New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Pool finished, end pix soon!

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Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE shoot today! 7/30

THUS far... it is looking good. We have a wall!

They spent some time this morning all looking at the spa and they tweaked a few things (redid a small corner of rebar as well) so... that made us feel good.

The gunite guys have actually had equipment out (total station, wire guides, actual measuring tapes) and I'm giving them some confidence on things being shaped and 'cut' properly. They have no issue (thus far) with shaping the seat and wall (pretty much done right now) and the baja reef. The boss mentioned issues with the PB and gave them a call, but all is well now... assuming they don't run out of gunite... it seems to be going well... we're excited watching them and seeing the true shape actually take shape...

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Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE shoot today! 7/30

Nice to be working WITH your PB and the crew! That is how it should be. It is so hard to have some many different people giving input without solid plans/pictures/specs. At least they are trying and listening!

Can't wait to see the whole pool! Next you will get to bond with your pool aka water it. That helps is cure slower to help with the cracks. There will still be some but not as big.

:kim:
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is done!

So, the gunite is done!

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Here's the overview, hooray looking like a pool! Watching the guys was exhausting and I feel like I shot the pool myself (I did do some back-filling in a side planter today so that might have to do with it).

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Exciting to see the light in the pool! We did some rough measurements and the depths seem about right. 3.5' shallow and 6' deep.

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View from up by the jump rock... the leap of faith rock hehe. The swimout is nicely sized and will allow several people to sit there comfortably. Same as the spa, this setup will be for comfort and space, no tiny seats in this yard!

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I'm proud of the baja reef and step design (my own creation). It allows half the family members to walk directly into the pool, and the other half to walk onto the baja reef. The baja reef is a happy medium between the people that wanted it larger, and the people that wanted it smaller... so, it's in-between in size. Note the fill spout to the right of the light. It'll be nice to not have to toss a hose in to fill the pool (memories of my grandpa and his pool).

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aaaaand... last but not least... Benya was checkin' out the big new cement hole.

Cheers! Off to water the pool again in a bit :-D
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is done!

That shelf looks purrfect! Something for everyone! Nice job!

The whole thing is so well thought out!

Benya, how do YOU feel about the pool? Have you figured out the best way in and out yet?

What is next and when?

:kim:
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is done!

Well, right now I'm doing up the sprinklers on the east side of the house (PB gave permission to back fill the trench leading to the equipment) and watering the pool throughout the day. We'll be picking the coping (quartzsite flagstone handpicked pieces) soon and will contact the PB to see when the stone guys come in!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is curing...

3900 lbs of Turning Leaf Quartzite flagstone was hand picked by yours truly today. Here's an example-

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Phew, what a workout! We made sure all the pieces were within 1.75"-2.25" in thickness so there should be no wasted 'too thick' or 'too thin' pieces. The stone is sitting at the stone yard with the stacked stone, the jumping rock, and some wall caps all ready to be picked up. The stone guys should be showing up, well, at some point I guess. Still watering the 3-mile island each day (we call it that because the ~10' tall spa looks like a nuclear cooling tower hehe).
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is curing...

Huge coincidence here
We're doing the exact same stack stone and waterline tile. Problem is our pool company now has the tile on backorder for 2 months?
Do you know of anyone that has Ridgeline Blue Slate in stock?

A&E
 

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Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is curing...

Currently on hold with the PB (40 minutes thus far) to speak with her boss (time to talk to him about his employee and also it's likely faster to discuss things with him than it is to email her back or try to get in touch with her). Despite several emails and phone messages, she didn't communicate with us for 6 days. I may mention in the contract "Additional Terms and Conditions" "Section 4" which states "the contractor agrees to diligently pursue work through to completions", which per lack of communication and cancelled meetings and in general, ignoring us sometimes, they are not following...

She sent us an invoice today for the price difference in stone (we upgraded etc.) but it also included a $85 delivery charge... we're refusing to pay the delivery, it's not stated anywhere in the contract we're responsible for stone delivery... and any 'fees' etc. that are mentioned all relate to government entities and not materials. Per our contract, a jumprock, stacked stone, and flagstone are all 'included'... if that includes a delivery fee, that's their problem not ours.

Has anyone else with a contract had to pay for stone delivery?

I'll post a couple photos later on (side yard is all back together due to some hard manual labor we did over the weekend hehe).
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is curing...

I should delete my previous post... but I guess it documents the emotions and anger that pops up through the whole process. I finally got a hold of the owner and spoke with him a bit and he was very pleasant and on top of things. I was going to explain to him about his employee... but he was so pleasant, I just talked about happy things instead. Why can't HE be the project manager... alas...

