Yet another build in SE Pennsylvania!

[coondogg97]

Wow, let me first start by saying some of you have gorgeous pools! Thank you for sharing them, I have gotten and continue to get a lot of good ideas out here.

My build was started in March and should hopefully be completed at the beginning of June. So far the weather and the pool company have been very cooperative (knock on wood). The pool is being built by Pebble Pools in Royersford, PA. It is an in ground, free form pool. The main features will be a swim up bar and a cave/grotto. There will be a 32" retaining wall that will have two fire bowl waterfalls on top. You can see the pictures and follow the time line in the link below:

http://www.cooneyspool.com

As of now the the gunite is in and they started laying the boulders. The masons should be here Wednesday to start the stone work. The guys from Pebble Pools were here yesterday placing a couple of boulders on top of the grotto.

Any comments and opinions are appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[kenmar]

#like

 

[pwrstrk]

Looks great !! Keep us posted with pic's.

I'm somewhat near ya.


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[257WbyMag]

Nice looking setup!

 

[Casey]

Welcome to TFP! I'm from SWPA!

That pool is gonna ROCK! It looks HUGE!

 

[chris55]

It's looking really awesome and works going well. Keeps posting the new pics and updates.

 

[boomer133]

Looks Great! I heard great things about your PB.

 

[coondogg97]

Thank you everyone for the compliments. I am really looking forward to the completion of this project. I met with one landscaper today, have a couple of more to get quotes from as well. I updated the blog again today, but unfortunately there is not much to show. Pebble dropped the ball again and I am slowly losing faith in them.

Looks Great! I heard great things about your PB.

Boomer, mind if I ask who you heard great things from? That sounds promising and I need some of that today!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[coondogg97]

The masons actually did show up today, which was a nice surprise. Although they were scheduled today, so I am not sure why I am surprised.

Regardless, I am happy to see progress continue and I hope they can be honest and up front with me in the future.

 

[bigfunky]

I heard good things about Pebble as well, we interviewed them but they were the highest bid by alot so we did not choose them. Best of luck to you and I look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[boomer133]

Boomer, mind if I ask who you heard great things from? That sounds promising and I need some of that today!

Thanks again everyone!

My Wife's family had a Pebble pool and loved it. My father used to be in the business, He always said Pebble was the best in the area, buuuttt... that was a long time ago. I can imagine the frustration your feeling trying to get the build done before summer. Heck, I just filled my pool and I'm feeling the pressure to get done. In the end, the important thing is you get a quality pool. Hang in there, May won’t have the "rain days" that April did.

 

[coondogg97]

Thanks for the replies and Boomer thanks for restoring my faith in Pebble. I sat down with Branch McQueen last week so we could go over a few things and get back on the same page. Branch assured me from here on out the communication from Pebble would get better. After the meeting we had a better understanding as to where we are BOTH coming from.

The masons have been working for a week straight now and they are getting a lot done! I have updated the blog and I included a few videos of the gunite being shot, boulders being placed, and the masonry.

http://www.cooneyspool.com/

 

[Johnl]

Welcome to TFP and best of luck with your new pool. I'm sure you will get a lot of use out of it once it is complete.

By the way, I'm pretty close to you in Gilbertsville.

 

[coondogg97]

Thanks John, Gilbertsville isn't very far at all.

I need some advice if everyone is willing to lend their opinion. One thing I have been thinking about switching is the decking. I was pretty set on exposed aggregate with lines of natural stone coping through it to match the pool. I liked the look when I saw it in pictures and I like the fact that exposed aggregate stays cooler. Every landscaper I met with tried to talk me into pavers (obviously), but I wasn't too interested in switching. As the pool build goes on and I see it coming together I am considering going with pavers. I talked to a few other people I trust and are unbiased and they suggested pavers as well. So now I am really on the fence.

The other thing I have been on the fence with is the Pebble Sheen. The current setup is going to be two colors. Prism Blue for the pool itself and Dessert Gold for the sun shelf and the shelf around the bar going into the grotto. The more I think about it I think I want to go all Prism Blue. Not sure if it will be too much going on in the pool with two colors.

Any thoughts or suggestions are really appreciated. I am probably just over thinking this like I did the rest of the pool.

Thanks

 

[jtech1]

Very nice! Looks like it is coming together very nicely!

I noticed in one of your plumbing pictures that the small port of the top rear of the skimmer is plumbed to a line... where does that go and what is it for? Mine are just plugged!

 

[coondogg97]

Very nice! Looks like it is coming together very nicely!

I noticed in one of your plumbing pictures that the small port of the top rear of the skimmer is plumbed to a line... where does that go and what is it for? Mine are just plugged!

Jtech,

Thanks. That line going to the top rear of the skimmer is going to be for an auto fill feature for the pool. I never even considered that but the Pebble Pools runs that plumbing line on all of their pools in case you want to add the feature on in the future. Little features like that reassure me that I made the right decision going with Pebble for this build.

And leads me to another question, can anyone suggest a good auto top off system for a pool?

Thanks!

 

[jtech1]

Interesting.... I ran a 2" line from my pool to the pad (sloped upward toward pad) for a Levelor filler... it actually senses the level in the pipe, and then injects water into the return lines... I wish I would have run a line to the skimmer like your pool builder did. Smart way to do it. Even for just a manual fill line the skimmer port is nice... so you don't have to run a hose across your deck. Check out Levelor... I do not have any first hand experience yet, but they appear to be good systems.

 

[coondogg97]

Thanks Jtech, I have been happy with Pebble so far. Does anyone have any suggestions for this one? The bottom half of the grotto is going to have Pebble Sheen covering it, but the top half of the grotto with the carved stones in it isn't going to have the Pebble Sheen. The pool company is trying to figure out what to use to cover it, but I thought I would turn to this fine community for some suggestions. Anyone else out here have the carved stone in their cave? If so what did you cover it with? You can start to see water seeping through the gunnite already so I am assuming I would want some kind of coating on it.

Also any suggestions for the thin lip going over the grotto that is bare? I am sure it will look better once the waterfall is on, but it looks kind of bare with it off.

Any help or constructive criticism is appreciated. You can see what I am talking about in the pictures below:

 

[jtech1]

I have a similar situation with my grotto. Carved gunite inside. The other issue (not sure if yours is the same as mine) is that my water line is up into the carved gunite... ie. my pool finish follows the bottom of the tile line, and I have rock down in the water... so inside the cave, the water line is above the plaster... onto the gunite. So, I need to figure out not just how it will all be colored to match the exterior rock... I have to figure out how to seal the bottom 3-4 inches of gunite invisibly so it does not change the look, but will not let water seep out.

 

[Johnl]

Looks like your pool is making great progress. I love the look of the stone.