Hi guys!

Like many I've been reading up here to attempt to minimize issues. Signed and the dig started today.

>>>> all input welcome <<<<

32'x14' (average) 3.5' to 5.5' (13k gallons)
water feature are two urns pouring into the pool in the back corners (small radii)
raised beam across the back
26' x 42' screened in deck
10, 4'x12' hi-tec solar panels
no spa, no active heater.
brick pavers, brick coping
'diamond brite' plaster

Two main drains
One skimmer
(3) 2" suction lines
(4) 2" returns + 2 for the urns
Intelliflo VS-3050
Sun Touch control for the vs3050 speed & solar valve
Intellichlor IC40
200 sq ft Clean and Clear Cartridge Filter
Intellibrite pool light with control knob.

Permitting took 1.5 weeks, along with the homeowner association approval (gah!!!), and the dig started today.

Found water in the deep end so they dumped a bunch of crushed in and rigged a pump pipe.

End of day 1.... Dig complete on both my and my neighbor's pool (we contracted together for a discount)

I get steeled tomorrow, neighbor gets steeled Wednesday. we both get inspected Thursday. Gunite comes in Friday...

Happy family members abound !!!!!!!!!

Why do they run the kickers so far out from the dig? That's interesting (at least it is to me!).

Congrats on the hole!!!

Oh Boy Congratulations. Great to combine with neighbor too.

I see you are not putting in a spa. I'm so glad I didn't have any choice about that, otherwise if we had built our pool I probably would have been tempted (pre TFP). I see so many issues with the combined spa/pools and they aren't really suited for how we like to use a spa, daily, at odd hours. I have my separate spa, all electric, turned down to 79 F right now. The circulation pump is running and that pump uses very little electricity. Heater doesn't come on much either because of good insulation. I can have the temp up close to 100 in little over an hour.

Stay clam and be nice to each other. That will help with any stresses that may occur. Sometimes, it seems, builds go smooth as silk. I'll bet it will go even smoother because you know what to expect because you have become educated.

Nice design and the urns will be a nice touch... glad to see you still have some riparian ecology left in Orlando (or is that break acting as frontage to a freeway! )

Now, perhaps I can get a definitive answer as to why everyone (it seems) in the South East put their pools under a screen... is the sole purpose to keep bugs away while you're swimming?

Thanks everyone !

Hi Simi -- No idea about the kicker boards... I assumed 2x4's were on sale

Thx Granny -- After reading several posts on here I resolved to remain calm yet firm through the building process.
Nice idea on the spa -- although we just never would get in it.... so it was a no brainer for us to not include it.

Thanks Poly -- ya the urns are our small twist on things. And yes we're delighted about our riparian backyard 127 acres of unbuildable conservation back there. With the screen -- it is "partially" bug related. But it rolls mostly with other critters... You still get snakes in the pool with a screen -- but you just get less of them. Also, most subdivisions force a fence or a pool.

The fence is 5,000, the screen is 6,000... and I won't have to fish out as many coral snakes. Seems weird to have a lot of cages in hurricane country, but we have our reasons

Thanks for the nice comments and well-wishes, the steel guys are working as I write... Let's hope for no rain !!!!!!!!!

How very exciting Optoman. What a great deal having your neighbors in on also building a pool!
I love the urns also!

It seems like your process goes much faster than ours does out here on the West Coast.

We also have a wild life conservation behind our home. We do not screen in pools here so I'm a tad concerned about the rattle snakes that might take interest in our decking on cool nights.

Congrats on your pool and keep posting pictures of the happy family

We're surrounded by 100s acres of protected habitat too. When the State Park lake was filling we had GIANT rattlesnakes all around our property as their habitat was being encroached upon by water but several years after the lake filled the numbers started reducing significantly. We also have Texas Corals and we have one in the freezer that is 40". I occasionally find newborns or juveniles, but rarely adults, in the skimmer in the mornings. Copperheads are our biggest problem. They could care less if I approach them and will literally crawl across the deck in afternoons, and right under the chair I'm sitting on. After we let the pool become a frog pond in 07-08 our copperhead population exploded. This summer we were catching several a week, at dusk and later within 10 ft of our house.

We keep the pool area well lighted with low voltage lighting, all night, with supplemental floods when needed. Also have lighting around the walls and lighted under any benches, tables, chairs, and gas grill (that resides up against a wall). ALSO, we have a rule for spring, summer, fall, that everyone has to carry a flashlight, from dusk to dawn, when venturing beyond the decking, going to the sheds, or going to cars, etc., no exceptions. Our copperheads climb vines. (I have some great pics of snakes at our windows taken from inside.) We always check the pool before using especially at night and in the a.m. We even check the covered spa and all around it, located on the Trex deck, with high intensity flashlights, before getting in even though we have motion sensing lights attached all around the spa enclosure. The copperheads, frequently, like to enter the house during early evening so we have to be careful around doors going in and out. We, also, keep a 4 ft snake catcher handy and a big plastic dedicated trash barrel to put them in, once caught. DH does two snake runs a night, at dusk and around 10-12 p.m. He averages one snake every day and a half, but has, on occasion caught as many as four in one night. You never, ever, ever, reach into any place without thoroughly probing the area, day or night, and visually inspecting.

