New Pool Build in Clear Lake, TX (SE Houston)

15 years ago

After lurking on this board for probably 6 months and learning so much, the crew is here this morning to dig our pool! The crew showed up at abou 6:40 this morning and are planning to demo our existing patio, dig the pool, and rebar today. Tomorrow morning they will do the stub plumbing and gunite!

Here are the specifics on the pool (I'm just listing from the contract, I don't know anything about the equipment, that's my husbands job!):

19x35 geometric gunite pool (cholorine, not salt)

Rectangular spa -4 foot stacked stone spillway, raised 18 inches, 6 jets with Polaris QT Blower, set halfway into the pool

6 inch raised wall and decking along the back by the spa with 4 sprayers

Sunshelf (tanning ledge/baja shelf) opposite the spa with 2 bubblers

4 benches with step trim

665 sq feet - not counting the tanning ledge that extends outside the pool

Approx 18K gallons

Depth 3.5 to 5 to 3.5

Filter - Pentair FNS

Pump- Pentair WhisperFlo

Heater - Pentair Minimax 400,000 BTU natural

Timer- Easy Touch Wireless

Automatic cleaner - Jet Vac

Automatic chlorinator - Inline Rainbow 320

500WT pool light and 100WT spa light

3M Quartzscapes interior - color - Blue

Flagstone Coping - Autumn Hue

Waterline tile - Master Tile - SAI SPA AUR 6

850sq ft of exposed aggregate decking (peagravel)

40 ln ft of flagstone joints in decking

I think that is it. I will post pictures later today once there is something to see...like a huge hole in my backyard :-)

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Comments (23)

Niki Friedman
15 years ago
Wow, what an awesome schedule! It took us 2 1/2 weeks to get gunite. Sounds like a beautiful pool. Can't wait to see the progress!
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
Here are some pics of the progress so far. My only upstairs window that overlooks the backyard cuts off part of the pool, but you can get an idea. It is WAY too muddy to walk outside to take pics right now.

The rebar guys showed up at 2pm, but they crew wasn't done with the dig. I'm not sure if they will be coming back or not today :-( Hope they come back!

Last night with spray paint outline...

About 12pm (existing patio removed and digging has begun)...

About 3:30pm (starting to look like a swimming hole!)...
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poolguynj
15 years ago
Is that clay on the floor? If it is, I hope they put a layer of gravel down.Cay expands and contracts with ground moisture. That won't do the pool's floor any good.

Scott
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Scott for the heads up on the clay issue. I'm not sure what percent of the soil is clay, but there is definetely clay down there. My husband is going to call the PB and ask him about it. At least half the houses in our neighborhood have pools and our PB probably built about half of them, so I'm sure he knows what to expect in our neighborhood. Never hurts to make sure though!

The excavation crew finished about 5:30 last night and then one guy powerwashed our driveway until 8:15pm to get all of the dirt off. I have never seen someone do such a thorough job of washing off a driveway! My husband wants to hire him to powerwash the rest of our house!

The rebar guys showed up at 6:00am this morning! It was still dark out! My husband told them that they could get started, but to wait to use the saw until at least 7am. Our neighbors would not be happy waking up to that this morning :-) The inspector is coming at 9:30am, so they are trying to get the rebar done by then. They have a large crew out there, so hopefully they can make it happen. More pictures later today...
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brentr_gw
15 years ago
WOW, that is a great schedule. You might beat our time of 23 days which should have been 17 days because the screen person did not believe that the PB could build a pool so quickly. I can't wait to see more pics. You can look at out thread "Our New Pool Build in Jacksonville, FL " to get some additional ideas.
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
End of Day 2 and we have GUNITE!!

The rebar crew finished around 10am (just in time for the late inspector) and the plumbing and gunite crews were already here ready to go. It started raining and they just kept on working. The gunite crew was done about 6pm last night. Today, they are installing equipment. PB said that the tile guys will probably be here either tomorrow or monday!

Gunite guys getting started...

Gunite on the spa...

Gunite complete...
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gardenlover25
15 years ago
I admire your organized scheduling and I can't wait to see you posted the finished pool.
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brew_ster
15 years ago
Wow! That's awesome! Our pool in Friendswood started August 21. We had gunite by the end of the 28th. Tile and coping is killing me. They started last Thurs(Sept 3) mainly because we wanted to pick our own pallets of coping, flagstone, etc. They worked all Thurs and Friday then took the holiday weekend off (I don't hold that against them...everyone needs a break) but they missed out on most of last Tues because they didn't show up until about 2 in the afternoon. And then it started raining. And rain ever since. With our weather prediction for Hou/Gal region, I'll be lucky if Tile and Coping is done by end of next week....uggh. I quit posting on my thread last week out of frustration but I'll start again as soon as we see more progress.

