Colleyville, TX Remodel

[ctaylor81]

We purchased a house in August with the knowledge that the pool was in need of a remodel. The plaster was worn down to the gunite in a lot of areas and was very flaky. The previous owner had a pressure cleaner line plumbed, but capped off with no current automatic cleaning system. We used the pool for the remainder of the season last year, but went through the bidding process in January with 6 different companies. We signed our remodel contract last week and the guys are starting the demo this morning. Our pool/deck remodel will be in a few different stages, and I started with buying a robotic pool cleaner, which I am very happy with at this time.

The pool remodel will consist of the following:

StoneScapes mini pebble in Tropics Blue
6x6 Stone Ventures tile - Riviera Mediterranean Sea
Oklahoma Flagstone coping
Changing depth - currently 6'5" in the deep end, but turning it into a play pool with 3.5x5x4.5 - also adding a dual drain setup
Neither of my pool lights currently work, so we'll be upgrading the lights
Water feature/waterfall on the back side of the pool with planters - we are still in the design process - will have a dedicated pump

The second stage of the backyard remodel will be a continuous process over the next few years. We have a sloped backyard and it pushes the water towards the house, and more so towards our patio. The house did not have gutters on the back side surrounding the pool and we had constant flooding any time it rained. We installed gutters last week, which has solved the flooding somewhat. My plan is to fill in the grass area near the patio and also the flowerbed on the left side of the pool with Oklahoma flagstone, then figure out a way to divert the drainage to the other side of the house and toward the floor drains in our current deck. An outdoor kitchen will likely be the last stage of the remodel and will be a few years down the road.

I'll update this as we progress, but here is what we are starting with:

 

[Bama Rambler]

That looks like it'll be a great place once it's finished.

 

[ctaylor81]

Thank you. We are really looking forward to it.

A better pic looking from the back wall prior to move in (thank goodness the prior owners agreed to put on a new roof!) We plan to fill in the areas on both sides of the pool, starting at the ends of the house to the current patio with Oklahoma flagstone:

Here is the tile:

And mini-pebble:

 

[257WbyMag]

I really like your tile. Keep pictures coming.

 

[ctaylor81]

Day 1 progress:

 

[ctaylor81]

Forgot to bring my SD card with me to upload new pic's, but they have the new bottom poured and have done the tile. We had to replace the pool light and have a new junction box wired in, as it seems the previous owner decided they didn't want a pool light and they ripped the old one out. The builder was looking for my rock yesterday, so I think they may be starting the water feature today or tomorrow. I'll upload some new pic's ASAP.

 

[ctaylor81]

PLEASE EXCUSE MY ELEMENTARY ART SKILLS.

Now that we have that out of the way, we are in need of some help pretty quickly today. We are adding a water feature to the end of our pool and we are having an issue with placement. The end of our pool is a perfect half circle and we plan to have boulders ran all the way around the half circle. As far as placement of the waterfall/water feature, we are struggling. Obviously, placing the main structure right in the middle of the half circle would make it look perfectly symmetrical. But, when discussing it with our PB, he noted that we would be better off putting the waterfall in the line of sight from the house and not just symmetrical with the pool. My wife is a bit OCD, so she's lost a lot of sleep over the weekend. The rock guys are here today to build the waterfall, so I'm wondering what your opinion is. The first pic is of the water feature in the middle of the half circle, second pic with it off centered. Do you think it will look awkward if it is off center??

My wives mom is coming by in a few to give us an unbiased opinion, but any thoughts from you guys??

Thanks

 

[Bama Rambler]

My opinion would be to go with the recommendation of the PB, but you and your wife have to live with it and that's what really counts.

 

[Killer95Stang]

+1 for the PB. You want be able to see that water feature when you are sitting the spa or looking from inside the house.

 

[glitter&guns]

I am watching this closely and am excited to see the progress. You have to live with your wife, so I would say don't fight too much, but I am a fan of the off centered look. You will be able to see it and things that aren't perfectly symmetrical tend to look more "designer-ish" (that is a word!). Just be sure it is far enough off center to look like it is supposed to be off center. Slightly off center tends to look like you just screwed up.

