Lap Pool On The Hill

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We had inspection problems with our build with a pool builder involved.

Inspector A - looked for anything around that might be a problem - even totally unrelated to the pool, or his inspections. At our first inspection he wanted to know why a plug was in a certain location, why pipes and other items were designed the way they were. Apparently, he has quite the reputation locally - I finally had to charm him as best as I could during our "pre-plaster" inspection and get him to agree to let us put water in the pool before the cover was on - turns out the cover can't be put on with out water anyway as it needs the water for support - but boy was it a big deal to him...I basically had to let him decide how he would "solve" our problem and then told him OK I will do that, which would prompt him to say you don't want to do that!
Inspector B - Looked for issues directly related to the pool - and found very minor issues at each juncture as what I saw as a way to justify his "inspection". In some cases he was ready to sign off on the next steps before they were even done.

That was not fun at the time! Good luck, I understand the frustration.

I even had backup engineering calculations done on our 24" tall retaining walls (height of wall above footer), and also on our 120 sq/ft shade structure pergola. I was certain that inspector A would start asking me about them even though they were all just under the size needed for separate permits and inspections.
 
It's been a while. But we're getting close. They're installing the equipment now. They say we might be swimming in a couple weeks. It's been a long haul. The pool guys finished the gunite shell in June. Then they went away. Our concrete guy flaked. We found another - really good - concrete guy. But like all really good contractors, he was booked way out. He started on August 6th. He said it would be about 3 weeks. He's almost finished now :). It didn't help that he had to build an enormous retaining wall. The footing for this thing is over four feet wide by 20 inches deep, with a 1-foot-by-1-foot rib in the middle. The cost for all this is getting pretty mind-boggling.

We are having custom-fabricated steel fencing made, with filigrees at the top. $$$. The city inspector said that due to the locking autocover, we would not need an actual pool fence. So the fencing is actually "railings" to prevent people from falling off the hill.

We got a cheap shed from Costco to put on the upper deck. It arrived as a pile of wood. I put it together. The concrete crew expressed amazement that I knew how to build. They asked if I'd ever worked in the trades. I answered that no, I had learned to build with my first house, which I had bought from a reformed alcoholic. Since he couldn't drink, he got nervous and built - at night. He had a good imagination, but not much knowlege or care about building codes. I had to tear out everything he'd done, pull a permit, and build it anew. My wife and I dug the foundation, poured it, did the framing, hung the sheetrock, the siding, building paper, etc etc. Back to the present...

We also indulged in a barrel sauna from Costco. That *also* arrived as a pile of wood. But much nicer wood than the shed.

The auto cover has a keyswitch to open it. I built a pedestal for that keyswitch. It's made of 1/8" thick steel, plasma cut and MIG welded. I also welded a forged steel frog on top.

Here's some pix of the current status:

http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_134133.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132615.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132357.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132353.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132424.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132450.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132454.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132559.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132607.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132819.jpg

We have a lot of concrete seating surfaces... BECAUSE the pool builder installed the pipes too high. Oh well. I couldn't visualize how it would turn out, either.


I just ordered 10 Gull Industries solar coils. They will deliver them tomorrow morning.
 
It's been a while. But we're getting close. They're installing the equipment now. They say we might be swimming in a couple weeks. It's been a long haul. The pool guys finished the gunite shell in June. Then they went away. Our concrete guy flaked. We found another - really good - concrete guy. But like all really good contractors, he was booked way out. He started on August 6th. He said it would be about 3 weeks. He's almost finished now :). It didn't help that he had to build an enormous retaining wall. The footing for this thing is over four feet wide by 20 inches deep, with a 1-foot-by-1-foot rib in the middle. The cost for all this is getting pretty mind-boggling.

We are having custom-fabricated steel fencing made, with filigrees at the top. $$$. The city inspector said that due to the locking autocover, we would not need an actual pool fence. So the fencing is actually "railings" to prevent people from falling off the hill.

We got a cheap shed from Costco to put on the upper deck. It arrived as a pile of wood. I put it together. The concrete crew expressed amazement that I knew how to build. They asked if I'd ever worked in the trades. I answered that no, I had learned to build with my first house, which I had bought from a reformed alcoholic. Since he couldn't drink, he got nervous and built - at night. He had a good imagination, but not much knowlege or care about building codes. I had to tear out everything he'd done, pull a permit, and build it anew. My wife and I dug the foundation, poured it, did the framing, hung the sheetrock, the siding, building paper, etc etc. Back to the present...

We also indulged in a barrel sauna from Costco. That *also* arrived as a pile of wood. But much nicer wood than the shed.

The auto cover has a keyswitch to open it. I built a pedestal for that keyswitch. It's made of 1/8" thick steel, plasma cut and MIG welded. I also welded a forged steel frog on top.

Here's some pix of the current status:

http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_134133.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132615.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132357.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132353.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132424.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132450.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132454.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132559.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132607.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181024_132819.jpg

We have a lot of concrete seating surfaces... BECAUSE the pool builder installed the pipes too high. Oh well. I couldn't visualize how it would turn out, either.


I just ordered 10 Gull Industries solar coils. They will deliver them tomorrow morning.
 
Man you and concrete guys do not get along at all :shock: Glad you found one that did such good work!

That fence............so pretty!! How did you find the artist that did that for you?

LOL on them being there long enough (3 weeks??? Yeah right!) to watch you build it. Good job!