I noted the $85 delivery charge and he said it was a mistake. So we wrote up a check for the flagstone difference and that was that. He said he has assigned us his TOP MASON for the stonework (our PB apparently noted we are 'quite particular' about the work) so that was good to hear. He couldn't guarantee when the mason will be out, but explained all the parameters involved with it... so it'll be from 1-4 days. I am amazed at how a certain person can tell you something in a manner that puts your mind at ease and makes you happy to work with someone... vs. someone who can tell you essentially the same thing but in a way that just makes you upset... ANYWAYS...

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We've been watering, tomorrow is day 10 so supposedly we can stop after that. Ugh, there's already a LEAF in the pool... need to go skim it.

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The side yard is all cleaned up thanks to ourselves... phew. Time to get some new plants and stick em in the ground.

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Lastly, I'm sure some opinions are these things are cheesy... but we simply could not resist... so the baby turtles will be on the steps into the pool, the large turtle out in the shallow end from the steps, and the crab... we're still thinking... but maybe vertically on the side of the swimout...

Cheers!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is curing...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the cuties!

Ourselves did a good job cleaning that side yard up! I just hope it stays that way :rolleyes:

The "upset" post will stay (please) it is good for others that come along to see that ups and downs of a pool build. Some have more ups and some have more downs. So long as there is a hole with water in it at the that is all that matters! LOL

I would do a follow up email or text to get agreement in writing.

:kim:
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is curing...

We sent back an email with the requested change order signed and dated. I made a note on it crossing out the $85, changing the total, and making a note "as discussed with XX on phone 8/8" with an initial. So, that's to her and the check is in the mail.
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - GUNITE is curing...

It's all looking so good. I can't wait to see the jump rock when it's all done. Your soil is brutal for digging, but it's funny how you chuckled whenever the crews didn't expect to hit such big boulders. I work with lots of Geologists and I can envision them doing the same thing.:p

I have to give your PM credit for softening you guys up with Donut Man's Peach donuts! We took a drive to Glendora for these seasonal goodies before they're all gone a couple of weeks ago, and we're in Pasadena.
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Stone arrive on-site and some gunite questions!

Look what arrived today!

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Stone was delivered. They were missing the wall caps and jumping rock due to an order slipup, but they say they'll deliver them tomorrow (not an issue at all since those things likely wont be touched for at least a couple weeks)...

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The sand threw us off with positioning the pallets (cement guy got it ordered for us), but I'll be shoveling it into some holes in the backyard this evening (hooray shoveling something like butter and not solid rock!!!!). When I do that, we can move the pallets closer to the garage door tomorrow when the other material is delivered.

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Not the best image I guess... but we wet down the stone to look at it... here's an idea of the stone. It's a fine grained micaceous quartzite... so no flaking mica but still has a fine sheen to it, along with some color variation and waveyness. I'll take some pictures later on to show off the rose colors, greens, grays, and cream swirls etc...

Now then... the gunite shell has cured for 10 days... and it's looking good, but there are some minor things I wanted to mention here to get some opinions on. So, any comments or thoughts would be helpful... all could be nothing, but, as our PB has said, we are "quite particular".

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This is atop the raised bond beam (~18 inches or so). Obviously they will cut this when the coping and stacked stone goes on, but is there any chance of iron stain forming etc. down the line (coming down the back of the stacked stone etc.)?

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This is the only place we're questioning the gunite in the pool itself, the shell is 'scooped in' as everything else, but you can see the 'spacer' piece of PVC exposed as well as a bit of rebar there (already rusting). Will this rust through the plaster?

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This wet spot is where the gunite guys 'shoved' a 2x4 into the wall for half a platform to stand on while they did the finishing up above. This pocket was filled in by hand and is staying wet on the side of the pool and is efflourescing. Any issue here? There will be stacked stone on this surface.

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Ellourescence in front of a seat, there are 4-5 spots of this throughout the pool (the spa has a ring around it about the same level below the seat as this). From what I understand, this isn't a problem, but, ya know, any thoughts?

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Nitpicking perhaps, but the mounts for the light are off by... oh, a few degrees (12:02 instead of 12:00). I have an intellibrite LED light... will it be straight?

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Last but not least, the footprint... the last gunite guy left it there when he got out for the last time. It's 1 inch deep near the heel... I assume the plaster dudes will grind down the edges and fill it in... but, just wondering if any of you have any comments.

As always, thanks again and cheers!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Stone arrive on-site and some gunite questions!

Other than the rebar sticking out you will be fine. The plaster can and will hide every thing else. I would make sure they cut the rebar asap just to be on the safe side. You don't want that to be forgotten on the day.

:kim:
 

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