So excited to see it coming together!

 

[ctaylor81]

I think we agree with you guys to go with the PB's recommendation and keep it off center. Instead of having boulder's around the entire half circle, we told them to try to even it out on both sides of the structure so it didn't look so uniform with the pools curves. We also will add some landscaping around the back of the pool to help guide the eyes, so we'll see how it turns out. Thanks for the recommendations though. It's always good to get some unbiased opinions.

They are setting the coping and should get most of the water feature done today, so I'll try and get some pic's up tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[ctaylor81]

As I stated above, we decided the off center look would work. Last week, we provided the following pic, which is of a TFP users pool (photo credit to Pragmatic).

The builder really liked the idea and stated we would base our water feature off of the picture. I became a little concerned over the weekend when the plumbing guys were running the spray line for the waterfall, and the fact that they only put the PVC pipe about 1.5 feet from the ledge of the pool. I was unsure how we would have a somewhat deep feature with the pipe coming up 1.5 feet from the ledge. I didn't say anything because I'm an amateur at this and let it be. Before I left the house this morning, I made sure the workers had a printed picture of the pic above, which they did. I asked if we had enough rock to build that structure and their answer was no. I was told he was going to call the PB and get more flat pieces so we could make the steps back. So I had some time on lunch today and I ran by the house to check out the progress. Given the conversation I had with them this morning, I was a bit surprised to see the structure they were building. The PB was not onsite, so I took a few pic's and sent them to the wife to get her thoughts.

We both agree that although we do like what we have, it's not what we were led to believe we were getting. There really isn't going to be much "cascading" and it seems to be more of a high level drop off (flowing water sound vs. splashing). I haven't called the PB because I'm unsure how to handle it at this point. Do I wait and see how it looks when they are finished in case we actually like the finished product, or do I call him now and get his workers to stop what they are doing and figure out how to make it look like the picture? This is the hard part about this process and not knowing what you are going to get up front. Again, we do like it and see promise in what they are doing, but it's just a weird feeling not seeing what you expected. I think we could potentially like this design, but I'm still comparing it to something else, so my mind isn't made up yet.

 

[glitter&guns]

I have never been through a pool remodel, but I would put everything to a stop until the PB gets out to look at it. I think what they are building will look nice, but it isn't going to be what you wanted. If they get it finished you may have a harder time getting something done with it. Can you text the PB the pic that you based it off of vs what is going on now? I am sure he can see the difference.

 

[Killer95Stang]

I would call the pb.. and tell him the waterfall isn't deep enough to give you the same type of cascading that you see in that pic. Right now is the time to change it.. because the PB will be reluctant to change it when it affects his bottom line.

 

[ctaylor81]

Came home to find a pile of rocks. Immediately called the PB to discuss. It appears he came by this afternoon and knew it wasn't what we wanted. He called the rock guys and it appears there was some miscommunication on someone's part, because they thought that this is what we wanted. He is going to make it right, so that's all that matters.

 

[glitter&guns]

Great!!! That is wonderful!

 

[pragmatic]

Great choices and good attention to detail. I think you'll like it! I really know what you mean regarding the choices, it's tough enough explaining to the builder..but then convincing the wife..that's another story :-D

 

[ctaylor81]

They are coming back to the house tomorrow to re-build the water feature. The PB said he will be there the entire time to ensure we get what we are looking for. I don't have to have the exact same feature as Pragmatic's, but something similar would be nice. I think we can salvage some of the work, so it may not be a total loss.

Stay tuned...

 

[ctaylor81]

I'm happy to say that we got what we wanted on the re-build. We only have 2 small changes/additions, but this is much more in line with what we were thinking. It is the perfect size for our pool and is not overpowering like the first "pile of rocks".

This is a cell phone pic, so I'll get some better ones soon.

I am traveling this weekend, but I hope to come home to some progress on the rest of the project.

 

[glitter&guns]

Looks great! Glad they got it right!