Q

[daveooph]

Getting ready for a build and would be interested as to what you think of this quote:

Total Area: 931
Pool Area: 400
Length: 29'2"
Width: 18'11"
Gallons: 16,000
Depth: 3.5' to 4.5' to 8'
1 Tanning Ledge and backside weeping wall
Flagstone coping, and on tanning ledge
Diamond Brite quartz finish

Pentair Equipment: variable speed pump, platinum auto pool sweep, 3/4hp booster pump for sweep

$40,300

Also, any problems with Flagstone - this will be normal Chlorine system.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

Sounds like a typical TX pool design

Get rid of the booster pump and pressure cleaner ... so inefficient.

The soft flagstone can have problems with flaking, made worse if you use a SWG ... which I would recommend over the flagstone.

You left some important details out ... like filter type and size

 

[PigIron]

Are you sure about the size? I have similar depth profile as you stated, but ours goes to 9 feet vs your 8 feet. Our total volume is around 34k gallons vs your 16k.

 

[jblizzle]

Are you sure about the size? I have similar depth profile as you stated, but ours goes to 9 feet vs your 8 feet. Our total volume is around 34k gallons vs your 16k.

Your pool is 10' longer than the OP. I find 34k to be pretty suspect too. If you had a 39'x18' rectangle, you would have to have an average depth of 6.5 feet to get to 34k gallons. Since it is probably free form, unless a LOT of the pool is very deep, I would guess yours is closer to 26-28k.

 

[daveooph]

Here are additional details:

Pool Deck: Salted Concrete (this goes with the rest of our house) 500sq ft
Filter: Pentair Clean and Clear Plus cartridge filter

1) Any other details needed to determine fair price? Is this a fair quote?

2) What do I ask for if I ditch the booster pump and pressure cleaner or is there no replacement and this is just an add on?

3)Also, I am worried about the flaking of the Flagstone, but I like the look and we are trying to make everything appear more natural. The two builders both said without a SW system the flaking shouldn't occur and that any flaking would be bad stone???

 

[jblizzle]

1) No idea ... what did the other bids come in at? I would hope you got at least 3.

2) You are going to want some kind of cleaner, a boosted pressure cleaner is the bottom of my list. See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/162-automatic-pool-cleaners

3) Well, you might always get "bad stone". I made a walk way out of flagstone. Some was fine, some crumbled, some flaked ... no salt water anywhere near it (and not much rain here in AZ).

 

[pooldv]

That is a pretty good price for this area. Whether or not flagstone will flake depends on the flagstone more that anything else. We are headed into season 4 with our flagstone coping and saltwater pool. There are three types of flagstone around our pool and in the paths around the area. The kind that flakes a little like slate, the kind that gets little pits in it and the kind that looks exactly the same as it did 3-1/2 years ago. Probably 75% of my stone is the latter. I have all three of these types around the pool and not around around the pool. The worst flaking flagstone in my yard is not near the pool at all, it is peeling up in big sheets maybe 1/16th at a time, but it is still almost 2" thick.

All of that said, I am still very happy with the flagstone in our yard. It is natural and therefore not perfect. But, at this point in the life of the stone I am not concerned that it is eroding at such a rate that it will need to be replaced in the next 10 years or more.

What do you mean when you say a normal chlorine pool? How are you planning to get the chlorine into the pool? You have three basic choices: 1. SWCG, 2. bleach/liquid chlorine or 3. chlorine pucks. Chlorine pucks are really not an option at all because they will cause your CYA to increase rapidly to a point where you have to drain your pool to dilute it.

I personally recommend SWCG and so will many people here. I am also on the side of people (maybe minority?) who are not concerned about flagstone use with SWCG.

 

[daveooph]

Not sure how the Chlorine is getting into the pool, it doesn't say on the quote and I was only familiar with the pucks as this is what I grew up with. I just know we were not doing salt water, but primarily because we are trying to keep the cost lower.

Quote is close to the others higher than one, and lower than the 3rd. So it's hard to determine.

 

[jblizzle]

Sounds in the ball park then on price.

Also sounds like you need to start learning about how you are going to maintain the pool.
Have you found Pool School yet? Start with these:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

 

[mariane]

We had landscaping done in our yard and used flagstone as a walkway in the grass. Most pieces are flaking and crumbling. The flagstone patio has very little flaking. So I'm not convinced the advice from your builder is true. Maybe flaking is due to the stone getting wet frequently from rain and sprinkler system but there is no salt there. I agree with pooldv and jblizzle. It all depends on the stone. Although having it on the pool "deck" would be a problem if it starts to flake and that gets in the pool. A nuisance or a nightmare, depending on how much starts to fall off into the water. After 6 years, I have to say I would not use flagstone again but I'm not going to spend the money to replace it.