Kim:kim:
 
Things are moving right along. Here are some pix from the backyard this morning:

http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181114_082040.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181114_082038.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181114_082024.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181114_082023.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181114_082021.jpg
http://www.tr2.com/photos/pool/20181114_081937.jpg

So: They acid wash the surface tomorrow & finish off all the pipes sticking into the pool. Then we fill it with water from multiple hoses, taking care to read the water meter before we start and after we're done. The pool company's startup guy will be here on Friday morning.

But there is also trouble in paradise. The county inspector did sign off the preplaster inspection, but noted that the main pool deck had not been inspected. Apparently, there is an inspection which must be done before that concrete is poured. I hope they won't make me tear out that gorgeous deck.

The inspector told me that mostly what they're looking for is *bonding*. Every metallic structure needs to be electrically bonded to the pool. So I went out after he left with my good Fluke multimeter and a very long wire. There are two existing bonding wires visible inside
the autocover vault. I measured the resistance of every metallic item within 10 feet of the water. After taking the resistance of the Very Long Wire into account, it was between 0.1 ohms and 0.2 ohms for each item. (NB: I used to be an electronics tech, for some years, I worked in an instrument repair&calibration shop ). Gave the inspector a voice mail and sent him an email. He says he needs to consult with his supervisor.

Now, we HAD called in an inspection for that deck. Inspector came out ( actually, the supervisor ) and said "YOU NEED A PERMIT FOR
THAT RETAINING WALL", and wouldn't inspect anything else. So we got the permit for the retaining wall, had it ( the retaining wall ) inspected, got that permit signed off, and then totally forgot about the deck inspection.

Now that I think of it, it might be worth hiring a lawyer if the County wants to make me tear out that deck.
 
LOVE that color! Get your muscles ready to do some brushing!!!

Gurrrrrrrrrr on the inspection REALLY?? ugh!

Okay so on the fill...............wrap something on the end of the hoses. Socks work great. They help filter the water and protects the new plaster from the metal ends. Put all of the ends in the lowest part of the pool. Most of the time that is where the main drain is. You do not want to have the water flowing in a stream down that pretty new plaster.

Kim:kim:
 

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All,

I just couldn't get the TFP picture hosting working - so I stuck them up on my private webserver. Which unfortunately is
behind a slow DSL. Also, the pictures are not shrunken - they are full resolution, and each one is something like 4 megabytes.

- Jerry
 
The acid wash guys were out here at 10:00AM, and were finished at 11:30. The pool is filling with three 5/8" garden hoses. The pool startup
guy is supposed to be here at 9:00AM tomorrow morning.


Pool needs to be filled by then, but needs to NOT get full in the middle of the night and then overflow. They advised me to measure the
rate of fill with a tape measure, and make a judgement call.
 
kimkats said:
Oh my that is SO pretty!! Have you been it yet?? Is the equipment on yet?

Kim:kim:
Click to expand...

Thanks Kim.... The equipment is on. We haven't been in it yet, BECAUSE
.... The cover isn't on yet, and we're too cheap to run the heater, only to have it cool down again overnight.
We do have solar, but this time of the year, it can't do much. I did run out to the nearest pool store yesterday evening, and bought enough
CYA and liquid chlorine to get it started. So we can swim for the four weeks or so after the cover is installed and before we start up the SWG.

Added pretty things that are not in the pix: Three multicolor LED pool lights, and three sheer descents in the raised bond beam. One light
across from each descent.
 
A disapointment: I distinctly remember discussing an autofill when we were speccing out the pool. We even paid for extra trenching and pipe to get to the city water. Yet somehow it slipped through the slats, and there is no autofill. Just a hand operated valve at the equipment pad.

The construction manager claims that:

* If they put in an autofill, they would have had to put some sort of overflow line going to our sanitary sewer.
* The rate of evaporation will be very low with the autocover, so there's just not that much filling to be done.

All that being said, I sense a DIY option: There is an electric unit ( Jandy Levolor ) which consists of a sensor
at the pool, and an electric valve at the equipment pad. The sensor wire could be fished through the pipe that
contains the hydraulic hoses for the autocover motor.

I really have my doubts about this sanitary sewer requirement. At plan check time for the pool permit was a requirement
that all possible overflow or splashout be routed to our own retention basin, not to the street. "Retention Basin" is not
equal to "sanitary sewer", and the autocover vault ALREADY has a drain line going to the basin.

...and I suspect the the possibility of overfill is HIGHER with the manual option. Turn the valve on, go about your business... Oops I forgot all about
it!
 
We had a build that used that kind of auto fill and LOVES it. Of course I cannot find his thread to point you to. I will keep looking for it. I would be asking for the extra money back since he forgot it. He is just trying to talk you out of it as he knows he did a boo-boo.
 
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kimkats said:
We had a build that used that kind of auto fill and LOVES it. Of course I cannot find his thread to point you to. I will keep looking for it. I would be asking for the extra money back since he forgot it. He is just trying to talk you out of it as he knows he did a boo-boo.
Click to expand...

Well, we didn't pay for it, either. There is no line item for it on the bid sheet or the contract. This is a fairly large company, and they are very accurate on their paperwork.
 
Our PB said he was going to add autofill and I didn't even know it was an option or existed. So I was worried about autofill getting missed and I made sure I stayed on top of it to make sure it was getting added and it did get added. Hopefully we get plaster and fill up the pool on Tuesday.
 

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