Here in OK, we just had two new 1.0 hp pump motors (hot tub jet and hot tub circulation motors) put in last Saturday at around $600/$650 each, installed. I don't know exactly because it was covered by our home warranty. Thank goodness once the new pump was installed, we could test the heater and sand filter for the hot tub and found that shockingly, they both worked fine. We had no measurable amount of CYA in our pool, so we were able to de-swampify with large amounts of chlorine bleach from the grocery store and brushing and vacuuming. My friend joked that the Walmart cashiers probably think I'm cleaning up a crime scene every time I roll up with a cart full of bleach. For our 35K gallon pool, it takes about 4 of the 182oz jugs of generic unscented clorox ($2.95 each jug) to bring to shock level. To de-swampify, it took us about 12 or 16 jugs total, added in the right increments at the right time (started just at dusk the first night with 5 jugs, then hit it with two more about 10 am, then a few more a few hours later, and keep going like that so my chlorine levels stayed high for at least 36 hours. that is not exactly the textbook way to do it, but I didn't have the drop chlorine test that measures really high levels of chlorine, mine just goes to 5, and when it dropped below 5, I added another jug. in 24 hours you can see blue but cloudy water. continuing to vacuum all the leaves from the bottom is crucial, because the leaves will just raise your chlorine demand and it's a vicious cycle. as we started to be able to see the bottom of the pool, it was a lot easier to see where the leaves were to get them out. brushing stirs up the cloud and makes it so you can't see again, but must be done to break the algae's grip on the pool surfaces.) Also, rather than spending $1K on water for your pool, I would budget that for an automatic cleaner of some variety if you don't have one already. We are shopping around for one now, and cannot wait to have it! Since we are out of swamp mode (although we had a revisit to swamp when we had a huge storm with giant hail that knocked tons of leaves in the pool. it's taken us 9 days to get it back to clean, so we need to work on how diligent we are to bring it up again) we are tired of scooping leaves all the time and want a cleaner to help us!

So a month has flown by and we finished our second gunite shoot last week so I finally have a little extra time to give an update and post some pictures. First: There were some concerns brought to my attention about the quality of the plumbing (crossovers/heat bending and such) work so after looking into it a bit here is what I did. 1. I had 25 yards of sand and AB gravel delivered to my yard. 2. I proceeded to backfill the plumbing trenches with sand by hand/shovel and water hose until a good layer of sand was underneaththe plumbing. This took two days but I think it was worth the effort. 3. I then used a mix of AB and sand to continue filling the trenches 1/3 up, and any crossovers to get adequate support. 4. I then hauled out 30 yards of trenched dirt/rock as it was not my intention to use any of this crappy material to fill back in the plumbing trenches. 5. On the first gunite shoot I used the gunite rebound (3 or 4 yards) and lots of water to continue filling trenches. 6. The next day I used a bobcat to finish backfilling the trenches with AB gravel to grade level. 7. The plumbing has been under pressure at 40 psi for over a month with no problems. (I was told by some very reputable plumbers that setting the plumbing pressure any higher then this is a bad idea.) Undoubtably my plumbing will last for 20+ years maintainance free! :) Second: I took some extra time and expense to have the engineering firm I used send out an engineer for two on-site inspections just before each gunite shoot. It was good piece of mind for me to have the engineer on site and give final approval of the construction before gunite. Neil Anderson is the engineering firm and I am not sure if you could find one person in Northern CA who would disagree with the statement that they are the best there is. All right, onto the pictures and the progress. One week later it was time for the second gunite shoot: So I am calling it a little over half way done at this point and it has been time consuming road to get to this point as an owner builder. But I still have to say that doing an owner/build is a GREAT way to go. I would recommend it to anyone instead of using a pool builder unless you live in TX near Kelly. Then I would just use him!

Well I have not updated in a few days because I have been too busy to have a chance. The latest for today; the pool will be plastered and completed tomorrow, making it a three week project. The landscaping and gutters for the house were completed today. The marcite was delivered from supplier today and will be installed tomorrow. We start filling the pool tomorrow after marcite and will be swimming over the weekend. I will post some pictures tonight of the progress as of today and then I will start a new post tomorrow or Friday with the completed pictures of the pool. It just depends on how long the water fill up takes. It has been very time consuming and hard work doing it myself, but totally worth it in the end, especially to have it completed in 3 weeks. Can't wait for the weekend! :-)

I have worked on many of both builders pools. The only thing that ever bugged me about East Coast was the tendency to tie drains to skimmers. Run them individually to the equipment pad and plumb the drain so it can send heated water to the bottom. After that, dead heat. Both have skill sets that are similar enough but can do different things with their designs better than the other. Both have built some absolutely amazing pools in my area. It's always a pleasure working on them vs. some of the basic stuff. Overall feedback I have heard from my customers have been pretty positive. Sometimes, E.C. seems a bit slower in progressing. If I was building in my back yard, I would use Scott because I have known him for some time and know I can trust his judgment in the areas I'm not qualified to make and not worry, and his sense of urgency to get things done. Yes Scott, I would plumb my own pad. You wouldn't expect me to to do other wise, now would you. heheh. One day, when I hit the lottery... Scott