New Member, First Build...What have we gotten into?

Sorry to disappoint you, but I am a he. :D :D :D :D

Pronoun fixed. Boy is my face red :foot:

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How should I know ??? :hammer: I have no idea why a sub would need to trust me or what I need to do to be trustworthy. lmfao

You must have scared all the subs with the infamous "almost dead-end drain" incident of 2014. You are really famous on the forum that all the PBs and their subs use to b***h about us customers.
 
Oh yeah? What happened?

Don't tell Zethacat....he's obsessed with overflow drains! ;)

Well you see they ran the pipe OVER the plastic neck of both my skimmers, despite my complaining about it, they told me it was all good. So of course the pool only drained down to the level the pipe is at, which unfortunately is as high as the coping. As I told my PB by email that apparently covering it with grass didn't magically make the water flow uphill. I think they were hoping they'd be long gone before we discovered that. But alas not. Add something else to the list of things they fix before they get the last dregs of their money. At least its only grass around the pool not decking, but whatever they mess up fixing it, they are paying for. Including my time for laying that grass in the first place and I'm expensive.
 
But I bet it felt good to type it all out! I do that all of the times. My final draft NEVER looks or sounds like my first draft LOL

Eva! That is unreal! "See I TOLD you it would not work!" DUH! LOL I know you are going to be out there watching them this time!

Zethacat I thought you were a female as well due to your "name". What does your name refer to?

Zethacat did you go all "RangerBob" on them and wear your gun outside where they could see it?

Kim
 
My handle is just a random pick. There's really no reference to refer to. :D

I am an incessant post editor. Even on forums, sometimes you'll hit refresh and my post will be completely different. When I'm angry , typing is the worst thing I can do because it ALWAYS ends up sounding nasty so I always end up having to delete it and talk in person (though sometimes that always doesn't sound nice either). I'm originally from NY so maybe that's why.

And believe it or not (maybe believable since I'm from NY), I don't even own a gun.. but for some reason I've been getting this gut feeling of needing a sawed off shotgun ever since having a pool built. I get the feeling sometimes my PB is going to show up with one himself if I don't stop complaining about stuff.
 
Okay guys - I'm taking my thread back :).

Got word from Bob that there are 2 Crews on site. The carpenter crew (2 man team) who continues to stain/paint....for what seems like forever and the "get the pool ready for plaster crew" who was out before and has to clean and drain the pool again to prepare it. Project manager says the electrician will be out this week but will have 3 days worth of work to do including climbing around in our attic. Project manager also says he talked to the plaster company and said "I know you always do a good job, but on this one - there can be no mistakes, and I'm going to be on site the entire time" In which the plaster company owner allegedly replied "Then I will on site the entire time". Bob and I were trying to decide if that conversation really happened.

The project manager also said that the plaster will go in and the pool will be filled with water BEFORE the countertop is in and the stone masons return to complete that, plus fix the rocks in the fireplace and finish the 1x1 tile. Our contract reads, "Last payment at project completion and first punch list signed off"

Also - checked in with the outdoor patio store - and they have not given away my furniture - whew! It is ready to be delivered any time (except this week)

-Karen
 
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Okay guys - I'm taking my thread back :).

Project manager also says he talked to the plaster company and said "I know you always do a good job, but on this one - there can be no mistakes, and I'm going to be on site the entire time" In which the plaster company owner allegedly replied "Then I will on site the entire time". Bob and I were trying to decide if that conversation really happened.

Our contract reads, "Last payment at project completion and first punch list signed off"

Thanks for letting us "play" in your thread Karen LOL!

That whole thing about the plaster company and PM just smells like you need a extra big muck rack!

See I LOVE how your contract reads. That sounds like how the all should be.

At least you have some work going on.

Good luck!

Kim
 

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How in the world does the electrician have three days work to do? You requiring half the house too?

It would seem like it wouldn't it. From what we can tell, the electrician has to 1) pull power from our service panel and run it to the other end of the house, 2) set up a slave panel box, 3) install the equipment controller [Easy Touch 8], 4) all the pool lights, 5) wiring for the pavilion - step 1 and after the counter top is in, wiring for the appliances - step 2. The other three times he has been out to the property he has pointed around a lot and done very little.
 
It would seem like it wouldn't it. From what we can tell, the electrician has to 1) pull power from our service panel and run it to the other end of the house, 2) set up a slave panel box, 3) install the equipment controller [Easy Touch 8], 4) all the pool lights, 5) wiring for the pavilion - step 1 and after the counter top is in, wiring for the appliances - step 2. The other three times he has been out to the property he has pointed around a lot and done very little.

