Yep, the grotto-man wants to put a crane in the wash and lift rocks either over the wall or over the pool and into place. There's barely enough room for a wheelbarrow, let alone a bobcat, to move rock around the pool.
Chipping out the deep-end standing perch by hand was actually my cathartic time. Remember, I am an owner-builder so part of my goal is to save a few bucks. My consultant recommended I dig my own gas-line trench because the plumber was going to charge $10 per linear foot to dig the trench, and we would need about 175' of trenches dug. He said he always tells his clients to rent an 18" trencher and do it themselves. I've used a trencher for irrigation lines before (maybe 6-10" deep) and remember it not being so bad. Well it is bad when you have to use the full capacity of your 18" trencher, and you not only are cutting through very hard clay, but also hitting buried cement-wash out and debris fields from the house construction. I spent one very long day with the trencher, and then my plumber said (a) I didn't dig them deep enough and (b) it would be easier to wait until after shotcrete to dig them out because there was so little room between my pool and house. I think it was my plumbers way of saying he really doesn't like digging gas trenches. Because of my nature, and because the whole pool build was already moving so slow, I spent 6 or 8 evenings and mornings using shovels and breaker bars to try to lower all my trenches to 20+ inches (After using the trencher, I was told by several people that my town has at least one inspector who will fail an 18" trench because it really only leaves 16" over the gas line, even though we'll later add finish landscaping that adds 2"+). Also, I found out there is no standard trench width. My gas trencher dug trenches 3" wide, but the trench clean-out shovels I could find were all 4" wide, which meant I would have to expand the width of the trenches if I was going to make them any deeper.
I did find out during this that my soon-to-be 3 year old would be very happy with a new set of gloves and his own shovel for his birthday. This is the best picture of some of the "finished" trenches:
There were still a few trouble spots, like where I hit solid concrete, that I decided I would just have to pay the plumber to get through. But then rebar came out and started knocking a little dirt back in the trenches, and then the electrician came. The electrician actually solved the concrete problem by jackhammering through it, but created a new problem for me by co-opting my gas-line trench for the electrical lines (Electrician came and did his damage all while I was at work). I am hoping that I can somehow lift the electrical conduit up out of the trenches (its glued together, about 40' of conduit, including a couple of 90 degree turns) long enough to clean out the trenches back down to 20" and get the gas line installed and inspected. I'm also not sure how to deal with getting the gas line around all the plumbing in front of the equipment pad. There's really no room for a new trench in that area, and I am really hoping the PVC trench is close enough to 18"+ in that area so I don't have to somehow dig/work the gas line under the installed pool plumbing. I think I'll just leave that to Plumber-man to solve, since he put in the pool plumbing while knowing we still had to fit the gas line in that area later.
for your consultant.
