New Pool in MA coming Soon

[mpkelley20]

Construction started on my retaining walls. Yikes!! Another period of the build that is scary to watch since my yard looks like a war zone. They are working on the large outside wall first. About 70' it will be and made from fieldstone.

[attachment=2:wqe39vp8]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367502851.907220.jpg[/attachment:wqe39vp8][attachment=1:wqe39vp8]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367502867.141931.jpg[/attachment:wqe39vp8][attachment=0:wqe39vp8]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367502880.135454.jpg[/attachment:wqe39vp8]

 

[mpkelley20]

Pool had a leak from the pool light conduit so builder was out today trying to fix. Worked on it for 4 hours and still has work to do. Headache for PB but at least patio wasn't poured yet! [attachment=1ek86ni4]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367526786.404115.jpg[/attachmentek86ni4]


And here is an updated picture of the retaining wall status from today.

[attachment=0ek86ni4]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367526831.136261.jpg[/attachmentek86ni4]

 

[mpkelley20]

Wall was started on Friday. Originally planned to be 55' but I decided to ectend it to 65' but now it will go about 85'......... Was told this should be done by end of this coming week. Then they will do the smaller wall inside the pool area.

I chose this style wall because I live on old farm land and the entire front of my street has an old stone wall that is protected by my town. This reatining wall will keep the look of my property much more consistent than if I did unilock walls or some other type of manufacturered stone. So far, I love the way it is coming out. Each big stone is cemented in place (unlike my old farm stone wall) so that is why this will take a bit to complete.

 

[mpkelley20]

Day 2 of the first retaining wall build and we decided to extend it even more. Looks like 90' will be the overall lenght with the tallest area being about 6'. Lots of money going into one wall but it is actually something I;ve wanted to do for a long time with my land on this side..

 

[Blessedwithfivekids]

Any updates on the patio?

 

[mpkelley20]

Patio will be done by same people doing the walls. After this big wall, I have a smaller one going up inside the pool area. After that, the deck gets poured.

I'm doing stamped concrete. So far we have planned out about 1200 square feet but that may change once the forms get laid out and I can see how it looks.

I'm going with silver base with charcoal highlights or whatever it's called. The colors should look good with my house and surroundings.

 

[Blessedwithfivekids]

Looks very nice. Great job on that wall!

 

[mpkelley20]

Thanks! My land was so hilly that the pool install is costing a lot more than expected but its giving me flatter land, better overall look and hopefully years of relaxing and fun times.

 

[cj gal]

That wall is beautiful! Nothing can compare to natural stone. Can't wait to see it finished!

 

[mpkelley20]

Outside wall is almost done. They need to finish the cap along the end of the wall that tails down and they finish backfilling and leveling the ground. They should be beginning the inside wall soon assuminb the weather can hold off (rain in forecast for next several days).

I did get to go swimming yesterday. Temps hit the 70's here in MA and I had the heater set to 78. By the time I got home from work, water was 80 degrees, heater was off and cold so I guess the sun beating on the pool all day helped warm it up as well. My kids were so happy to swim and so was I. I stayed in for 30 minutes longer after my wife came out to get the kids in the house. If we didn't have to put them to bed, I would have stayed in for hours!

 

[mpkelley20]

My big 90' wall was somehow done in a total of 4 days which included all the digging and cementing each rock in place. I have to say I am very happy with the crew that I hired for this work! I had two main goals with this wall.

1. Eliminate the huge slopes I had between my neighbors house and my house so I could, at a minimum, drive my lawn tractor past it and, at best, be able to fit my jeep or truck on that side for when I'm loading stuff from my shed which is at the farthest part of my backyard. This wall has totally made this possible!

2. Reduce the impact to any lawn I still have left! - I was afraid that I was either going to spend a forutne having dirt and boulders hauled away or spend a fortune in landscaping once the excess dirt was spread out over my yard. Somehow, the crew was able to take what looked like 1000 yards of dirt and rock and spread it in my back portion of the yard with very minimal impact to grass areas. I already had a large impact done from original work so they worked with that area and only had to go maybe 10' more down back. I thought they had to spread down and across but it was not needed. And they kept the same slope I had don back so it will blend in perfectly once I put topsoil down and seed it. Very happy!

The bonus I got from this wall is something a lot of people kept telling me should not have been my concern....how it looks from the neighbor's house. Everyone kept telling me "who cares? You'll never see it". But that is not true as I spend a lot of time over their yard in the summer. Plus, the last thing I wanted to do was make my yard look crappy where others can see it. This wall looks amazing and it will look great once I get grass growing again!











This is the area outside of what will be my fenced in area. The grade level is consistent with the entire part of my yard here. My land is about 180' across so this little area only represents a small portion. The remianing area was kept in tact which made me very happy!





And the second wall is being done today. So they had dropped off most of the rocks being used for that wall which is much smaller at about 55 to 60' but only 2" high or so.

 

[ssgumby]

Ok, I am curious. Ive been reading your post here, did they actually use regular concrete on the floors of the pool as opposed to vermiculite?

 

[mpkelley20]

Yes. Concrete on floors of deep end and shallow end. vermiculite on walls and slopes. Is that bad??

 

[ssgumby]

Yes. Concrete on floors of deep end and shallow end. vermiculite on walls and slopes. Is that bad??

Well, thats a good question. I was told concrete was bad because of 1. Harder surface so not as comfortable and 2. Will crack so your floor will become jagged with possible liner rips.

Im not saying those things WILL happen, but thats what I was told by several people.

P.S. what is your liner name and make? I love the look!

 

[bacevedo]

Lots of money going into one wall but it is actually something I;ve wanted to do for a long time with my land on this side..