Sound like a day and a half tops.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Guess who showed up today!? And he got quite a bit done. The electrician estimates he has another full day of work left.... Here are some photos of his handiwork so far:

He put in the blower for the spa, mounted the Easy Touch 8 controller, changed out some of the manual valves for the valve controllers that tie into the Easy Touch, connected the pump, the heater and wired the SWG
Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Ran wire to the outdoor kitchen for the light and fan switches and one outlet. Although they stained the wire, they are actually supposed to box the wire with wood and then stain that.
Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Mounted an outlet for the mini fridge and wine fridge
Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr


Mounted an outlet for the grill lights
Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Mounted an outlet for the grill rotissuere
Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Mounted 2 pool lights and 1 spa light. Any thoughts on the single screw? Also, electrician used lights that he brought and not the lights delivered with the pool equipment - according to the electrician, we needed the lights he brought because they had longer wire - then he said he was going to take the lights that got delivered with the equipment back to the shop.
Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr


AND....get ready for this, the carpentry crew is DONE painting and staining!!!

Looks like a good work week for most of us - Karen
 
Thoughts on the lights- I would find a way to see if he gave you same value of lights. It sure does sound fishy to me.

So how much stain was left? LOL

You say the carpenters are done. Will they box in the wires on the beam?

You are getting closer!

Kim
 
Single brass screw is all the light gets. The other holes are weep holes for drainage.
Why did the electrician use romex everywhere? Should have had him run pipe instead. Romex isn't really used outdoors or mc cable either for that matter. It looks like he just ran seal tight and pulled romex through that too. Pipe is a much better installation in my opinion. Not to knock it, just the electrician in me.
Also, not sure if your lights face side to side or end to end but the lens is shipped in wide mode (side to side) and can be rotated 180degrees for narrow mode (end to end longways ) best to do this before water if needed.
 
Karen, when we had our grilled installed, the install directions indicated that we needed air flow under the grill. We had vents built into the block walls of the kitchen to accommodate the requirement. I can’t tell from the pictures if you did that or if your grill requires it.
 
Never knew that cluck! Interesting.

Great progress Karen! The light looks very nice with the chrome looking finish. And ours don't have the sealant looking stuff around it, and we're plastering on Monday. Wonder if that's something I should ask about? Hopefully my guys know what they are doing!

All those outlets for all of your goodies makes me really envious that we aren't doing our outdoor kitchen now...but I have to keep things in perspective. It was no outdoor kitchen or no pool! A mini fridge AND a wine cooler? I love you.........:D
 
Thoughts on the lights- I would find a way to see if he gave you same value of lights. It sure does sound fishy to me.

So how much stain was left? LOL

You say the carpenters are done. Will they box in the wires on the beam?

You are getting closer!

Kim

the lights are definitely the same, just longer wires. We just want to make sure the Project Manager is aware of the switch out. We don't expect any issues with it - just found it a good idea to keep the Project Manager informed (and no, the courtesy doesn't always work both ways)

It may be the carpenters that have to box and stain related to the wires - so technically they aren't done done.

There is at least 1 5-gallon container of stain in our garage. I'm not sure how much is left of the second container they opened. Probably enough left that we can stain all the wood rail fencing around the property :)

Single brass screw is all the light gets. The other holes are weep holes for drainage.
Why did the electrician use romex everywhere? Should have had him run pipe instead. Romex isn't really used outdoors or mc cable either for that matter. It looks like he just ran seal tight and pulled romex through that too. Pipe is a much better installation in my opinion. Not to knock it, just the electrician in me.
Also, not sure if your lights face side to side or end to end but the lens is shipped in wide mode (side to side) and can be rotated 180degrees for narrow mode (end to end longways ) best to do this before water if needed.

I remember reading about the wide mode in your thread - and my uninformed brain thought it had to do with you taking pictures of your pool. So thank you for pointing it out to me and bringing it into context. With that, I mentioned it to Bob and he said he will definitely speak to the project manager. We were thinking we would have wide lens for both lights. Do people tend to have it in wide mode in their shallow end and narrow mode in their deep end. Our pool is 42 feet long and both lights are on the long wall facing away from the house. This is the same wall that has a very wide set of stairs. The shallow end wall is very short ~ 10 feet. The light is in the middle of that. Then there is the set of stairs ~15 feet. and then the deep end wall isn't much longer ~17 feet with the light in the middle of that.

I agree with not ignoring the pool school and understanding the chemical side of adding water. I had ordered the TF-100 test kit and practice testing our tap water which will be the same that will fill the pool. We have an interesting choice of water source - the water that runs from the house is hooked up to a cooperative water source (not city water but not well water). The water that irrigates our yard and runs to the barn is well water. I haven't tested that. And in any case, I realize the importance of not being caught off guard when the water starts filling.

Has anyone had issues with their PB's related to their pool start up and transition? As part of our contract, they are supposed to come out 6 times in the first month to start, brush, train and transition pool. Have most of you been able to convince your PB's of the TFP method? Or have you just ignored your PB? I think my best course of action now is to get Bob up to speed on pool school :) -Karen
 

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