I'm excited to watch your build because we are at about the same point.

Do you mind sharing who your builder is? And did they put gravel down before gunite? We didn't get it with ours... Hopefully you're not having to water your gunite since mother nature is helping you out?
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
Day 3: The plumbing guys were here and installed all of the equipment. It was way too muddy to walk around the house to take a pictures. I'll post a picture later of the equipment set-up.

brew_ster - Our PB is Brad Stephens of Backyard Amenities. He has a great reputation and so far, I can see why. He has been great and uses the best subs. No, they did not put down gravel. Our PB said that it wasn't necessary and he has built A LOT of pools in this area, so I trust him. I had to water the gunite twice yesterday, b/c it just barely sprinkled yesterday at my house. It poured last night, so no watering this morning! I hope your tile guys show up soon! It would drive me crazy to have it half done! I checked out your post and it looks really good so far. Can't wait to see the finished pool!
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
It's been 1 week and 1 day since the pool started and we have the tile work almost done. They just need to come back to grout the step trim and acid wash the dark spots on the flagstone. We have decided that the black areas just look dirty. Today, we had more plumbing and electrical work done. It's hard to keep up with who is doing what exactly, but we have had workers here almost every day. Here are some pics of the stone and tile work:
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brew_ster
15 years ago
This looks really great! The tile looks so good with your flagstone. I like your idea about having some of the dark spots acid washed, ours looks sort of checkerboardish in places and I could see having that done. I'll have to put that on my list for our project manager to take care of.
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nosabe
15 years ago
Ballpark budget, if you don't mind?
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
brew_ster: Thanks! If the dark spots had been more strategically placed it would be so bad, but there seems to be a lot on one side of the pool and none on the other.

nosabe: Our budget was $40K and we went over just a little b/c we decided to raise the back wall (along with the decking in the back) and add 4 sprayers at the last minute. We also decided to add 40 ln ft of flagstone to the decking. Everything included we ended up closer to $43K.
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
The decking was poured yesterday! The clean up crew showed up at 7am this morning to prepare for plaster early next week. The gaps in the decking will be filled with flagstone.
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nosabe
15 years ago
That's going to be very pretty. Your site looks so clean. Who is your builder?
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nosabe
15 years ago
Never mind...you've already answered that question.
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brew_ster
15 years ago
Any updates? I'm looking forward to seeing the finished pool.
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jackieras2
15 years ago
Mrsweggy, we just had our first meeting with Brad yesterday. We are not sure we should go with Brad or another builder we have met with. Has your pool been finished? Have you had any problems with the PB?

Any chance of seeing the current pictures? Would appreciate any information you can share.
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mrsweggy
Original Author
15 years ago
So sorry I have been MIA and didn't post finished pics yet. We found at a few weeks ago that we are expecting a baby (our first!!!) and I started a new job, so I have been a little distracted! Somehow, the pool being done was the least exciting thing that happened that week :-)

The pool started filling with water on Oct 1st (3 weeks and 1 day from the dig) and we were swimming on Oct 3rd! I will try to post pictures this weekend (I promise!).

Gardenlady: We have had zero problems with Brad and are very satisfied with how quickly things were done. He was always available via cell phone and we always dealt directly with him. I am very happy we chose him to build our pool. No complaints!
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baykin
15 years ago
mrsweggy,

Congrats on the upcoming new addition! It does look like life has thrown you some wonderful changes for the upcoming future!

Your pool design is really nice! That is great that your build was done within 3 weeks how exciting. We just started our process on Thursday of this week and if it was filled within 3 weeks someone in this family might be willing to take the "polar bear plunge" LOL!

Can't wait to see the finished project!
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brew_ster
15 years ago
Congratulations!! That's a lot of new and exciting events all at the same time! So very happy for you! Take care and we'll all be looking forward to seeing some pictures when you get a chance.
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piscespool
15 years ago
Congratulations, mrsweggy!! Also...so happy the pool turned out well...no doubt that would happen, though. Brad builds a heck of a pool. Wow...3 weeks for a pool build...that's awesome! We had to wait 21 days last fall just for our glass tile to cure before proceeding with anything else. Looks great so far...can't wait for pics. Enjoy!!
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alysenlynn
15 years ago
mrsweggy: I have a couple of quick questions about your design. You stated that your pool was about 19 feet wide. Is that in the widest part across the tanning ledge? If so what is the length across in the narrower parts of the pool. If not what is the width of the widest part across the tanning ledge? Finally what are the general dimensions of your tanning ledge? Did you ever consider making it square shaped instead of curved?

Thanks in advance! We are going to put a pool in this spring and we want one with all the features you have so we are working on design!
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