Get to know the UCC. There isn't much in there that doesn't have sound reasoning. No permits is a scary thing.

Scott

Scott I understand your concerns for the Permitting System and could not agree more that they are a useful thing. If we were not using a reputable builder I myself would be concerned too.

As soon as I can figure out how to post pictures I intend to do so, I seem to link them and only one shows up? (photobucket) Any advice regarding what I am doing wrong?

As far as the build goes we started yesterday morning and got the digging and the rebar done.

Day 2 - Plumber has been here and gone, didn't get any pictures due to me not being home during that process and now we are off to gunite....

I think I have got it!

Day 1
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Day 2 -
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Day 3 getting some help from my youngest to put the sprinkler in the pool.

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Great start! Just wondering where in Houston you don't need permits?

Brew_ster I am way East of Houston...between Mont Belvieu and Beach City. We do have to follow our strict HOA guidlines but other than that we are not required to file permits.

Thanks for the kuddos on starting. Now comes the waiting for the plumbing to be finished the curing of the gunite and such...so exciting to see it all finally come together!

I thought I would update our timeline on this project, we started the trenching for the plumbing and electrical yesterday and were scheduled for tile and coping on Friday. Well we ended up getting rained out, yes it is some much needed rain just wish it could have held off for all of us.

Again not too much movement around here the last few days because of the rain and boy is it a muddy mess out there!

I will post some pictures of the tile and coping once completed. They began that today and as of now I am completely terrified that the selections we made were not the correct ones. Oh how hard it is to decide on all of this without a complete visual! Keep your fingers crossed for me that it all turns out looking good.

Work closely with your PB and all should be well, I spend lots of time with my clients and help steer them in the right direction with all of their material choices. Hope to see some more pics.
good luck along the way

Bruce thank you for the advice, I was second guessing our decisions I am just awful at imagining the completed project before it is actually completed.

The tile and coping are completed. After it was put together I have decided our decisions were not so off track after all. We are just waiting on the moss rock. I plan on posting more pictures as the stages are completed. With all of the rain we have received recently it has slowed the process of the pool build as well as pictures.

I hope documenting this build will prove to be helpful to others, especially because we will be using the Sedona Red Pebble Tec. Definitely not the choice of many people on this board and finding the information regarding this color was a definite chore :0).

I have pictures of the tile and coping.

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The rain subsided this weekend allowing the crew to come out and finish the moss rock for the weeping wall and the planting area. If we receive some nice weather around here for a little bit it will not be much longer.

Weeping wall
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Planter area

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View from the back porch
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Looing good. Can you post a picture of the backside of the weeping wall?

thanks

Is that an outlet next to the pool?
If so why?
That is generally a code violation within 10' of the pool.

The duplex receptacle has got to go, PERIOD.
I'm reasonably certain in Baykins area there are no inspections, but you still MUST build a code compliant pool.
10' from the water is the closest you can have a 120 volt receptacle.
Is your electrician licensed??? I would think not. No licensed electrician would set himself up with that liability. And just as equally, any licensed electrician who would do that should have his license yanked.
Many builders, in a effort to save money, will use unlicensed tradesman in an effort to save money. On electrical contracting these savings can be huge.
This, blatant disregard of the NEC, would have me suspect as to the balance of the electrical work.
I would highly encourage you to get another electrician to look over his work or hire an inspection service to look at it.
Just my .02

See ya,
Kelly

After reading my reply it might have come across harsh.
I really didn't mean for it to.
Electricity and water are not a good mix and this is a VERY important aspect of your pool construction process.

See ya,
Kelly

Ky- yes I will post pictures of the backside when I get back this weekend.

Just a pb - actually that came at my request. I will look into all of this for sure!

Kelly - no you didn't come off as harsh, just stating the facts! I will do some checking on this though! That is what this board is about helping one and another...if I didn't know I wouldn't check, thank you!

They did come at the request of us for possibly adding some outdoor lights and such to our landscaping. Does it matter that they are GFI? Thanks in advance for your help.

Outdoor plugs MUST be GFCI and per NEC, no closer than 10' from the pool.

Kelly hit the nail on the head!

Scott

Scott, I no more clicked submit and realized my stupidity...you will have to excuse that question-I have already been traveling for 9 hours today and my brain is a little slow :0)

I am waiting on my DH to discuss his decisions.