I have found that at first I stress about the extra money being spent on something like this but, then I am almost always glad later that I went ahead and just did it right the first time. I look back and see that spending the extra money really didn't impact us as much as I thought it would, but whatever we spent the money on is almost always appreciated.

That wall looks awesome and seems to go really well with the architecture of your home and neighborhood. In 100 years when you are gone, that wall will probaby still be there and be protected like the other historic walls of your neighborhood.

 

[mpkelley20]

Yes. Concrete on floors of deep end and shallow end. vermiculite on walls and slopes. Is that bad??

Well, thats a good question. I was told concrete was bad because of 1. Harder surface so not as comfortable and 2. Will crack so your floor will become jagged with possible liner rips.

Im not saying those things WILL happen, but thats what I was told by several people.

P.S. what is your liner name and make? I love the look!

I can't remember the liner name and brand off hand but will find out.

As for harder surface, the pool builder laid down a cushion on top of the shallow end floors and stairs (a soft styrofoam material) so the floors is actually very soft to walk on compared to my parents who have vermiculite. As for cracking....yes, I suppose that is a real possibility but hoping that if it does, the styrofoam stuff on top will prevent the liner from being ripped....or at least reduce the risk.

My parents pool had major settling and their floors looked hills and mounds due to the softer vermiculite following the settling. It didn't cause rips in the liner but it looked like Crud.


Hmm...now you got me thinking....

The PB has been in business since the 80's and he has a great reputation around my area. Hopefully his expperience with my type of land will prove to be right......

 

[mpkelley20]

Lots of money going into one wall but it is actually something I;ve wanted to do for a long time with my land on this side..

I have found that at first I stress about the extra money being spent on something like this but, then I am almost always glad later that I went ahead and just did it right the first time. I look back and see that spending the extra money really didn't impact us as much as I thought it would, but whatever we spent the money on is almost always appreciated.

That wall looks awesome and seems to go really well with the architecture of your home and neighborhood. In 100 years when you are gone, that wall will probaby still be there and be protected like the other historic walls of your neighborhood.

Bryan

I've been very smart about money over the years. As my income grew, my wife and I never really adjusted our lifestyle too much. The only thing that's cost us more is when we had kids!!

So I had a budget in mind when I decided to build the pool but as the planning process began, I made conscious decisions to add things, change things, etc...knowing that the costs would go up. I had purposely set my budget lower in the begiining rather than higher. So it's been OK.

The 20x40 shaped pool itself with the install/pump/filter/heater/electric/gas line install ran me just under $40K. I had pool builders come in around $27K but when I added in all the other stuff that their quote left off, I was back to the $40K number. Didn't matter if steel, polymer or cement....$40K seemed to be the magic number. Although, had I done a cement wall pool rather than steel, the cost was getting close to $50K. So I set $40K as my initial budget.

Now, adding in the two retaining walls and the 1200 sqaure foot patio, I will be adding another $30K to the cost of my pool. That leaves just landscaping left but, if I did my planning correctly, the amount of landscaping (other than new grass) will be minimal and something my wife and I can do on our own. Worst case, if I spend another $10K, I will be at $80K which is twice my budget but equal to what everyone told me this would cost (everyone said it would be twice my estimate!!).

An expensive addition to my house overall and some friends question why i didn't buy a second house but $80K in New England doesn't buy much. Add a mortgage, heat, electric and maintenance just makes it way more expensive. I can't wait to be sitting on my deck, with a nice summer brew in hand enjoying my new oasis. It will be totally worth it.

 

[ssgumby]

Yes. Concrete on floors of deep end and shallow end. vermiculite on walls and slopes. Is that bad??

Well, thats a good question. I was told concrete was bad because of 1. Harder surface so not as comfortable and 2. Will crack so your floor will become jagged with possible liner rips.

Im not saying those things WILL happen, but thats what I was told by several people.

P.S. what is your liner name and make? I love the look!

I can't remember the liner name and brand off hand but will find out.

As for harder surface, the pool builder laid down a cushion on top of the shallow end floors and stairs (a soft styrofoam material) so the floors is actually very soft to walk on compared to my parents who have vermiculite. As for cracking....yes, I suppose that is a real possibility but hoping that if it does, the styrofoam stuff on top will prevent the liner from being ripped....or at least reduce the risk.

My parents pool had major settling and their floors looked hills and mounds due to the softer vermiculite following the settling. It didn't cause rips in the liner but it looked like ****.


Hmm...now you got me thinking....

The PB has been in business since the 80's and he has a great reputation around my area. Hopefully his expperience with my type of land will prove to be right......

Im sure you will be fine, im curious what others here have to say about concrete. Im doing vermiculite, already have it lined up, but personally would have wanted concrete if that was an option.

 

[mpkelley20]

The liner is made by VynAll and is the Parthenia tile with Travertine base

http://vynall.com/pool-liners/pattern-selector/light/

I wanted to do a tan liner but my wife was afraid it would be too different. This one falls under the same "light" category but still keeps a bluish gray base to it. It is beautiful when the sun is shining on it. The water looks very natural.

 

[bacevedo]

I hear you on the budget creeping up. I think the PB's can count on everyone going over budget once they see what it will look like when completed. It's so easy to say, add another $2k here for decking and $500 for that feature, etc.

But in the end, it's like you said - a backyard oasis - and every penny will be worth it! Ours is almost done and I am glad that we went over budget to include the things that will turn it from a water hole in the ground to a mediterranean oasis. We wanted more than just a pool to swim in. We wanted a back yard "living room" that we can enjoy even when we aren't in the pool. And it costs a lot of money to do that! It's hard to even really figure out what I am spending on just the pool vs. everything else because they are so integrated.

Good luck with the rest of your project!