1963 pool resurection

Has the PB given any indication as to how they intend to address your height issue on the spa jets? They are doing a lot of finsh work on a spa that they are planning to modify or tear out walls and re plumb. I will tell you from experience, they try to wear you down on these "little things", but if anything is bothering you now do NOT let it slip by or you will notice it and regret it for many, many years to come.
 
yes chief he has taken the seat down 3" which apparently was added and not accounted for as a place for the kids to sit. the whole thing is now 21" from bench to spillway. there is a spot on the spillway side that has no jets at all where I will ask him to build it back up those 3" for the kids. (where it should have been placed all along in my opinion.)
he has gone ahead and grouted even though I asked him to hold off until we could make sure tiling was acceptable. typical, as you mentioned. assuring me that he can still change anything we don't like. he is starting to wear me down to the point where I yelled at him yesterday.
aside from a few crooked tiles here and there it looks pretty good. I guess I will chalk it up to character and move on to decking, drainage and equipment.
here is a shot after grout.
 
Are you OK with the 21" water depth? Mine is 18" from bench to waterline, so that makes yours precisely 3" deeper.
BTW: it's looking great. You are going to end up with a very cool retro look.
 
it was 18" before removal with an area that was 21" for deep soak. kinda just switching locations in the spa for bench height. of course pb claims 21" is standard.
thanks for the compliment. our house was built in '51 so kinda keeping things in sync a bit. its a big blend between cool older style and modern technology which makes us happy.
 
Well, we are moving on and picking our battles. I'm just going to allow them to leave whatever crooked tiles are there and chalk it up to character. Now we are talking about the trim tiles for the steps, seats and swim outs. The pb wants to use some ugly safety tiles and says if we use the same glass as the rest of the pool and spa it could be unsafe because it is glass.
Anybody have anything to chime in on this? Think he is just going for a cheaper option or is it legit?
 

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Well I'm having my mosaic glass as a trim tile. In all fairness the tile sub did mention to me it can be a bit slippery - are you doing 2 rows of the glass or 1? I'm doing 2. I've seen plenty of other pools with it, so it can't be too bad. I've seen pools entirely coated in mosaics. Not to mention showers. With 1x1 tile there is plenty of grout lines for grip. I'd say the biggest risk would be tiny feet. Like very young kids, who probably shouldn't be in a pool unattended anyway. I'm thinking 'its slippery' translates to - 'I don't want to do all that extra work'. Yeah and I don't want to have to pay you for it either, but neither of us are gonna get what we want on that one.

I'm doing 2 lines of my 1x1 glass, however I fully expect to be charged extra for it. They usually dot waterline tiles on the steps as a marker, so you know they are using more time and labor to do it than they would normally, I knew that at the outset, and I also knew I didn't want it done like that, but I don't expect the upgrade to be for free. My main tile is a 6x6 and that would look hideous. I guess with mine they would probably do a 4x4 square of the glass I picked dotted on the steps as standard. I'd still hate that though. They've known since I ordered the tile exactly what I wanted done on the steps but I haven't paid the upgrade to the glass tile yet and I'm pretty sure they'll add on extra labor for doing it that way. Its definitely more man hours. Its also a fair bit more tile.
 
It will be two tiles wide of 1" square tiles. Since it will be in many more places than just the steps I'm thinking I'm gonna ask to use the same glass tiles that we have everywhere else for continuity. Agreed that a good grout line would help but I'm not sure if that's how they do it or just use the plaster in the grout lines.
He hasn't talked about any extra cost but in sure it's a big part of his idea for something " safer"
 
I just asked my builder about the grout for the step markers today, if it was plaster or a grout. I haven't heard back yet. The glass tile looks really good on the spa. The variation in color really hides any imperfections in layout. I can't see them in the picture. Just to warn you though. I'm told that after several Margaritas while lounging on the pool, all the tiles will look wavy, so don't be concerned when that happens...:cool:
 
It's nothing for me to cry about melt, but there are a dozen or so crooked individual tiles. Some more noticeable than others, but in the big picture it's fine.
Trying not be too picky about it. It's not easy to get all those little tiles just right especially on a round surface.
Beaded biker I hear you on the wavy train.
In the end I think we are going to be very pleased. The pb is trying to keep us happy by fixing things that we point out to him, I just feel like I shouldn't have to. It makes us look like we're the problem not the shoddy workmanship.
A few more weeks or so...
 
BTW, I asked my tile sub today about the step marker tiles and told me they just inlay the step marker tiles directly into the plaster.

I think its really hard to be detail oriented as a person and have anyone do work for you. I know when I tiled our kitchen I obsessed over gaps and got very upset where I couldn't fix them, or I had tiles that I couldn't get to cut properly. I hated laying glass tile. 2 years later, I can't tell you where those imperfections are. If I spend enough time looking I can find them, but the point is, I just look over at my kitchen and smile because it looks fantastic. I don't see the imperfections, they don't distract me. If I were doing it for a living, I think I'd have figured out by now when the gap or unevenness is really an issue and when it will be hidden in the overall picture and when you do it for a living you have balance time spent over details that won't be noticed in the long run. The tile guy will definitely remember the pools he did where he left a gap too big and the homeowner made him go back and chip it all out and start again and want to avoid that. So unless he's brand new at this, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

My guide for when something can't be lived with, is if after at least 24 hours I'm still obsessing over a detail and won't let it go, it has to be redone. I have an issue where they are going to be recutting some of my coping and making it meet evenly. It ate at me over a whole weekend and I knew I'd never not see it. It was like my personal FEDEX arrow. You should sort of be able to know what that point is for you. You'll know in your heart when you have to make them redo something.
 
You've made some awesome progress since I last checked in. Looks great!

I know the feeling on pointing out flaws constantly.
 
Thanks all.
Getting ready to pour deck now, unfortunately they put the forms in the wrong place. I even took the day off work on Monday and a real heart to heart talk with pb and had architect and gc friend on hand to make sure everything was crystal clear to coordinate the pour to sync up with house addition to take place shortly after completion.
We went over everything and thought we were all finally on the same page about it. I come home last night to find forms in the wrong place.
Oh well, at least he finally brought some of the equipment over that I have been asking for since day 1. He's been telling me that it is sitting at will call and he can pick it up anytime. I asked him to please do that. Over and over again. Obviously it wasn't true because last night he told me that there was a problem with the part numbers for heater and filter. Don't you think he would have known that a long time ago if it was ordered?
Just a few more weeks...
 
Oh boy, somebody got busted on his little fibbies over the equipment huh? I have no equipment here either. I have not even asked to see it. It never occurred for me to do so. I do have a pool cleaner, but thats because I ordered it. I strongly suspect its not ordered yet either. But since I have to pad for them to sit on yet, there's no point getting worked up over it.

BTW how much did the intellipH cost you to add? I know I want one, I just don't know if we can afford to do it right now.
 

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