I am so thankful for the board members on here helping one and another from making mistakes! Just more reasons for us to post pictures! "A picture is worth a thousand words."

baykin,

whats really concerning is the electrician actually wired it because of your request instead of letting you know he couldn't because he would lose his license.

look into that.

What is the white stuff under the rocks? Waterproof sealer?

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Actually, there are a couple of instances where the NEC allows recepticles less than 10 ft. from the pool. You can find them in Article 680.22(A)(1)(4). Below is a great link with pictures that cover the NEC electrical codes for pools.

Baykin, any recepticle within 20 ft. of the pool must be GFCI protected [680.22(A)(5)]

HTH

Here is a link that might be useful: NEC Article 680

Yes all outdoor receptables MUST be GFCI protected.
Baykin, just an FYI, please put in as many receptables as possible. I added 9 extra outlets all using 12 ga wire on 20amp breakers. Put many extras as the wife will always find things to plug in like outdoor mister fans, radios, computers and cell phone chargers, not to mention possible outdoor kitchen for blenders and mini fridges. Make sure you have a big sub panel like 100amp , so you can add on extra breakers for other features. You will sooner or later regret not having enough outlets and breakers. Also now would be a good time to plan and add as many hose bibbs for faucets. I added 5 extra hose bibbs all tied into the main line for my irrigation. Here in Jacksonville we can have a separate meter for irrigation and there is no charger for sewer.
Hope this helps.

quote" What is the white stuff under the rocks? Waterproof sealer? "quote

Pool mix and white portland.

See ya,
Kelly

I finally have time to sit down and catch up here.

Tsunami I was able to look at the link you sent yesterday -NEC codes and as far as I can tell the only reason they could be closer than the 10Â is due to small areas and proximities to the dwellingÂand we donÂt have that problem but Thank You for your help in this matter and needless to say after reading all of that I now have a much better perspective of where we need to be with electrical issues.
The sad truth to all of this is that I work so closely with "Safety Guidelines" on a daily basis and it is the little stuff that I seem to forget or not look at. Maybe it is the excitement of this pool build and knowing we want to make these decisions before it is too lateÂ.My husband asked for them, I relayed the information to the electrician, and I NEVER even blinked or thought twice about it, I am not sure what I was thinking!

I am so thankful for all of the help from the members of this board! Without all of you I wouldÂve not thought about it until it was all said and done, then moving them wouldnÂt have been as easy as it should be now.

Brentr, our original ideas for these extra outlets were much the same as yours and your wifeÂs. We do have one on the back porch and many in the garage but wanted more for all of the extras we might decide to useÂespecially landscaping lights etcÂthen you read the NEC guidelines and you think twice. I had them add two outlets one behind each moss rock area but I am currently awaiting a call back from the builder to discuss why no one told me ahead of time when I requested these extra outlets to be placed that close to the pool. Then I plan on moving them both 10 feet away from the waterÂs edgeÂwith as much as they cost and I paid per foot I sure hope this isnÂt something that costs a fortuneÂgranted it IS worth it for safety reasons, just hind sight I wish I had been told when I requested them to be placed there.

Ky1974 - glad Kelly was able to answer your question. I knew it had something to do with a sealent type application but that is all I knew.

Baykin, it was a very good idea to have extra outlets. The wife has already planned for christmas lights and decorations. OMG I need more outlets so I do not have a bunch of extension cords AHHHHHHHH! LOL. You can always add more after the pool is completed. Just make sure you have a large enough sub panel. I used a GE thin subpanel capable of holding 16 breakers and I only have 4 spaces left.LOL....

I talked with builder who in turn talked with the electrician and all of this will be worked out and up to code. YAY! Our builder was very easy to talk to and it will all work out just fine.

BTW can anyone explain what is with the copper wire that goes all around the pool?

Brentr - you are too funny! We will have the extra outlets I asked for but they will be where they are required to be per the standards.

The copper wire is called a bonding wire. It serves two purposes.

Anything metal near the pool needs to be grounded. This includes the rebar, dive stand, ladder and rail sockets, and light niches and fixtures. This helps keep any stray voltage away.

