Like many folks I wanted music around the pool but had no place for outdoor speakers wired to a receiver inside my house. I also didn't have a good place mount a full size receiver outside where it would stay dry. I have a fair bit of decking and a single blue tooth speaker didn't cut it. I originally bought a set of wireless Bluetooth speakers that connected to each other and my phone that i could place on either side of the pool and they woked ok. However, they needed charged, had to be drug in and out of storage, couldn't stay outside permanently, and just were either to loud or to quiet depending on where you were on the pool deck. So I came up with this, I mounted a digital amplifier in a water proof box and connected it to a wifi plug under the counter in my outdoor kitchen. I got my hands on some rock looking outdoor speakers and placed them around the 4 corners of the pool making sure each side had a left and a right for full sound. Using cl3 direct burial outdoor speaker wire and water resistant connectors, I connected all 4 speakers to the amp and buried the wire.

Now, I can turn the amp on from my phone, have it automatically connect, and play music in seconds. No dragging speakers in and out, no charging, no "dead spots", just easy music listening. The amp also has aux input RCA's so movie night by the pool is a thing now.

If anyone wants to know the parts I used let me know and I can provide a list.

Me: "Having a pool is totally awesome and a great life choice."

Also me:

I decided to upgrade the Dual speakers at my gazebo. Decided to up some of these guys over a pair of Atriums. KHO-7. They don’t sound the best out of the box, but burn them in for 8-10 hours and they start to sound nice. Very power hungry. They want an amp that is at least 75watts at 8ohms. Most small class D amps don’t actually do that as their stated wattage is usually for 4ohms and probably peak power. Basically anything with a 12 volt power supply is going to be kinda week. I tried 3 amps and settled on this one. Fosi amp. It might be just a tad underpowered, but it can get more then loud enough to irritate neighbors at max volume, so it’s perfect for my application. It doesn’t seem to distort even maxed completely out. It’s a very clean amp, I can see why it gets such great reviews. It has Bluetooth, which I haven’t tried. Right now I’m feeding it with an old gen3 Apple TV with airplay1. Will pick up a second gen airport express at some point as they support airplay2, and are cheap on eBay. This setup gives me decent enough sound. It would probably blow my indoor stereo away if I incorporated a powered sub.

Back when we built the pool, I was still on the annoyed side. Too expensive, doesn’t add value, blah blah blah. Almost 3 years later, and I am still so thrilled we did it. We host our kiddos birthdays at home, and having the pool is an amazing add. We use it SO much, even in this geography. From the dogs to the kids to US. I am so glad we pulled the trigger (and sooooo glad I found TFP!) We had a ton of kids here yesterday - so thankful for good weather!

Hi all! I’m in the middle of a pool build and realizing my kidney pool is incredibly narrow…..I was under the impression we would be as wide as ordinances would allow but the PB did not. Anyhow, can anyone post photos of their narrow free forms and how you landscaped around? (Width under 14ft) TIA!

Hello
Had some landscaping installed around the pool etc…palm trees, shrubs etc. area was sculpted nicely with mulch. I want to put some type of bricking or edging to keep the mulch in. I was thinking about the standard bricks from Home Depot / Lowes, but want to do something different. I feel like that is too common. Anyone have any crafty ideas or something different. Pay no attention to the dog…she would not move

Just want to wish all my Fellow TFP friends a Happy New Year

I searched and searched for the "There's a moose in my pool" thread.. This was not in my skimmer basket.. and it wasn't floating dead.. so I decided to start a new thread. I have seen raccoons cleaning their claws in my pool, Bats dive bombing for bugs on the surface and families of skunks doing the hokey pokey in the raised garden behind the pool. This little guy just likes to hang out on my spa spill over wall. Every morning when I come out with my cup of coffee he is sitting there and gives me a little ga-mernin' chirp.

May I introduce you to Junior. I have had a pair of nesting Cooper's Hawks hanging out in the oaks of my back yard every spring for the last few years.. I call them Tippi and Rod. This year they had Junior. Here is the whole family; Tippi and Rod are on the branch and Junior is on the roof:


Junior assumes the whole backyard is his home range; he puts up with my dogs (which couldn't catch him anyway), he digs for grubs in my lawn (Its good for aeration too!), yesterday he caught a bird and ate it outside my office window (mmm, tastes like chicken!),

And he helps himself to the pool spa whenever he wants. He just keeps leaving the heater on.. Dang party animals...

We re-did the pool decking completely this spring. Before that was 3' concrete (broken) and outside of that was grass. Trying to mow in the "pool yard" was a disaster every weekend. Took down 2 pine trees, I had replaced the vinyl liner maybe 4-5 years ago and kept that. I also bought a Dolphin Nautilus CC (seen in action in the pic below) which has made my lift much easier. New Hayward VS pump, deck box, and some other smaller improvements that have been a nice touch.

