New Build - Mesa, AZ

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Lessons Learned:

1. If I had to do this again I would do a raised bond beam for the front edge of this platform. I would also have incorporated the base or foundation of the entire platform as part of the gunite process. Then I would have built the back part of the platform out of block.

2. Or if I was to do the whole thing out of block again, I would have done just the front row and placed the sheer waterfall and plumbed it. Then I would have built the rest of the platform around the plumbing.

As it is, I built the whole platform, then cut and chiseled out the spot for the sheer. It was tough to work around the block when doing the plumbing.

The bids I got for this ranged from $780 to do just the block, or $1500 to do the block and set the sheer. I did just the block work in 6 hours and $170 in materials. It was hard work though. If I would have had the gunite people do the raised beam on the front and the foundation, it probably would have cost almost nothing incrementally over the rest of the gunite and it would have saved me a lot of work.
 

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So the deck is going in Monday. I finally decided to go with acrylic lace. This post is to summarize the decision process. I considered Artistic Pavers, Acrylic Lace, and Travertine.

Cost:
I surprised me quite a bit a relatively expensive the concrete with acrylic lace deck is. It is only 15-20% less than travertine or Artisitic Pavers. They could be even closer in price if your coping to deck ratio is smaller than mine since the paver and travertine coping is the expensive part. In the end though, I had to draw the line somewhere. One of the issues with building your own pool is you can start to justify incremental upgrades though the whole process and it starts to add up.

Appearance:
In a vacuum, I like the look of the travertine or pavers more. However, in the context of my backyard I decided that acrylic lace fit in better. I have a large concrete patio already and I thought having a different material around the pool would look out of place.

Convenience:
This one might seem trivial but it played a role in my decision. It is just easier to bolt the fence posts to the concrete than it is bury them in the ground or remove pavers and put in concrete footers. I am also going to build a pergola over part of the deck in the future and it will be easier to bolt the columns to the concrete than to remove pavers and put a footing under them, then replace them.

One final note on cost. Here in Arizona it seems the decking cost breaks down like this:
concrete pavers
+10% more for acrylic lace
+15%-20% more for either travertine or Artistic pavers
One thing about the pavers, in my build the coping was 35% of the cost, but only 15% of the square footage. So in a build with relatively less coping and more deck, the pavers and travertine might be the same cost as acrylic lace.
 
I just wanted to give an update on my pool. I stopped posting after the forum software update because it will not allow me to upload pictures anymore. I am not willing to host them myself. As an aside, I think it is very shortsighted of the owners of this forum to require people to host their own photos. The forum has no control over the photos then, and as a result you will end up with a bunch of threads with broken links to photos . It makes the value of the forum lower.

Now to bring some closure to this thread and answer some question I had.

- I decided to go with the National Pool Tile Qaurtzscapes plaster. It has only been 4 days since I filled the pool, but I like it and I do not have any splotchy areas. The information on this site was a great resource for the start up. The part that has taken the longest is getting my alkalinity down while keeping my pH up. I think anyone with a new pool needs a way to aerate. The bubblers in the tanning shelf make aeration very easy in this pool.

- I decided to go with the acrylic lace deck, yes I already have a crack, but I like it otherwise. I still am surprised at how expensive decking is. It was the most expensive part of my pool, even more than gunnite.

- For lighting I put in 3 Pentair Globrite lights. My pool is 707 sq ft, 103 ft perimeter, and 27000 gallons, so I was a little concerned it would not be enough light. It is a perfect amount of light. I really like having the three lights because it gives a more even lighting. It was also cheaper than using 2 of the full size LED lights. As for the lights themselves, I love them. I would recommend them as a upgrade to anyone. I wish I had some light on my tanning shelf. It is only 6 inches deep so I could not put in a Globrite. I could have put in the LED bubblers, but they are expensive. Also, just for information purposes since I had this question myself; I installed the Globrites 18" below the surface and that seems to be perfect, even for the deep end.

- I installed a Zodiak Z4 automation system as a lower cost alternative to the Pentair systems. It controls my Globrites and Pentair VS pump perfectly. I still need to set up schedules and modes, but so far I think this is a viable lower cost alternative if someone does not need all the features of the Pentair automation.
 
I had to put at least 1 pic of the finished pool.

5d6usk.jpg
 

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