I have been reading this site for months and just now donated and decided to make it official. I am sure the site has already saved me more then a membership fee.

To make a long story shorter we got a great deal on a reo house two years ago that the previous owners had pool plans. They had the hole dug for a 20 x 40 vinyl liner pool. After moving in and fixing things up we were not ready to take the plunge financially.

Fast forward two years we are more then ready. We have been saving up and took out a small loan for the rest. I am a teacher and will really get a lot out of this in the summer but because we are on a small budget I will be doing most of the work. I wanted to build it in the fall because spring gets really busy for me and we want to be able to use it come may..weather permitting.

The hardest part so far is dealing with a hole that has been subject to 2 years of erosion and sledding by myself and my kids.

We got the following equipment for $1300 bucks on craigslist.

Pentair 2hr 2 speed wisperflo pump(I know it is overkill but I plan on running it on the lower speed)
Pentair Triton II 30” sand Filter
Pentair Minimax 400k btu Heater
Interfab Xtream Slide

I thought this was a pretty good deal. The rest 20 x 40 of the steel wall kit is on its way. 2 skimmers, 8’ Steps, diving board, 6 returns, 1 dedicated suction line, Ic 40 with easytouch 4. The permits have been pulled. Our county is pretty good about letting home owners do their own work. This past weekend I ran the 100’ natural gas line for the heater. It was a lot of work and research but our quotes from contracts were $1500 to $4000 to do what I did for $350! The local gas company was happy to help some when the saw the 400,000 BTU heater! I have several electrician friends that will give me a hand, and I have some experience in electrical work. I installed a 9 kw PV solar system on my roof. The only thing I will be contracting out will be the concrete deck.

The weather is changing rapidly in southern Colorado I am trying to weigh my options.

1. Can I build the walls, do the plumbing, pressure test, backfill and then wait until spring to put in the deck floor and liner?

2. Can I even have the concrete deck poured before the liner and water?

3. Or do the walls need the water to balance the pressure from the back fill?


It seams like a waste to have to fill the pool, winterize, risk freezing, and let it sit until spring.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Here are a couple of pics. Trenching for the natural gas. Having the hole already dug has been a pain in the rear. Hours of cleaning it out and reshaping.

I just turned my monitor sideways after my neck started hurting. You should edit/rotae the pics with mspaint or the like, then save as, then re-upload.

Looks like it's going to be a nice, big pool.

Long weekend of slow work. Because the hole for this was dug by the previous owners of this house 4+ years ago it has been a real pain just trying to deal with the erosion that has happened over time. After setting a few panels we decided we need to really make sure the shelf is level before moving on. So out came the panels, and I spent a day not he transit and with a tamp making sure everything was within 1/2 inch level. Luckily this dirt is great to work with. Mostly we were removing earth that had eroded into the pool. In the end it is making leveling the panels very easy. I wanted to get a lot more done this weekend but so it goes.

Looking good! You got a steal on all that equipment!

I have been busy! Here is what has been going on.

1. While I was constructing the walls found out that one of the 2' radius walls walls not square so that set me back several days waiting on a new one. It was damaged some point in manufacturing or shipping.

2. I am glad I purchased a transit level it has come in very handy for after work leveling fun. It took a really long time to get it right.

3. It is strange to be building a pool while your kids are building snow men.

4. The concrete collar was pretty straight forward and didn't take very long.

5. I put down about six inches of dirt and tamped it really well before plumbing. Plumbing is 90% done and then I will pressure test.

6. Today the electrical inspector came and cleared my bonding as long as I email him a picture of a different clamp on one of my bonding connections. He did not like the mechanical fitting and want the clamp kind. posting.php?mode=smilies&f=3#

Hopefully I will be back filling this weekend Weather permitting.

Plumbing fun.

Looking good! I did mine mostly DIY which means my hole was open for about 4 months. The amount of erosion that took place was amazing. Just prior to gunite me and my day laborers pulled about 10 yds of dirt out of the hole by hand. I cannot imagine what a 4 year old hole took to get it back into shape! Keep up the good work! It will be well worth the effort and the extra DIY pride sure doesn't hurt!

Looking great so far.

Haven't updated in a while so I thought I would post a few pics. Not much has been done for the last couple of months but today the concrete guys started forming. Now we will just wait for a couple of warm days! Other things done were I made my planter and fire pit and moved that huge sitting boulder in the corner.

I have never been so excited for spring!

Looks great!! Are you going do the flooring your self?

Did you backfill with dirt? If so be carful as it will settle.

Yes I did. If I was going to do it again I would use some kind of aggregate. However, I am not super concerned as I backfilled 8inchs at a time and with lots of water and hand tamping. For the last two months I have used a root water and gone around every foot or so for a few minutes often. We are also using rebar. So although I probably will get some settling and pockets I hope the rebar will help from terrible cracks. We have some great dirt here so that helps as well.

And Yes I am planning on doing the floor myself, except, my concrete guy asked a few times about it so I might ask him and a few of his crew for help. But I am already over budget

It was a rough weekend. I had big plans to get the grading outside the concrete area done and most of the hand shaping finished. Within 1hr of using my father-inlaw's skid steer it died and I spent most of two days trying to get it to start:-(. Needless to say the hand digging did not get done and is turning out to be a lot more difficult then I originally thought. Using a hole someone else dug years before has been a nightmare. At least I had some help

You will get there!!! I couldn't imagine dealing with the obsticals that you have, but the second you are finished, you will feel so rewarded!!

Keep us updated!!!

Updates will be coming more frequently now!!!
Electrical is done, the bonding grid was inspected and passed. Thanks to this board, especially bk406, for the proper wiring of the Easy Touch.
Plumbing is done. Just need to get the gas hooked up to the heater.

I just ordered 27 yards of concrete for pouring the deck tomorrow.

Pictures will follow.

Look forward to seeing it! It's amazing how fast it goes from an eyesore pita to a point of pride. Especially when the kids help out along the way. My 9 y.o. Always puffs up a little when she tells her friends that she helped build it.

8am

Looking good! Good luck today on the pour!

Hope the pour went well! I know once we had concrete thats when the pool becoming a pool started showing to me!!