New in ground Shotcrete Pool Build in South Florida.

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Not entirely sure, but out of 4 pool builds that i have seen down here by different pool builders they all used this method. I also asked the steel forming guys and they said they have been doing this for 20 yrs and always the same way (they are subs and are used by other PB as well). The only part of the pool that will have a negative edge will be the spa, they should be forming that today.

Yesterdays Progress...







they initially brought out 300 pieces of #3 rebar, yesterday at day's end they said they had to order another 100 pieces in hopes to complete everything else today.

Spa plumbing should be going in on monday as well as the soil statement from the engineer, and off to our first inspection mid next week (Steel and Main Drain). Shotcrete late next week or early the following. fingers crossed.
 
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Looks like it just got overdug and forming it is a lot cheaper than having 24" thick walls in places. The overdig could have been a result of the equipment being used to remove the rock. The more I look at it, it seems to be because of the rock itself. It appears to come out either in pieces/chunks or it crumbles leaving a larger excavation than planned. Regardless, the framing will provide a nice consistent sized shell. It will however create the need to backfill against it which is usually not needed for gunite pools. So the compaction will be important prior to decking.
 
You are probably right bmoreswim! I'm new to this whole pool building/ownership so I'm no expert, but I do remember them saying they were "digging out far enough so the forms can fit easily" from the very beginning which leads me to believe this was the plan all along. They also set aside a lot of dirt for backfilling. I will make sure that they do a good job on compaction prior to setting the deck. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Rebar finished last night at 7:30. Will take pictures tomorrow. Spa plumbing should be going in tomorrow as well. Quick question, how far apart should the spa jets be place? Plumber wanted to increase jets from 8 to 12, but I think they would be too cramped together and not allowing for proper sitting.
 
Looks like it's moving along nicely. Your explanation makes sense to me, bmoreswim. If it's all rock, they probably want to dig everything only once. It seems to me that with other builds, they excavate, do the shell, and then return to trench for plumbing and electric around perimeter.
 
Congrats on the new pool and baby Northrider! The tanning ledge will get some good use with the new baby-exciting times ahead. I love your design and I like how your builder showed all the plumbing and electrical in your plans-nice added details. Is this common for builds in FL?

It's also interesting to see how the build process varies from region to region.

Keep the pics coming, everything looks great and nice to see another geometric pool build.
 
Thank you CCisotope, we are thinking pool will be ready by the time baby is able to sit and enjoy the tanning area. These are a copy of the plans submitted for permitting since I had no 3D renderings. We are really exited. How do you liking the easytouch?
 
I would rethink the heat pump. I drank the kool aid on that. 30 dollars a month, lol. My electric was over 500 in the winter and still couldn't keep the pool at temp. And the jacuzzi when it's 68 degrees outside Good hour to heat up and I only run my jacuzzi at 96 degrees or so.

I'm in Deerfield Beach.
 
Hey rob. Thanks for the heads up. We are looking for something that would heat the spa as well as keep the pool at a comfortable temp for our son. We don't have gas on the premises. I've tried googling for a large enough heater but all I get is natural gas or propane. Any suggestions. Thanks
 

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Northrider23 said:
Hey rob. Thanks for the heads up. We are looking for something that would heat the spa as well as keep the pool at a comfortable temp for our son. We don't have gas on the premises. I've tried googling for a large enough heater but all I get is natural gas or propane. Any suggestions. Thanks
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To heat the spa, you could possibly get an electric heater, otherwise propane or gas is only choice if you want it heated quick, your pool is real big too. I think it's probably more economical to just heat with gas or propane on weekends when you want to swim rather than run your heat pump and pump 24 hours a day to try and keep it heated. Maybe add solar in addition to help the heat pump.
 
Hi Northrider,

We have the easytouch 8 with the wireless remote. Haven't been able to play with it yet but excited to see what can be programmed into it and how much can be automated. I also looked at the ScreenLogic after Dave (pragmatic) mentioned it to me. I left most of the equipment stuff up to the hubby but didn't realize they had this remote option. It looks like we can program most of our needs into our current easytouch system but it will all have to be done on a small LCD screen-not a problem for me at the moment since most of the analytical instruments I work with have small LCD screens with multiple submenus.

