Osage Hills Pool Build

[bpricedo]

Imrodee,

The PB said he would acid wash the coping before sealing it. I assume that will happen before plaster which means sometime this next week. I will make sure to get all the details for you.

And, yes, we have bermuda grass. It is a strain called Astro that is supposed to be disease resistant. It is a modified common bermuda. I didn't have anything to do with picking that strain, it is just what the sod company I used grows. I would stick with some kind of common Bermuda as long as we are not talking a shaded area. The Tif hybrids are used on golf courses and are very nice and traffic tolerant, but they do best with very short mowing heights that a normal mower can't go down to, usually a reel mower is needed.

The only thing that I would choose over Bermuda might be zoysia but I think it's pricy.

 

[bpricedo]

We are getting rain now, first time in, gosh, I don't know how long. No deck pour today, it will be Monday. I did have a neighbor come over this morning with his tractor and we buried some more boulders in the dirt where there will be some landscaping by the boulders on the pool. The PB said he would like for me to have sod down before plaster to keep the dust from the exposed dirt from being an issue so I need to have these landscaped areas outlined before that. I don't know if I'll make it or not. Worst case, I can just water the dirt down before they come out and hope its not windy.

 

[imrodee]

Yeah.. I had dirt in the pool from doing the sod after.. but nothing these folks here help me get rid of.

Suggest they put tarps up until the pool is filled. (Like the gunite guys did) You don't want them trampling all over you newly laid $od either. It's a fine line there, because if you get a gully-washer, your dirt will wash away too.

As far as the landscape areas, just take a can of spray paint and mark your beds out. OR, what I did was outline the beds with metal stakes.

Thanks for the Bermuda info. Mine gets sun, all day every day. Last year during the drought and water rationing.. we had crunchy grass. It's hard to keep 2 acres soaked down. I think our subdivision was farmland prior to development. So I guess I have pasture grass. :lol:

 

[bpricedo]

Day 26:

They poured the deck this am. Mixer ran over edging around a flower bed and a boulder. Killed the edging but the boulder sailed through.

Its pretty dark now, the PB said it would take a week before it was the true color. It was supposed to be one of the lightest colors, I guess we'll see.

Tentatively scheduled to have plaster a week from today. Still a few things left to do, gonna be close!

 

[imrodee]

BEAUTIFUL!!! I think that salt deck is beautiful! Do they just throw salt on it? I guess I'll have to google that. My feet are nearly raw with this aggregate deck.. It could also be that it's been so hot that they are just burnt.

 

[bpricedo]

Thanks Imrodee!

They scatter the salt then trowel it down into the concrete. They said I could wash it off today, gonna go do that now!

 

[bpricedo]

I just realized that this is day 30 of the build. Time flies.

Today the electricians were here and wired everything up. Very exciting!

The tile guys were also here and put 2" spotters on the steps and swim out.

To have the tanning ledge bullnosed was the PB's suggestion, we had negotiations and hesitations due to the staggering cost charged, but in the end felt the pool needed it.

Ready for plaster!! I hope it's Monday but pretty good chances of rain tomorrow, which would push it back a day.

 

[bpricedo]

Oh, and Imrodee, they acid washed the flagstone yesterday. I didn't see any of it, I'm sorry that I don't have any details on how it was done. Today they put on a salt resistant impregnating sealer. They used a roller for that. It soaks in and when it dries, is supposed to look like it wasn't sealed. Right now, it is darker and a little yellow so I hope it continues to cure out.

 

[jim1648]

Looking great!!! Thank you for the "step by step" photos of your new swimming pool journey! Can hardly wait to see it finished ... as you must be too!

 

[bpricedo]

You're welcome, Jim! I sure learned a lot following countless threads like this.

 

[imrodee]

The acid wash brought more colors out on your stonework.. it blends in nicely with your rocks and decking! You have GOT to be so excited! It was pretty before the acid wash - nice selections!

 

[Bluegrassman]

Shaping up to be a beautiful pool! I'd like to know more about the salt resistant sealer, and especially to see closer pics after it iw well cured. I have a salt pool with stained/stamped concrete coping. The sealer you mentioned spikes my curiosity.

 

[carter93230]

Looks great, everything is coming along nicely! Youre almost to the finish line!

 

[pool_snob]

Looks really narrow. Is this a lap pool?

 

[bpricedo]

Yes, i did build it to this length for swimming laps. It's my "pregnant" lap pool design! It's 22 ft wide in the middle so not too skinny, just looks that way since it's 50 ft long. I had sketched quite a few different designs trying to find a form that would combine laps and play/socializing area and tanning ledge and found this picture during one of my many google searches:

http://www.aquatechnics.com.au/swimming ... DjSV2t5mK0

This inspired me to go the freeform route and the pregnant shape fit well with our ideas for the deck and yard.

 

[bpricedo]

Bluegrassman,

They told me not to worry about sealing the concrete. We talked about using either the DuPont or the Deck-O-Shield sealer on the stone but they used a different brand and I looked at the dang bottle and now can't remember what it was. You might look at those two and see if they can be used on concrete.

 

[bpricedo]

3 pallets of sod laid last night and today. Whew, that was hard work for one person, and an old one at that!
I asked for the sod either yesterday afternoon or this am. It was delivered last night at 6:30pm, now who in their right mind would deliver sod that late?
I put one pallet down last night, had to use my headlights so I could get it all down. The other two pallets I put tarps over to keep them dry (we were supposed to get rain, just barely sprinkled) so they wouldn't weigh a million pounds like they would if they got wet. Today was hot and flippin windy, still no rain.

I took a picture from the other end of the pool to try and show the width better. Just the deep end is skinny (about 12 feet wide). Its hard for me to back up enough to get a good picture that shows it all as the ground slopes away so quick. I think I'll pull my truck around and climb on it and take one, just not right now, I'm tired

 

[mhosborn]

Really coming along nicely...and fast!

 

[imrodee]

Look at all that pretty grass!! In your garden area.. are you going to use rocks, bark or something else in there? I'm thinking lava rocks for mine actually. I have some along the front of the house, and they are pretty maintenance free. I'm just picking your brain, since mime is fried. :?

thank you!

 

[Bluegrassman]

Bluegrassman,

They told me not to worry about sealing the concrete. We talked about using either the DuPont or the Deck-O-Shield sealer on the stone but they used a different brand and I looked at the dang bottle and now can't remember what it was. You might look at those two and see if they can be used on concrete.

Thanks. I'm curious which sealer our PB used on our coping. I'll have to ask. A couple things I do not like about our sealed coping are:
a)A lot of tiny bubbles came up on it in numerous places.
b)even with the bubbles, it's slicker than snot!