Stray voltage will result in stray current. Stray currents can cause electrolysis. Electrolysis is corrosive. The bond wire sends it to ground where it is rendered harmless.

It also serves as a backup ground wire

for the equipment pad.

Scott

"can anyone explain what is with the copper wire that goes all around the pool?"

It helps to protect people from getting shocked in wet areas around the pool. You can also find more information about this in the same link above. Section 680.26 covers "Equipotential Bonding" for pools.

poolguynj and tsunami thank you! I was thinking that it did have something to do with the corrosive issues as well as the bonding but did want to check.

We are looking at having the concrete poured tomorrow morning...we are almost done YAY! Finally not so much of a muddy mess in the back yard from this point forward.

The electrical issues we had are being taken care of and now we are once again moving forward.

My DH sent pics to me a little while ago as I am not in town and I thought I would share them.

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The 3' walkway around the side - to allow the rest of the area next to it for planting

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Where is the bond wire around the pool? Normally, its attached in at least 4 places.

Scott

Scott I have a feeling on the 3' walkways it has been buried below the sand but I can see it on the picture coming off of the back porch...but that is probably because I know where it was originally.

Should the rebar not be raised up off of the ground? Wont do any good being on the bottom of the cement. Maybe they are going to lift it before they pour.

Make sure it's attached at multiple points around the pool.

Scott

cdn - you are correct it should be raised up and they did do that when they came to pour the concrete this morning.

Scott - thank you for your advice. The bond wire was done a while back and it is attached in at least 4 different spots around the pool.

I wanted to bring our pool build up to date as well as change the subject line of this posting due to the "peculiarity" of the color we chose for the Pebble Tec. Sedona Red isnÂt common consequently it has been quite an assignment to find pictures associated with this color.
I had doubts earlier with my tile, coping, and rock options until today as they add the pebble tec. I truly sense the colors are going to work well together after all.
I have been out of town for some time and havenÂt posted pictures of the finished decking either. I will post those as well.
I hope that this experience of our s and our mistakes on the subject of the extra electrical outlets will prove to be useful to others on this board.

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Acid Wash tomorrow! YAY!

Better pictures of the Pebble Tec once it isn't just a slush...onward and upward. We are scheduled for acid washing of the pebble tec tomorrow and start filling, then they will clean up the decking and such after that...

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This is going to be so cool to see filled!

Scott

Thanks Scott! I think it is too...that bright color is sort of scary though! The Pebble Tec guys said they havenÂt done a Sedona Red in 2 yearsÂwhat can I say I am a bit off the norm.
With it all together it reminds me of the red dirt of Oklahoma and of course the Sedona Red of Arizona...It is definitely going to be unusual in comparison.

A smart IBM marketing fella once passed this nugget:

How do you get from the same to better?

Rule One- Be Different!

LOL Scott...I only wish I was that smart IBM guy though.

BTW where are you at it Jersey? Just curious...I grew up there, 20 years of my life anyway!

Living in Ocean County nearly 20 years. Northern Bergen County prior to that for almost 30.

Scott

I lived in Morris County most of my life...in the so called "Country." I sure do miss the food and the fact that everything grows up there!

The pool is filling! Acid wash today with pictures of the after affects...whats left...deck acid wash, decko seal, start up, and final clean up. Then we are off and running on landscaping and a fence. I was finally able to move my plants off of the shaded back porch today (until deck acid wash) to get the much needed sun they have been lacking! I can't wait to get it all together!

I am posting pictures of post acid wash and filling - I will then post after it is full before chemicals are added - then I will get pictures posted again in a few weeks after it becomes the color we were so anxiously waiting for.

Pebble Tec after acid wash -

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It is started -

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Filling ;0)
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Get a rag on the hose end in the pool. You don't want an iron stain.

Scott

Scott thanks for the heads-up...just ran out there and got it on! Thank You!

I wanted to post some pictures of how pebble tec changes drastically after chemicals become more balanced. Every day the "true" end result color has become more evident. I did choose an odd ball color with the Sedona Red but I must say it is a relaxing natural color for me.
The first day once full and before chemicals is a scary sightÂespecially with our rural water. But 3 ½ days later it is a prettier blue gray.

Right after fill was complete

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3 1/2 days after chemicals were added

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