Re: OKC renovation - need replaster advice!
PB says that plaster remaining will have good adhesion and grip for new plaster. They will acid wash and bond coat prior to new plaster. I know this isn't what we talked about or wrote into the contract, but since there is no good consensus on the right way to do it for me to use as backup to my position, I feel like I cannot push really hard to get it down to the gunite. He says the cracks will be ground out and epoxied prior to the plaster job, too, for proper prep.
Progress update for this week ... no work on Monday (and it was beautiful, in the 70s! had a few words with PB about that) but there has been some progress Tuesday-Friday. We have had an ice storm last night so once it clears a little I will need to go out to get pics - right now there isn't a whole lot to look at, but for the purposes of a full documentation, you'll get to see some exciting trenches for electrical cables. Wheeee!
Tues/Wed - Jackhammered/clawed the rest of the retaining wall out. It was constructed of rock facing on a gunite wall - unusual for a retaining wall but evidently they shot it at the same time as the pool was originally done. That meant it was harder than heck and took a long time to get out. They smoothed the humps of dirt around the pool, so it is easier (albeit muddy) to walk around the backyard. It seems so spacious at the back side of the pool to be able to walk a full circuit of the pool! They hauled a bunch of the remaining rubble away - scraping the driveway with their dump trailer (which is on a good slope) but that's the way it goes. Turns out a pool reno is just as hard on your yard as a new build. Have had several collateral things damaged due to the nature of heavy machinery. They also jackhammered out the skimmers from the pool wall. Turns out the plumbing lines are run within the shell of the pool - I think that is an old way of doing things but there we are. PB says it's good as it means the solid surroundings to keep plumbing intact and hopefully leak-free. We'll see on the pressure test!
Thurs/Fri - digging trenches for electrical runs for pool lights, plus new run for the long length of wires they accidentally pulled out of the ground with the claw. We had a run going from the panel out by the back fence and equipment through the deck area to the wall switch outside and a wall switch inside, where we had switches to control the hot tub motors and pool lights. This run was just barely below the concrete and encased in a pvc pipe and it got accidentally ripped up first day of demo. That also pulled all the circuit breakers out of the electrical panel. PB will pay to have the run redone since his guys tore it up, and either pay to have the circuits reinstalled or we can pay to have the panel upgraded to a new one, since it is pretty old. As far as I know, it was working fine (the lights in the pool didn't work but I think that was not at the panel level) but the panel cover hinges were bent and hard to keep the panel covered tightly. We might want some plugs installed back there (should have room on the panel because the hot tub power for two motors and blower and light are not needed anymore) but I don't know that we need a whole new panel. PB says that it's up to us, "but you know, it was old and could fail at any time." I'm not so sure about that but we will see what the bid is to do the new panel. I'm hoping to add some landscape spotlights at the base of the bamboo, so will need a plug for the transformer for that. Also hope to relocate our robot to live back at the equipment pad instead of on our back porch, so will need a plug for that, too (as well as a little shelter for it).
I believe they set the new (dark colored to match our plaster, either gray or black, I cannot tell) skimmers in place but don't think they are plumbed yet. It's supposed to warm up tomorrow I think so I will go out and look. The skimmers are being set back outside the pool shell and will look different than the others we had, which were flush-front with the pool wall/tile. Our old skimmers were also not level with each other, which was really annoying as the more visible one always looked like the water level was good but the other one might be really low. That's supposed to be fixed, too.
In other news, PB says he's ready to put the tile on next week if I can figure out which ones I want! I've been to several places and have about 8-10 samples. There are few showrooms in OKC, many are in Dallas, so we have to have samples shipped which slows us down. Current thinking is a color that is almost the same gray as the plaster color will help with that seamless look I want., so am on the hunt for the right color. Complicating matters is that I am looking for a non-textured, glossy surface, as I'm hoping that will help us keep the tiles clean, or more easily cleaned, from any scaling (which I'm afraid we will encounter as the new plaster cures). Decisions, decisions!
