Construction Time! Miami, FL New Pool with Pictures and Prices Included.

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Please have a look at this article - this happened in Florida in one night (not one month). The link was originally posted on the forum by another member but I could not find their post to give them credit but I was able to find the article for you.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/10/11/pedraza-family-pool-pops-up/

I think hydrostatic relief valves are critical for you in case you ever need to drain the pool.
 
Talk with your PB. This is out of my pay grade but I think the new main drains have hydrostatic relief valves by default. If not, you should have one.

Secondly, this would be a good time to install a couple of dry sumps or well points to handle that ground water and carry it away from the pool.

Again, talk with your PB and get a cost. They do not have to have a permanent pump but rather can simply be a lined 8" hole beside the deep end of the pool into which you would lower a submersible pump and pump out groundwater on an as needed basis.

Your PB is your go to guy. He builds there and has far better knowledge of the existing conditions in that area.
 
Dave I am building by owner, no PB. I am relying in info from excavation, forming and plumbing contractors. All told me a well serves to drain water to the point it becomes manageable to work. According to gunite contractor we can get it to 4" and he can just pour and do the job. He will leave weep hole to allow groundwater to enter pool until it is time to plaster and fill it with water.

My main concern comes in the future if and when I ever need to drain the pool. I was thinking about marking the weep holes and drill to empty pool. Or, some sort of pump built into the bottom of pool to pump water out during the entire time I may have pool empty. Gunite guy says not to worry, that I only have a 1ft ground water and if I ever need to drain I can get by weeks without compromising structure. However, the article shared by SWOOPMAN (thanks) has be a little worried.
 
Gunite man won't be stuck with the pool when it floats. Look at aircraft carriers, they float easily and your pool is no exception. They displace alot of water and in a tight place like that hole it won't take much to float it. I would seriously stop and consider your options. Fix it now while you can and avoid the headaches in the future.
 
Thanks everyone! I just spoke with the plumbing contractor and he is coming to install a "check valve" (I believe this is a hydrostatic valve correct?). He will install the valve under the pool directly under the main drain and connect it to the bottom input of the main drain. He told me in the future if I ever want to drain pool completely to uncap the main drain and the groundwater will be released through there. I think I will sleep much better at night not risking to show up and find this:

float.jpg
 
A wise move. Good luck with the rest of the build. Try to post a pic of the check valve too. I have never personally seen one. I am curious how they work. Plus it never hurts to know without a shadow of a doubt that it is indeed installed.
 
Basically this is the set-up we will be using. See diagram: The hydrostatic valve is screwed onto the main drain, main drain serves as "housing". The valve stem goes under the main drain attached to the hydrostatic valve and vertically sunk into the ground about 1' or so, with gravel around it to avoid dirty clogging the holes. In the event the water pressure from the pool pool decreases (think empty pool), the valve uncaps automatically and allows groundwater to have a relief point.


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Glock said:
A wise move. Good luck with the rest of the build. Try to post a pic of the check valve too. I have never personally seen one. I am curious how they work. Plus it never hurts to know without a shadow of a doubt that it is indeed installed.
Click to expand...
 
That's the kind of drain I have in my pool, we have a good 2ft or so of ground water in it right now also. They put 3 pieces of 3" pipe in the bottom of the deep end shell before shooting gunite to make weep holes while it was being built. We've had lots of rain and I live in a swamp and so far no floaty pools.
 
It is important to note, however, that sometimes these hydrostatic relief valves fail/get stuck/ break. If you EVER drain a pool for an extended period in FL, drill a hole in the deep end. It can be repatched before refill. Way too many pools that are drained in FL float due to high water table, and lack of precautionary measures.

I would still have the shotcrete sub leave a few small weep holes in the deep end. They can be filled in right before plaster/fill. That is common practice here in FL. (I am located north of Tampa). The soil over here is also extremely soft/sandy, which leads to excessive settlement, and is also part of our other geological problems (sinkholes)
 

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Thanks for feedback. I would really hate to have additional caps placed in pool bottom aside from main drain, so leaving a PVC capped is out of question. I decided to go only with the valve. Whenever I get the itch to empty the pool for service, I will manually pop open the valve chamber to ensure that in the event of high water table, the groundwater can flow freely into the pool. I would never trust that the valve's spring action system will just work...

After my "grounwater-gate dilemma" I checked with two neighbors within five houses to mine and none of their builders placed any high water management tool. Go figure.
 
smracing said:
Must be nice to live where this is competition. My remodel was quoted at $60k. We did everything but the plaster and are still in it $22k. Our plaster was $14,600. A friend just had a pool just like ours built for $125k.
Click to expand...

Well, remember I am building by owner dealing with subcontractors directly and playing cash for more discounted incentives...and I also shopped hard. Plus, my pool is half of yours. Your pool probably requires 65 bags of plaster where mine only needs around 33. I am also using a "normal grade" plaster (premix martite) that is only $13 a bag. Pebble tec or another premium brand can easily be double or triple the cost per bag only...add labor. Having that said, I couldn't see your pool plaster including labor to exceed $5000 here in Miami. Not sure how much removal of current plaster costs though but I know a couple of guys around that would remove it with their nails if need be for some weekend cash money. :)
 
Question: Below is a picture of a neighbor's recent build (so recent he still hasn't passed final inspection).

1- The used this beautiful (but really $$$) plaster from a brand they think is called "CDL" color ocean blue. Has anyone heard of it?

2- I really like the way they laird the travertine tile all the way to the water, without using any formal coping. Is this a common practice nowadays?

 
NEED FEEDBACK: So I decided to go with the same travertine and coping stile as my neighbor's pool (see example I posted earlier). I noticed on their pool they left a 2" overhang from the tile/coping into the water (measured from the wall of pool overhanging into the pool). I think this is a little too much overhang, isn't it? I was thinking of doing 1.25" overhang. Out of curiosity, how much overhang does your pool coping have? Apologies for making go grab the tape measure.
 

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