I'm well underway and before we spray cement I have a question or two. That I'll ask in a followup post. First some pool particulars and pics of the progress...

- In-ground gunite pool with 18" raised bond beam to deck level along the back and a raised spa 18" above the deck.
- Approx 672 sq ft. It's around 18 or 20X40. Maybe 25,000 or 30,000 gallons. Not really sure yet.
- Beach entry. Spa will have cascading ledger stone waterfall.
- Not sure what finish I'm going to use. PebbleTec-like will work, but I think I might go with the finer "sheen" finish.
- Going to use Jandy equipment:
- 400K natural gas heater
- 580sq ft cartridge filter
- 3HP ePump for filtration (maybe 2HP... still pondering)
- 3HP Stealth pump for spa jets
- 2HP Stealth water feature booster pump
- Jandy Aqualink RS controls and switches
- Aquapure SW chlorination system (I have mixed feelings on this due to city water waste ordinance)
- Not sure about lights yet. Pool has 2, spa has 1. I'll do colored LED in the spa, but I'm not sure I want that feature in the pool.



Looking towards the back of the house. Putting in a new patio with the pool. Funny thing about the patio... I have an older home and when the masonry crew went to demo the old patio they found 3 additional patio layers underneath. It was an incredible amount of old concrete.


Excavation: One bobcat to rule them all.




More to follow...

...

Patio progress: Concrete border done and flagstone started. Using a quartzite stone from Arizona.


Steel started. I really like this sub. He's honest and does quality work.


Plumbing... my least favorite part of the project so far.

Now a couple questions...

The first question: Return plumbing
The crude drawing below shows a single 2" pipe (red) coming from the future pool equipment pad location scaling down to 1.5" pipe (green) and then to 1" pipe (blue). Each of the return outlets to the pool are 1". The distance for this run is probably about 100' from pump to the final return pipe. While this layout will likely work fine I'm wondering if it's worth the effort to take the final stretch of 1.5" pipe, scale it back up to 2" and connect that 2" pipe back to the original 2" pipe near the equipment via a Tee to create a loop. Not sure this is really needed though.

If the existing single run design can push out 70GPM with decent pressure (to keep water moving) that is enough flow to turn over the water in this pool in a reasonable amount of time. So will I benefit from a loop? The cartridge filter is rated at about 120GPM



The second question: Filter pump size
Should I be using a 2HP vs pump or 3HP?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

I would loop the return if it were my pool. Don't think the cost increase would be significant.

A loop is probably not needed but it would be nice to have. I'd have the 1½" increased to 2" as well. Also I'd have all those 1" lines made 1½". You can always reduce the outlet but if you needed a little more you can't increase it. Besides the standard return fitting is 1½" so you'll be reducing to 1" and immediately increasing back to 1½" unless they're not planning on using adjustable eyeball fittings. Which I would insist on.

Passed first round of inspections today. Woohoo! They came out to look at rough plumbing, rough electrical, steel and excavation.

On the return... I'm going to have my plumber loop it back with 2", but I don't think I'll replace the 1.5" length of pipe. There will only be 2 returns on that section. Good point on the eyeball fittings. I have no idea what the plan is there and I'm going to find out.

Any ideas about filter pump size? 2HP vs or 3?

Thanks all!

Our pool kit was supposed to come with a 1 1/2 hp. After reading posts on TFP about companies overselling h.p. we opted for a 2 speed 1 1/2 hp.
Best money we spent on the pool. We use the low speed 99 1/2% of the time. The low speed (3/4hp) will still turn over our 17,500 gallons in less than 8 hours. The full rated speed is not really needed except to run our spa or water features (which you have covered with separate pumps).
In your case I would say the 2hp epump would be way more than required for the water filtration and you probably won't use the full 2 hp much, if ever.
I don't have any experience with the epump but it sounds like a very nice pump.
Hopefully someone here with an epump will give their recommendation on h.p.

Best of luck,
John

Ok. And some more questions for the experts... I don't trust my plumber and that isn't a great feeling.

9 spa jets: Is 3HP big enough? Should this be a 2 speed pump for "low" and "high" settings?
smaller filter pump: If I go with something like a 1HP filter pump (or even as low as 3/4) is that big enough to drive a suction side pool vac effectively?

your build looks solid, that steel job looks earthquake proof! lol

While the plumber's return design would have worked it was driving me nuts. As you can see in one of the posts above all 4 returns were being fed from a single run stat starts out at 2" pipe and reduces to 1" for the last return. I cut it all out today and replaced with a split tree of 2 sections of 2" pipe feeding 4 1.5" return inlets. 2 inlets per section. Pressure is holding steady.

The locations: 1 next to the guy in blue, 1 to the far left near the light housing, 1 at the far right in the shallow end, and 1 that will blow into the beach entry.

Thanks to those that offered advice!

Gunite Day.

Crew showed up on time with a bunch of guys and heavy machinery. I'm using Precision Gunite out of the San Fernando Valley.

My favorite part of this process is seeing all the guys stand around while watching one guy work the nozzle.. At this point I'm forced to contemplate how much this is costing me for 7 guys to hang out most of the day. But the crew is doing a very good job. They're easy to work with and fixed a light placement issue.




Notice all the people standing by (and part of my finger).

Is that a union job?

That pool is going to be a beaut !!

Here are some progress photos. Should be able to install the pool equipment this week.

3 more.

I like the beach entry, we thought abotu that for a while.

I like the beach entrance. I would rather of had that than the tanning ledge. I purchased the house with the pool so I didn't have much of a choice. Good looking pool!

Beach entrance vs. tanning ledge. We went back and forth on that one too and decided on the beach... but I'll never know which is right. Next pool I'm doing both.

I really love the patio deck and the shape of the pool. Both are unique and well done. This will be a fantabulous pool!

I'm in what I'm pretty sure is week 8, but it feels like week 40. I've found a new respect for general contractors. Subs are a real pain in the rear. The details are enough to drive a normal person crazy.

Anyhow... we're still trucking along. Here are some more progress pics.