Hello, I'm Beth. First time poster, long time visitor.
I wanted to share some pictures of our build because honestly that's what I loved most about this site. It's been a wealth of information and I'm still learning quite a bit.
We live just a little bit outside of St. Louis on 26 acres of land and have thought about a pool for some time. We actually started this process 8 years ago but let it go given the sticker shock. Yikes...Fast forward several years and many saved dollars and it was finally time to start the planning. I starting researching last April and was interviewing several builders until we finally settled on two mid November. We made our choice and signed a contract two weeks before Thanksgiving. They wanted to start the week of Thanksgiving but since we host at our house (30+ people) I chose to hold off until the next week. They started December 1, 2014 and finished officially April 1. 2015. I can't complain at all about the process as it went fairly smooth with only a few bumps along the way. I am very thankful for that because I have read some not so good things on here with pool builders. We got lucky
So here goes...I did create a time lapse with a GoPro of the whole build but I haven't put that together yet. These are all pictures taken from my phone.
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The first thing they did was build this tent over the pool and started to dig. It really thwarted my plans to create a time lapse of the build. So basically I just have the Bobcat coming and going along with the workers for a few weeks.
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My son and I would sneak into the tent after they left each day to check out the progress. He was thinking it could all be done in a day. Not even close...
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The second day of digging I get the dreaded call that they hit rock. This was our first set back. I had a suspicion because when we built our house, they did then, but I was crossing fingers and praying that they wouldn't. Took an additional two more days and another piece of equipment to finish and more $$$.
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It was insanely muddy....yuck. I'm sure they are used to this but I couldn't imagine going home each day caked with mud.
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Finally time to shoot. This was a nice sight to see. Makes it all more real.
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Before they would leave, they left this heater on and it kept it pretty warm considering it very cold outside.
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The starting of the equipment pad.
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Finally the tent came down. Coping went on and it was nice to look outside and see a pool besides this giant white tent. We ended up upgrading to the Tennessee Flagstone and are happy we did. It looks pretty cool.
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My son was happy with the progress and the new contraptions to walk on.
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I'm not really happy with where the equipment pad went but we didn't really have another option. I have been looking around for ways to hide it and if anyone has any suggestions, please shout out.
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The kids liked this part the best. Slide installation day
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This was another upgrade and it was actually the husband's idea. I don't think we need a bigger slide....said no one ever
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Along with the slide, also started the boulder work. The original plan stated three boulder jumping rocks at all different heights. The plans didn't look like this at all but we really didn't care that much just as long as we got the 3 different heights. They ended up using way more boulders than we thought.
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They added a boulder retaining wall.
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Starting on the deck-o-drain.
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It was nice to see this go up and get an idea on the decking around the pool. When I was researching and asking others who owned a pool, what their biggest regret or suggestion, all said they should have had more decking. We added more toward the house (you can't really see it in the pic) and I know we made the right choice with that. It's going to be a bare space for awhile but eventually will be an outdoor kitchen area.
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Concrete and Kool Deck applied. I picked out the tan color of the kool deck, however, I wish I would have gone with the grey color. The pool builder talked me out of it saying that it would have blended in too much with the rocks. Who knows...I'll get used to it.
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This was a last minute addition. Stone steps down to the pool. It was a push to get the husband on board for this one but eventually I won him over It would have taken us forever to do this ourselves where it took the guys just a day and a half to finish. I think in the end, we had close to 60 tons of boulders in our back yard.
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Blue Granite Pebble Sheen )))
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Starting to fill. We are on a well out here and I was pretty nervous about this. I've read the horror stories but thank goodness we didn't have any problems. Filled up in 3 days.
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All finished. Hooray!!
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Now it's time for the landscaping to be done. Unfortunately, with all the add ons, we didn't have anything left for landscaping and will have to do it ourselves. It's been close to a month since completion and the pool turned on me after we had some major rains. Took us a week to get it clear again. That's when I bought the TF100. I'm really still learning how to handle it. Since it was filled with well water, I don't know how much that messes up things or how long it'll take it get it all cleared up. It does seem to have a lot of dirt in the pool but I'm just assuming that's from the wind carrying the dirt into the pool. That's really been the only issue that we've had so far. I don't know if that's normal or not.
Anyway, like I said before. This went really well. We only had one issue with the builder and when I brought that up, they met us in the middle without any fuss. I liked having it built over the winter because if there was a delay, it really wasn't a big deal because we couldn't get in anyway. Knowing how impatient I am, I couldn't imagine how I would have handled a summer build.
