New Pool Construction Project in Houston: 2nd Time is a Charm
- Thread starter JayBauman
- Start date
That is really interesting. Is there a benefit to doing that over the standard coping & waterline tile?
I can't imagine that there is any true technical benefit. We just really like the way it looks. It's not a pool style you see every day....
Lookin good! Yeah seems like its a pretty standard process, because our guys did the same. Although our's turned out more of a beige/tan color, which they are staining tomorrow and Friday. Is that going to be your finished look, or are they coming back to color them?
The color you see is the final color, more or less. During final clean up, some of the lighter mold release powder (light tan) will get washed away, which will leave the rocks slightly darker. Even if it stays the same color, we're happy. The rocks coordinate nicely with the stucco color on the house.
Corleone
0
I think the rock work is incredible, and I don't say that lightly. I really like it.
Just curious who is building your pool? It looks a lot like my brother in laws pool and it is really nice. He built his pool almost 10 years ago and it still looks good.
We are using Laguna Pools, located at the corner of Katy-Flewellen and Pin Oak, just south of Katy Mills Mall.
If you see a boulder impression pool in Houston, chances are that it came from Laguna since they have put in over 2000 such pools over the last 25 years. There are a few other companies (e.g. Modern Method Gunite) who offer a similar product. You can see their fine work on display with Twolabs' Swimming Hole. His waterfall looks very similar to mine, which is no surprise since the guy who did mine formerly worked for Modern Method and trained them how to do it.
Yup. That is who built their pool. Your pool will look awesome when done.
Not much of an update to report....
I left the wife and kids here in Houston while I spent 8 days in Amsterdam. This was my employer's choice; not mine. While I was away, I asked my PB to not do much work since I couldn't be around to "supervise" the progress. They kept mostly to my plan. They worked a bit on the "coping" and "tile line" cement, and they managed to destroy my yard by putting in the gas line and drainage line.
View of the backside of the waterfall slide....
From this vantage, you can see how the coping blends right into the waterline. It's all made of gunite....
Here you can see the stark difference between the finished rock and the raw gunite....
Close-up showing the texture on the boulder surface. When I run my hand over it, it feels just like a real boulder....
Another view of the texture. This one includes seashell fossils....
I left the wife and kids here in Houston while I spent 8 days in Amsterdam. This was my employer's choice; not mine. While I was away, I asked my PB to not do much work since I couldn't be around to "supervise" the progress. They kept mostly to my plan. They worked a bit on the "coping" and "tile line" cement, and they managed to destroy my yard by putting in the gas line and drainage line.
View of the backside of the waterfall slide....
From this vantage, you can see how the coping blends right into the waterline. It's all made of gunite....
Here you can see the stark difference between the finished rock and the raw gunite....
Close-up showing the texture on the boulder surface. When I run my hand over it, it feels just like a real boulder....
Another view of the texture. This one includes seashell fossils....
I'm still very impressed with the concept. I really like the close up photo (second from the bottom) - so realistic looking -Karen
I love that picture showing the finished and not finished. What a difference! What skills they have!
Kim
Kim
Glock
0
Now that I'm back, I wonder when the construction process starts back up again....Any bets? I'll set the over/under to be Wednesday noon. 
I like the skimmers!
Yeah and I'll tell you it took a while to rev back up the construction engine after we gave them permission to take a break when we were on vacation. Hopefully they'll get going soon!
Yeah and I'll tell you it took a while to rev back up the construction engine after we gave them permission to take a break when we were on vacation. Hopefully they'll get going soon!
- Jul 16, 2012
- 7,204
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Looking really good. I'll be interested to hear how the gunite water line surface holds up/looks over time, just in relation to the scum line and potential for buildup there. Ditto on the skimmer openings from above too! I may have missed it but wasn't sure what your deck surface will be. If it's a poured product, then will you be using the Pour-a-Lid skimmer covers? They look great in our application with textured/stained concrete. They blend right it and you only see the plastic rim which can be one of several colors. My PB always wants to research all products used on his pools so he ordered himself one to see it before committing to using them. He was very pleased with them...very simple but effective. They do take two hands (two fingers - one on each hand actually) to lift them out due to their heft. White plastic skimmer covers on decks are a big pet peeve of mine.
They might look good, but I've seen too many broken "pour-a-lids" to make me want to go that route. My decking will be poured concrete with the same colored/tinted/molded top layer as my coping and rocks. As for mineral build-up on the waterline...yep, it will eventually happen. I guess that adds a bit of realism to the ambiance.
- Jul 16, 2012
- 7,204
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Interesting on the Pour-a-lids cracking. I hope that doesn't occur for us. We are two years in now. I wondering if that was from people dropping them. I could see that as they are heavy...or maybe they don't like the TX heat. I suspect I'd get a new lid, fill with concrete and texture/stain to match should that occur. There appears to only be one person in our household who is interested in what lies beneath the skimmer cover!
I'm sure that your gunite rock waterline ambiance will far outweigh the realism over time. Probably would be more of a concern for someone not maintaining good water quality anyway.
I'm sure that your gunite rock waterline ambiance will far outweigh the realism over time. Probably would be more of a concern for someone not maintaining good water quality anyway.