quote" I would assume that Maggie's attorneys have told her to stay offline with this situation. "quote Hopefully she retained one for her counsel. Last thing I remember was she was meeting both builders and the pool guys structural engineer. I'd definitely be hiring my own and not depending on his. What you see in this thread, piss poor construction techniques, happens in Texas all the time. I lose pools on price all the time and then get the come fix my mess calls. Thankfully it sounds like her builder is a stand up guy and hopefully he'll have a claim against his insurance carrier. This kind of stuff typically throws a builder around here into closing the doors quickly, but he'll waste no time starting a new pool construction company. You know what's sad??? The 21 yr old girl that cuts my hair has a license and is held accountable for her actions but the guy I just lost a 65k pool on price to is on his 4th company since 2000 and still competes with the good builders I've known for decades under the same name and has never been held accountable for the many many uncompleted and poorly constructed pools he's been on. How can you beat my price by 10k, simply by quoting it a tick above cost, not paying the subs, and by not doing things the proper way. What's even more sad is that the judicial system here protects him more than the pool buyer. See ya, Kelly

Jennifer and Tresw, Thanks a lot for your advice. In fact, we swam today in the pool, yeaaaahhhH! Well, not really swimming, because the water was cold, about 60F and because I let the garden hose running in fresh water for an hour to lift up the level, but as a side effect it got even colder... But the clarity is now great. It is amazing comparing to a week ago, when was a swamp... What a miracle. I got the 4 way test kit, as suggested by TRESW and the readings were not that bad. Chlorine was really really low 0.4-0.6, but Ph was just right 7.6 and TA was 80 ppm (could have been 70 ppm, but with the background coloring I could not really say). The leaks are really big issue though. I broke the cement around the skimmer and now I can see the top plastic of the feeding tunnel (about 3-4 inches deep down), and it has about 0.5 inches water. What is even more worrisome is that the water is about 2" above the pool level, which means that the walls are all filled up with water all the way to the concrete deck and it is overflowing from any crack the water can get through. Also, the lines around the concrete deck are wet, as I dug about an inch deep around and now water started amassing around. And this is on the other side of the pool... I am having a serious leakage, that is for sure. I will rent these days a power hammer from Home depot and I intend to break to pieces the deck. The problem is I have not decided what to do with the debris yet. Any suggestions? As for the dead animal, I am no longer worried. I cleaned, and shocked, and cleaned, and shocked and now I believe there is nothing left from it... I hope. I certainly will avoid any contact of the water with my mouth for the next month or so, but overall I think I am over this now :) Thanks for all support and advice. If something else comes out, please shoot. I am ready to make some pics and post them online for discussion. Best, Lubo

Surprisingly in most areas engineering is not required for pool building. If you had an engineer he would have inspected the ground that the pool was built on - perhaps there was a problem here after all. Do you have any pictures before the shell went in? As far as a pool shell goes, this one is a total failure. If I had to make my guess I would say that the concrete company used too much water in the mix instead of using water reducer to achieve a slump suitable to pump. (clarification, gunite is concrete that is dry pumped and water added at the nozzle, shotcrete is ready mix concrete that is pumped wet through the lines, most pools are actually shotcrete but incorrectly referred to as gunite - which do you have?) Too much water in the mix would cause cracks in the final product similar to what you see here. The first thing you should do is have the concrete cored and tested for strength. I am thinking you will find the answer to your problems with the results from this test. If I had a problem like this the ready mix supplier would come out right away and test the concrete strength. Any problems with the finished strenght and they would be footing the bill for re and re of this entire shell. You need to know who was mixing this concrete, who was adding water, whether you have shotcrete or gunite, and what the compressive strength of the cured concrete is. I would not settle for epoxy injection or anything like it - this pool shell is simply not good enough.

Mine was that "am I going to regret plain white plaster" thread and I think some folks who had had both did say they were the same. Barco is right - Stonescapes is cheaper - PebbleTech would have cost an extra $1500. My PB told me it was essentially the same - the pebbles all come from the same factory, the main difference was that PebbleTech really police their installers, which I'm sure is why they have such a great reputation and so many thrilled custmers. However, the StonesScapes rep couldn't have been nicer and more concerned when I spoke to him. Unfortunately, his hands were tied, as to get him out to look at the pool, I first had to go through my PB company (the GM told me he'd been told by the pool start-up guy that I had the best plaster he'd ever seen!), then the plaster company (who came out without telling me and removed "a tiny little leaf" that was stuck in the plaster and was causing the rough spot I spoke about). I was pretty mad about it so the GM has agreed to meet me tomorrow with the StoneScape rep. I was worried that maybe I was being too much of a perfectionist, and I would get the same sneers, and looks of astonishment that I have had from the PB before when thing weren't right (and there have been many!). Anyway, if they say it's okay, I'll live with it. My pool is beautiful, and when the waterfall is running you can't see it anyway. Gina - I do think you are right about them wanting to do the right thing, and I'll certainly sing their praises every chance I get when this is resolved. Also, that is so great that PebbleTech fixed your spot and saved your water. I must remember to ask them to save mine too - I haven't even had the water bill for the fill-up yet and I certainly didn't want to do that again!