But I might have to look at the Screenlogic upgrade in the future. It would be nice to be able to control stuff remotely especially if something should come up when one is on holidays. Would be interesting to see if ScreenLogic with the Easytouch can be programmed with our current Sonos audio system. It would be cool to kinda have a custom light, audio and water show programmed into it- a mini Bellagio water show.....just a thought.

You'll be surprised how quickly the baby will grow, I am pretty sure the baby will be sitting up by the time the pool is done and maybe even crawling by then :).

Hubby is jealous of all the avocado trees you have on the property-spent a couple years in Barbados in his youth and they had a couple trees in their yard too. We planted a couple of unique banana tree varietals in our yard to give it the tropical feel from the islands but they freeze this past winter hasn't been kind to them. Hopefully they will recover once it gets warmer.

Like your pool design and keep the pics coming. did you happen to pick out tile and finishes yet?
 
I'll be curious of your test results for the fill water! How far ahead have you ordered the test kit? I want to order one but don't want to jinx anything. We haven't even received the permits yet!

As for heat -- all the PBs we spoke to recommended heat pumps. robl45 - you're the first person I've heard from who actually has one in Florida. I'm also considering solar.
 
CCisotope: we have a total of 50 tress which is a bit overwhelming when all the fruit comes in all at once. We haven't picked anything final yet as far as finishes. But thinking we are doing travertine coping and paver deck more than likely in a walnut color and glass tile for waterline and spa but no colors yet. We have a $10 allowance for waterline tile so I'm sure we'll find something close to that price. I'm looking forward to your experiences with the automation. Best of luck finishing your project, I'm sure it will turn out phenomenal.

Jro. I ordered the kit way ahead of time. Pool's a few months out but I was reading all the pool school articles and figured that was as good a time as any to buy it. Hopefully shooting shotcrete next week. I'll pm you the water test results since we are both on county water. Should receive kit tomorrow. Have you been following you permit progress online?
 
jro33176 said:
I'll be curious of your test results for the fill water! How far ahead have you ordered the test kit? I want to order one but don't want to jinx anything. We haven't even received the permits yet!

As for heat -- all the PBs we spoke to recommended heat pumps. robl45 - you're the first person I've heard from who actually has one in Florida. I'm also considering solar.
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I looked into a number of things, heatpump, tankless water heater electric sized for pool, solar. I was going to go for the electric until I realized it was misleasding and will not be cheap, will heat fast though. I have a propane heater, used it a little bit when we moved in, but propane isn't cheap and filling 700 dollars worth of tank everytime it ran out just did not work for me. But propane, natural gas heats fast. Solar is fine if you don't have a spa, although a house we looked at down the street before we bought this one had solar and temp was like 72 degrees in March so solar can only do so much, but its free aside from installation which is a plus. The heat pump might not actually cost that much to run, but the pump running 18 to 24 hours a day certainly racks up the bill and that was reality in the winter trying to keep the pool heated, even then, overnight it would drop to the point that the heatpump could not keep up during the day. Jacuzzi was literally 1 hour to heat up just to get to 96 degrees if the air temp was 68 degrees. Obviously you don't want to use your jacuzzi when its 90 degrees out, maybe I'm just crazy like that:)

As I said before, if you don't have to install your heatpump on the north facing wall of the house that doesn't get much sunlight, the heatpump probably work a little better, but still when you want to use the jacuzzi at night, the sun shining on the unit is not going to help you. I honestly think Nat gas is the best option. I don't know how much it costs to run a gas line, but I do know that gas heaters are like 1000 to 2000 less than heatpumps.
 
Thanks Northrider, I'd like to see your test results. I didn't know I could check on the permit progress online. PB did it yesterday. My permits are approved pending some missing information. But PB also pulled up the "missing" information and it is clearly there with the documents submitted. He said he will have that cleared up on Monday.

Thanks for info on the heating, robl. We don't have a spa planned or even a heater planned right now. We're running the electrical for the heater to be added later and it would be located on the south side of the house.
 

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