We still haven't gotten in yet and the kids are aching to to so. I know I'm a bad guy for not letting them in but when the water is 50 degrees, I have a feeling once they jump in, I'm going in right after them
I wanted to share some pictures of our build because honestly that's what I loved most about this site. It's been a wealth of information and I'm still learning quite a bit.
We live just a little bit outside of St. Louis on 26 acres of land and have thought about a pool for some time. We actually started this process 8 years ago but let it go given the sticker shock. Yikes...Fast forward several years and many saved dollars and it was finally time to start the planning. I starting researching last April and was interviewing several builders until we finally settled on two mid November. We made our choice and signed a contract two weeks before Thanksgiving. They wanted to start the week of Thanksgiving but since we host at our house (30+ people) I chose to hold off until the next week. They started December 1, 2014 and finished officially April 1. 2015. I can't complain at all about the process as it went fairly smooth with only a few bumps along the way. I am very thankful for that because I have read some not so good things on here with pool builders. We got lucky
So here goes...I did create a time lapse with a GoPro of the whole build but I haven't put that together yet. These are all pictures taken from my phone.
The first thing they did was build this tent over the pool and started to dig. It really thwarted my plans to create a time lapse of the build. So basically I just have the Bobcat coming and going along with the workers for a few weeks.
My son and I would sneak into the tent after they left each day to check out the progress. He was thinking it could all be done in a day. Not even close...
The second day of digging I get the dreaded call that they hit rock. This was our first set back. I had a suspicion because when we built our house, they did then, but I was crossing fingers and praying that they wouldn't. Took an additional two more days and another piece of equipment to finish and more $$$.
It was insanely muddy....yuck. I'm sure they are used to this but I couldn't imagine going home each day caked with mud.
Finally time to shoot. This was a nice sight to see. Makes it all more real.
Before they would leave, they left this heater on and it kept it pretty warm considering it very cold outside.
The starting of the equipment pad.
Finally the tent came down. Coping went on and it was nice to look outside and see a pool besides this giant white tent. We ended up upgrading to the Tennessee Flagstone and are happy we did. It looks pretty cool.
My son was happy with the progress and the new contraptions to walk on.
I'm not really happy with where the equipment pad went but we didn't really have another option. I have been looking around for ways to hide it and if anyone has any suggestions, please shout out.
The kids liked this part the best. Slide installation day
This was another upgrade and it was actually the husband's idea. I don't think we need a bigger slide....said no one ever
Along with the slide, also started the boulder work. The original plan stated three boulder jumping rocks at all different heights. The plans didn't look like this at all but we really didn't care that much just as long as we got the 3 different heights. They ended up using way more boulders than we thought.
They added a boulder retaining wall.
Starting on the deck-o-drain.
It was nice to see this go up and get an idea on the decking around the pool. When I was researching and asking others who owned a pool, what their biggest regret or suggestion, all said they should have had more decking. We added more toward the house (you can't really see it in the pic) and I know we made the right choice with that. It's going to be a bare space for awhile but eventually will be an outdoor kitchen area.
Concrete and Kool Deck applied. I picked out the tan color of the kool deck, however, I wish I would have gone with the grey color. The pool builder talked me out of it saying that it would have blended in too much with the rocks. Who knows...I'll get used to it.
This was a last minute addition. Stone steps down to the pool. It was a push to get the husband on board for this one but eventually I won him over It would have taken us forever to do this ourselves where it took the guys just a day and a half to finish. I think in the end, we had close to 60 tons of boulders in our back yard.
Blue Granite Pebble Sheen )))
Starting to fill. We are on a well out here and I was pretty nervous about this. I've read the horror stories but thank goodness we didn't have any problems. Filled up in 3 days.
All finished. Hooray!!
Now it's time for the landscaping to be done. Unfortunately, with all the add ons, we didn't have anything left for landscaping and will have to do it ourselves. It's been close to a month since completion and the pool turned on me after we had some major rains. Took us a week to get it clear again. That's when I bought the TF100. I'm really still learning how to handle it. Since it was filled with well water, I don't know how much that messes up things or how long it'll take it get it all cleared up. It does seem to have a lot of dirt in the pool but I'm just assuming that's from the wind carrying the dirt into the pool. That's really been the only issue that we've had so far. I don't know if that's normal or not.
Anyway, like I said before. This went really well. We only had one issue with the builder and when I brought that up, they met us in the middle without any fuss. I liked having it built over the winter because if there was a delay, it really wasn't a big deal because we couldn't get in anyway. Knowing how impatient I am, I couldn't imagine how I would have handled a summer build.
We still haven't gotten in yet and the kids are aching to to so. I know I'm a bad guy for not letting them in but when the water is 50 degrees, I have a feeling once they jump in, I'm going in right after them