunday afternoon is going to Menards/Home Depot/Lowes and shopping. If the guy from the local wine/coffee shop knows your name very well (coffee in the morning/wine at the end of the day)and his first question is what are you working on now? If your friends/family come to you first when they get bids from their contractors, to see what the materials would cost vs labor, because why in the world would they put in a new door by themselves, let alone go on the hunt across the internet and two states to find the perfect 100 year old door for their house, then build it into the opening? Is this a disease?

We redid out midcentury pool with white plaster. To me, it's classic and what pools are supposed to look like. You get a nice blue look. Mine doesn't stain and it has been through dirt clods thrown in and unnoticed for days. It has an orange tree hanging over the steps dropping all sorts of stuff and the plaster stays white. However, we had a small kid hopping around a lot learning to swim and she did get sore toes. She had to use swim shoes for a few months until she stopped hopping. I've never been in a smoother pool though so I think she was just being goofy--the other kid is at that stage now and isn't hopping. Anyway, if you have learners, check their feet after the first swim (whatever surface you get) and if they're wearing through their skin, put them in swim shoes for a few months. Cheap and comfy and it's just a phase.

When we install an ozone unit, it is with a looped manifold and ball valve on the return plumbing(after the heater). I have never seen a unit installed on or by the pool pump. That install does not seem to be very good for the pump, and would likely make a cavitation problem. May explain the air build up that is inside the filter as well. I do know that ozone systems make extremely small bubbles through the water (by the return lines) and that may make the filter appear that it is letting debris bypass through. But it may also be the filter is either at capacity with plaster dust debris, or the filter has so much air in it, that it is not "filtering" very well. You can have the biggest filter in the industry, but if 50% of the filter has air, than your filter just shrunk down to half the size. Do you have a plaster, p-tec, vinyl, or fiberglass pool. Your alk level would appear to be high for a plaster or pebble tec pool. If the pool pump is turn "off", you can not introduce an air leak, such as bleeding the filter. That would cause the pump to empty of water and then the next day would need to strain to get prime. Or if you are saying the pump the next day is empty of water, eventhough you let the air out the night prior, that may be caused by the ozone tube not have a "check valve".

Kuykendall Custom Pools. They were actually the first builder I ever spoke to - I found a picture on Pinterest that I LOVED and then I googled their name and realized that they were located here in Conroe! So I called and began the process. I spoke with quite a few builders and narrowed it down to 3. This weekend we narrowed it down to 2 (Atlantis and Kuykendall) - they were both awesome - it was almost a flip of the coin. I just kept going back to the initial picture I found - of a beautiful waterfall into the spa. I have nothing but good things to say about Atlantis and their team. This was a very difficult decision.