Out with the old (Farmers Branch/Dallas, TX)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
N

NamasteInThePool

0
Aug 13, 2017
7
Farmers Branch (Dallas)/Texas
Our house is a 60's ranch which has been stripped to the studs and updated on the interior. We've been slower to renovate the exterior. There's a pond behind our house - the surface/edge of which is about 8 feet below and 35 feet away from the threshold of our back door. There was an old (original?) railroad tie retaining wall on the other side of the fence, which we recently replaced with a concrete and stone job. Big improvement.

01MsKF.jpg

aBIbgA.jpg


Now, we're on a pond and a golf course so the view looking out is pretty good. But if I'm on the golf course looking in, our landscape is not so great. We've replaced the rose bushes that surrounded the patio, removed the huge bushes by the pond, and I built a horizontal-board, cedar fence to hide the AC unit, but for the most part it's still fairly bland and dated. I call it old lady landscaping.
open


rOul2x.jpg


9hbZpk.jpg


iHXuEH.jpg


GE9GR3.jpg


We decided that the patio would be our next project. That blue-grey tile has to go. While collecting bids for that job we started thinking about the overall landscape. That led us to expand the scope of our project from patio resurfacing to a comprehensive backyard landscape makeover. While collecting bids for that expanded job we started thinking about adding a pool.

That led to several meetings with some landscape companies who "can" also do pools and two fancy pool companies who also do landscaping. Yesterday, we finally paid the deposit to get the permitting process started.

vcR2EA.jpg


So, what started as a $5k patio makeover has turned into a $60k backyard makeover.

We haven't signed a contract or selected final materials yet. We'll do that in the next few weeks while the permit process is happening. We'll likely go with a dark pool surface, travertine coping, and either concrete pavers or travertine for the deck and patio. I'm not done researching pumps, sanitizing systems, etc.

I'll keep this up-to-date as we progress. I'm combing this forum for knowledge, but any direct advice or ideas are also welcome.
 
The ever expanding project happens a lot, happened to us. We starting thinking that we'd extend our existing patio and add a cover. Which led to an even bigger deck/patio, which led to a pool, which led to a pool with giant deck while leaving the cover patio for later.
 
Consider AquaBright (by ecoFinish) as the interior surface of the pool. It a very high end, flame-sprayed polymeric coating that goes over standard white plaster. The interior finish will have all the mechanical stability of plaster with the chemical inertness that is typically found in vinyl pools. The colors are comparable to any plaster surface (even better in my opinion) and one of our forum Experts is an AB installer in California.

So why not make that $60k pool/backyard build become a $70k build!! Most folks only ever build ONE pool in their lives....

Oh, and I'm a Pentair equipment fan.

Downside is you live in TX and for some silly reason, PBs in your area shun salt water chlorine generator pools. I would never want to own any other pool than a salt pool with an SWG for sanitation but, to each his own.

Pro Tip : stay away from "mineral sanitizers" and anything that says it's an "alternative to chlorine" or "will cut your chlorine use in half". It's all smoke & mirrors and pretty much nonsense.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Consider AquaBright (by ecoFinish) as the interior surface of the pool. It a very high end, flame-sprayed polymeric coating that goes over standard white plaster. The interior finish will have all the mechanical stability of plaster with the chemical inertness that is typically found in vinyl pools. The colors are comparable to any plaster surface (even better in my opinion) and one of our forum Experts is an AB installer in California.

So why not make that $60k pool/backyard build become a $70k build!! Most folks only ever build ONE pool in their lives....

Oh, and I'm a Pentair equipment fan.

Downside is you live in TX and for some silly reason, PBs in your area shun salt water chlorine generator pools. I would never want to own any other pool than a salt pool with an SWG for sanitation but, to each his own.

Pro Tip : stay away from "mineral sanitizers" and anything that says it's an "alternative to chlorine" or "will cut your chlorine use in half". It's all smoke & mirrors and pretty much nonsense.
Click to expand...

If I knew about AquaBright before I learned about it here, I agree, I'd go with that.

As for salt water pool in TX - I am not sure I agree with that.. My PB only builds salt water pool and I know many others that say the same thing you say "I would never own anything else". I think it's more likely that people here don't want salt water vs the PB. See most people equate salt water pool to the ocean. Many people in TX have been to the ocean and seen the damage salt spray does. They think it's the same thing, but it's not as we all know. I don't know how many times I've heard "Oh it'll eat everything up".
 
shingles said:
If I knew about AquaBright before I learned about it here, I agree, I'd go with that.

As for salt water pool in TX - I am not sure I agree with that.. My PB only builds salt water pool and I know many others that say the same thing you say "I would never own anything else". I think it's more likely that people here don't want salt water vs the PB. See most people equate salt water pool to the ocean. Many people in TX have been to the ocean and seen the damage salt spray does. They think it's the same thing, but it's not as we all know. I don't know how many times I've heard "Oh it'll eat everything up".
Click to expand...