Become familiar with the snakes in your area. You want the good snakes that eat warm and cold blooded pests, including poisonous snakes. We have loads of nonvenomous snakes but many of them have pretty nasty temperaments and will bite, although your only concern with those bites is infection.

We've tried virtually all "products" to keep snakes away from certain areas but none are very affective. One of the granular products has tested well with rattlesnakes but has no effect on most others, especially the copperheads. There is a sonic device that you put in the ground that is supposed to work but I haven't tried it yet as I was afraid it would drive our indoors pet King Snake crazy. He has such a passive temperament, except when in feeding mode, so I don't want to make him crazy. BTW... we don't feed him live food, rather frozen from the pet store. (Need to do some more research to see if that device will affect indoors pet snakes.)

When our dogs are older they do less exploring at night but our three new puppies got copperhead bites this summer so we had to keep them up from dusk to morning, going out to the enclose courtyard only to potty. They are immunized for rattlesnake bites but have only gotten copperhead bites.

Teach your children well about the hazards and to follow all safety precautions, always.Protect your pets. Copperhead bites are rarely fatal. Rattlesnake bites more so. (As far as my Vet knows they haven't approved the rattlesnake immunization for humans. It doesn't make the animals "immune" to the venom but helps to reduce the complications from venom.) Coral bites too but people usually only get bites from them handling them.

I can see the importance of pool cages. Mosquitoes can be pretty easily dealt with but critters are another thing.

How do critters get in to enclosures? Can't they be sealed well enough to keep them out?

gg=alice

A blacksnake in residence will keep the copperhead population down.

I lived in Houston when I was younger and I remember all the snakes and critters.

We are installing low voltage lighting all over our backyard. I'm pretty sure all we have are rattle snakes. They tend to really come out in the Spring. We have little dogs that are gated off to only the side yard, the snakes are a concern but we are more worried about the coyotes that roam our area... and the family of 3 large hawks. The only bugs I ever really see here are small black ants and occassional spiders. That is probably the reason no one screens in their yard or pool here.

Sorry about going off topic on your pool build!!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the support !!! No worries Jenny

90% of the steel went in today.

The only thing I found odd was that the stairs are not steeled but the swim out is. I'm missing something

Inspection tomorrow on my steel. Neighbor gets steeled tomorrow. We both get gunite Friday.

nice info gg=alice -- scary as well. Yes the cages are sealed down but....... mother nature always wins.... and stuff just gets in Whlie an open air pool is certainly appealing, it was a small cost differential from the fence to go with a screen and get some semblance of protection. Even it it may blow away next hurricane

in my neck of the woods, we have mosquitos that will kill the hawks to get to the dogs. yet no one scrrens their pools.... I wonder how expensive that is around here?

I like to focus on the technical stuff. So does that mean you have 6 separate 2" return lines pool to pad? That might result in the return head loss being lower than the suction head loss which could be problematic for the pump. 3 - 2" pool to pad lines feeding two returns each including the urns may be a more balanced plumbing setup.

Steel is not required until you exceed 48" of water depth, so steps are typically not steeled. They just shoot them solid. I would guess the swim out is in water deeper than 4'

Hi Mas,

Dunno -- I'll inquire tomorrow.
I'm sure the urns are on 1 line pad to pool and split at the pool.
Unknown on the returns (eyeballs) if they are T-ed closer to the pool.

Thanks for the explanation Simi

Just a suggestion, but I'd have the builder put ball valves on the urn lines (I'd also suggest he manifold the line coming back to feed them) so that you can control them independently for flow/volume. You may want more or less water on one or the other for some reason at some time, so it would be nice to have that control.

One other suggestion: if you plan on laying the urn on its side on the RBB, you will need to address the lip on the bottom edge once it is laid down. If it stays in the current configuration, the water will roll back on the edge and travel to the point of the urn that makes contact with the top of the RBB, and then run down the face of the RBB. This is probably not what you are looking to achieve, and it will leave a mark on the tile as it runs down the face! Sometimes a slit can be made in the rolled edge and the water won't jump it, and sometimes you have to grind the edge to make it work. If it is a clay pot, I would also water-seal the inside with a couple of coats of Thoroseal, Mulasticoat, Laticrete or the like.

Hi Simi,

Thx greatly for the suggestions.

Yes the urns will have their own valve. I was contemplating rigging them as the "spa" for the Suntouch control panel. If that won't work then a ball valve will go in for flow control.

The urns will lay on their sides, but on the two radii in the back corners. We put the radii in for the exact reason you cite, dribble protection as we can slide the urns forward on the radii to lean over the water.

With respect to the urn itself, we searched long to find one with a negative edge on the lip when laid over. If necessary, we'll tilt the urn forward a touch until nothing runs backwards to the decking. If further necessay, I'll dremel out a more aggressive recess below that edge -- just as you suggested.

I guess I should stick a hose in it to see what it's going to do

Any recommendations on where I may find any of those sealing products you mentioned? Is that a home depot/lowes type of thing or is that a speciailty store item?

And thanks again -- great suggestions!!!

Doubt you'll find them at HD/Lowes (at least they don't have it here on the Left Coast!). You'll most likely need to go to a masonry supply store to get it. PB may be able to give you a source as well. Usually they come in grey or white color out of the bag, but you can tint it to match the inside of the urn; just make sure and let them know when you are purchasing the material and they should be able to accommodate you!