My wife got a big surprise when adding water to the pool. Watch out!

Didn't care for a large yard when we bought our home, so we don't have the largest pool or backyard...but we are very happy with what we have done with the space! A 7 foot easement really hindered the pool size, but we love it!

Common enough, but the first snail I have found in the pool. Much better than some critters for sure!

I remodeled my natatorium starting on 12/12/20. It's been a long and costly road so I thought I would share some pics.

So enjoying my new toy! I love the bright tropical color things I can make with the vinyl.

Beautiful to look at. Now go away. Pump is running. All is good.

well here she is! I did 99% of the work myself.(i’m not a pool builder). Thanks to everyone who responded to some of my questions along the way.

Here’s my pool.

Changed jobs recently from being a CFO in Healthcare to now being a CFO for a Granite company. We import our granite from Brazil and India.
For those who have BBQ islands with granite/marble/quarztite this is the absolute best sealer on the planet...if you can find it. Better than anything you'll find at your local store.
It isn't inexpensive and for good reason. Hope it helps.

PS I am only able to find it on this site. I am in no way shape or form condoning or have any relationship with the site linked to. Google is your friend.

Bellinzoni Idea Gold

I just installed a drip irrigation system to all of the pots around my pool. No more twice daily watering.

I also added a Poolbot (Triton PS Plus) aka T.O.M. to the pool. If I can get the SWG installed in about 2 weeks, I'll have almost nothing to do...

What are you doing to upgrade your pool or pool paradise?

We made one:
Picture is a garden flag glued onto plywood,, clockworks and numbers bought on Amazon, frame made by talented hubby.

Thanks to TFP you would never know there is even water in the pool

I'm looking to do a outdoor shower for fathers day next weekend. I have the perfect spot for it on the side of the house. It already had a deck drain in the right spot, and I had an underground faucet added right next to where I want. I'm not looking to do an enclusure at this time, just the plumbing.

Ideally I'm looking for a simple non-heated shower that will hook into the faucet a few feet away. There are several stand alone units that would easily hook into the hose, but they seem to be made in china junk and get terrible reviews.

Surely I can build a shower with a simple ball valve for on/off, with the piping either metal or painted pvc connected to the brick wall. I could do shark bite type fittings, but have never soldered anything. If I want to get really fancy, I can put a foot wash in as well on a separate valve.

I'm fairly handy if I can follow a solid set of instructions, but I'm not finding what I want on the internet. Anyone have any ideas on how best to accomplish this? I have a few pics of the space below.

We are on our third season and have learned some lessons we wish we had known starting out. These things have had the most impact on making our paradise EASY. Hope this is an ok place to post this but our pool keeps getting easier to maintain...

1. TFP method and pool app - Never had a pool guy or trusted the store testing.
2. SWG - No running around looking for bleach and dates on bleach... A steady dose is perfect.
3. Pool Robot - Can clean better than me in two hours than I can in 6 hours. Paradise should be clean.
4. Heater \ Chiller - I was able to swim a few days in march and extend into November. I thought heater would be most important but I think the chiller is.

The last item on our list is adding smart phone control. I think this last item is going to finish our paradise features. Now to build a shed and a bar and a pergola...

So I scored these large planters at Costco for $15 this weekend, and am trying to figure out what to put in them. I'm not really drawn to the tropical vibe, I was thinking maybe some dichondra and ornamental grass, but I'm just not sure. I've looked all over the internet, but I'd rather see things real people are having success with, you know? I'm tired of perfect Pinterest pictures.

Anyone want to show off your poolside planters or have any advice? Leaning more towards greenery rather than flowers. These are full sun all day, zone 9.



ETA: Please list the kind of plants in your planters if you know!

So Mother's Day weekend was spent starting an outdoor BBQ kitchen with raised bar. I spend most of Saturday measuring things 3 times, and anchoring the left wall to the concrete. By Sunday I was much more proficient at cutting and joining the metal studs (had never worked with them before) and finished the front bar wall. The BBQ counter will be 35 inches tall. The bar top will be 44 inches tall with an overhang to accommodate bar stools. Stainless steel access panels and vent panels arrived from BBQGUYS.COM this weekend too. So my questions for those who have done this before - is there anything different you wish you did in hind site? I plan on having a few electric outlets installed. I will likely do poured in place concrete tops (to surround the left column) which will be sealed. May wire some LED lights on the underside. All of the steel studs are resting 1 inch off the pavers on TREX composite board.

I have a basketball hoop but it was probably installed when my pool was built in 1991. it's old and falling apart and I get rust stains on my deck. I want this one:

Regulation Clear Hoop

but this one says recommended for salt pools
Deck Shoot Clear

So is that what I should stick with or would I be ok with the first one?