At least here in the Austin area it is for sure the PB's pushing back against it. I met with probably 6 pool builders and none of them wanted to build a salt pool. The ones that would build them had waivers to sign and would not warranty stone coping. Another wanted to put in a really expensive set of sacrificial anodes.
 
Part of me wonders if the reason that so many PBs in north Texas are pushing chlorine is because many PBs now have service companies. SWG pools are easier to maintain leading to more DIYers vs the additional maintenance and upkeep with chlorine. While nefarious, it seems plausible.
 
NamasteInThePool said:
Wow, I didn't expect so many replies. Thanks! Our PB is pushing ozone and I'm still researching, but I feel like salt would be better too.
Click to expand...

As mentioned previously, you do not want ozone. Run a search on the forum and read up on it.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Any advice on the following?

Our builder is pushing us away from a salt chlorinator toward a cartridge+ozone system. They say that the climate here in Texas combined with the salt system causes the pipes, pump, and some deck types to deteriorate.

Also, regarding the pool surface, they are steering us away from quartz toward pebble. They say the life of quartz is 6-8 years but the pebble is 40 years.
 
Stay away from the ozone/mineral cartridge systems. They are pure profit for the PB and pure headaches for the pool owner.

Discussion of the real reason why Texas PBs refuse to build salt pools here -

Texas vs. SWG - What is the deal

If you want an SWG, demand it. If the PB balks or red lines his warranty either accept the limitation on warranty or find a new PB. Who's money is it anyway, yours or the PB's??

If a pool is properly balanced and cared for, then salt is irrelevant. Anyway, all pools are SALT pools. Chloride builds up in all pool water. The levels in an SWG pool are 1/10th the salinity of ocean water.
 
Search 'ozone' here in the forum. Pretty much a waste of money and electricity.

You can use solid chlorine - but we as a forum highly suggest looking at SWCG or liquid chlorine.

Texas is the only place that SWCG is highly frowned on. Many pool owners in Texas on this forum with SWCG's love them. And the PB statement on deterioration is a bit of a myth - as long as you keep your pool water chemistry appropriately balanced.

Remember a 'non-saltwater' pool still has salt in it. Chlorine - liquid or solid (exc cal - hypo) has salt in it.

Take care.
 
On to the next problem...

I'm getting frustrated by the level of communication from my builder. I'll explain below and would love to know if any of you think I am being unreasonable.

We signed our contract on Friday, 9/8. We had some permit delays and finally received the permit 10/2.

After leaving a few telephone messages asking when we should expect to see some progress, the excavators showed up on 10/18 and the dig took just that one day. Two days later, the belly steel was done. The next week, the plumbing rough in was done.

On 10/25 I get an email recommending soil injections due to the clay here. Even though we never talked about this before, and even though it seems like rustproofing on a car (a useless add-on, I researched here on TFP and authorized the soil injections on 10/26. That was done 10/31.

And that's where we are now. It seems like the gunite should have been shot by now, if only to reduce the risk of cave ins. I know the city has to inspect the belly steel, and the city website says that hasn't been done yet. For what we are paying, I feel like we should get at least one check-in per week. Ideally I would receive a project plan with dates for each step. I was told it would take several months, which I can accept if I know when the next step will be. They provided us a web-based system to track progress but none of the future steps have dates, it's only backwards-looking.

Am I being unreasonable to want to know when each step will occur?
 
Last edited:
Ideally I would receive a project plan with dates for each step.
Click to expand...

Boy, wouldn't *that* be ideal!?

...and I'm afraid to say its pretty rare. Too much variable in weather, sub availability, etc. It would be great if you could have put it in your contract I guess.

All I can say is try to be patient..at least its not summer and you're staring at a hole. Now *that* would be depressing!!

Sidenote: soil injections do seem to be used and common in your area.

Maddie :flower:
 
My build began on 9/14/ Within a week, we had a hole, plumbing, steel & gunite. Then it seemed to take at least two weeks for tile and coping. Then another two weeks for stone work. It does seem like we have been waiting a long time for decking. Schedules change so the most important thing for me is communication. I've tried to be home for all the major steps in the process so I need to know in advance when these things are happening. The few times I don't hear from my PB with updates, I text the super and he usually gets right back with me. We passed on one builder because feedback from others was that he was not a good communicator.
 
From my experience that does seem to be dragging. It seems like most builders like to go from excavation to gunite pretty quickly due to what you mentioned, to minimize cave-ins. I wouldn't be surprised to see a gap between gunite and tile/masonry as boomersooner said, but it just seems like they're not staying on top of the job especially given the fact that they haven't inspected the belly steel yet. Is there a supervisor you can start harassing to stay on top of?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply