adnedarn's Tucson pool renovation

[adnedarn]

Hello everyone! I've had a few posts here, some unfortunately not giving good news. I apparently have a skimmer that is not IDable and so I cannot get whatever satellite valve is needed to make the drain work. help-me-id-this-skimmer-and-what-satellite-valve-i-need-t36772.html Aaaand apparently the plaster is no good. fairly-new-pool-to-me-need-replastering-t41449.html SO! I guess it's renovation time. It's a pretty small pool, and the surroundings are about as plain and ugly as you can get- but hey, I just got the place in July We've had a few people come out and give quotes, some things I wanted to add was a dedicated vacuum line (so the skimmer can be a skimmer) and delete some of the whip lines while converting one or two of the others to adjustable returns (only have 2 returns right now, both in the deep end). I'm also going to get a quote on a sitting area in the shallow area- but the budget is already tight. I believe I have found the company I want to do it and so the drain begins!

The pump is from harbor freight and I measure about a gallon every 9 seconds.

It even powered a sprinkler at full potential. Heck, I ended up hoooking up two of them and it worked just as well.

Now, I have it ran to the neighbors yard and he is taking advantage of a few thousand gallons of free water.

We are going with PebbleFina, we are really intersted in Acquos color, but are afraid it might be too green. I've tried finding examples here but didn't have any luck. Our fall back is Bella Blue, which seems to be really popular, my uncle even has it.

Anyway- I'm excited to share this with everyone and get it done!
Thanks for looking.
Andrew

 

[Lershac]

One thing you may want to consider if you are putting in a dedicated vac line is a leaf canister on that line at the equipment pad. The nice thing about using the skimmer to do your vac work is that it catches large debris. I put in a dedicated vac line in my build, but after a couple of weeks re-plumbed it so it could be either vac or pressure, and put a Polaris on it. I haven't used it as a vac line since, as the polaris does a fine job.

 

[adnedarn]

Hello Lershac, the vac line will have my sand shark on it with an in line leaf canister. It always kept this pool bottom clean and I never had to actually vacuum it, just brush out a few of the tight corners and steps. The problem was the surface since I only have one skimmer. Is there a benefit to having an extra catch at the pad rather than the above mentioned setup?
Thanks
Andrew

 

[adnedarn]

And day two of the drain begins here.... I wonder what the neighbor is doing with all that water, all I know is he told me last night "You bet I can take more in the AM!"

 

[Lershac]

Hello Lershac, the vac line will have my sand shark on it with an in line leaf canister. It always kept this pool bottom clean and I never had to actually vacuum it, just brush out a few of the tight corners and steps. The problem was the surface since I only have one skimmer. Is there a benefit to having an extra catch at the pad rather than the above mentioned setup?
Thanks
Andrew

Nah thats fine!

Your neighbor is probably filling HIS pool he just drained... lol

 

[adnedarn]

Awesome thanks
My neighbor came over a few hours ago and told me he was done moving the hose around... He said there were still plants to go but he was tired of moving it around (older retired man) can't complain, he took a good deal of it haha

 

[adnedarn]

Water line tile was removed today.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Looking good! what kind of finish are you getting?

 

[adnedarn]

We chickened out trying something new and decided on the ever popular pebblefina bella blue.

 

[adnedarn]

Alright, plaster was removed today! He said it looked pretty good overall, only a few spots need some attention. Zero rust, so that's good too.

One of the two whip jets that will be turned into a return

A...crack? ...slide? ...people too heavy with the plaster removal? ...Whatever under the light area. (one of the areas to be addressed)

 

[Buford]

Thanks for the informative post and the live feed.

 

[duraleigh]

Thanks so much for the frequent updates and very illustrative pics. I think everyone on the forum can benefit from the build and remodel threads as it teaches so much about the construction and inner workings of all our pools.

Keep the pics and the "story" coming! :lol: :lol:

 

[adnedarn]

Ok, today they finished getting the dedicated vacuum line in place (there was some concrete tossed in under there, hence the trouble getting it through yesterday, so they had to put a jog in it to get passed)

Got a couple of the "issues" addressed... here is the big one.

They also got a good start on getting the tile in place

 

[adnedarn]

Alright, they've been here a few more times including yesterday... Here is how it stands!

Pool room is complete (cept some bashwash hose)

The new valve set up on the pool side balances the old returns (deep) and new returns (were whips... shallow) and the skimmer/vac line.

The tile is all finished and grouted in... I love what he did with the skimmer box, but he says it's not always done since it's underwater anyway- but dang it's nice!

We decided to add in some step stuff... Here's what we ended up with.

The Pebble Fina goes in tomorrow AM so watch my other post with the live video link if you'd like to see... The water goes in! We're super excited!!!

Andrew

 

[Butterfly]

Looking good! I really like your step stuff

 

[duraleigh]

Their work looks very neat and professional. That's gonna' be one beautiful pool.

 

[adnedarn]

Thanks for the kind comments guys! It was pretty cool to watch the vid of the pebble fina being sprayed in... But now, it's all done and the water is going in!!
Andrew

 

[maxepr1]

Looks great!

 

[Buford]

Nice. And thanks for the live feeds, very informative.

 

[adnedarn]

Thanks guys! To those that didn't catch it, I recorded the two major events... (well, at least 3 hrs of them.)

The removal of the old plaster: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21465919

And the spay in of the Pebble Fina: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21720256

I'm glad they have been informative, entertaining or maybe even just a way to waste someone's time.

The pool is already well on it's way, I think it's about got the whole floor covered with water already! Woot!
Here it is about an hour ago....

Andrew