New Pool Build Frederick County Maryland

I'm in Delaware adjacent to MD statewise and am also looking at quite a bit of paver patio area for my reno - probably 2500 square feet total give or take. I love the pics of your paver patio and the multilevel approach which I also require for my reno project. If you are comfortable can you PM me the per square foot cost of your paver setup? Or however the cost is broken down for your design? Just trying to get a sense of costs from others in the tri-state area closer to my locale, as well as any options that you may have considered for your decking paver setup.

Gorgeous pool and hardscaping you have going there! [emoji1]

Have sent you a PM. Good luck with your reno! Let's see those pictures!

- - - Updated - - -

My only thought on that is more tile = more tile/grout to potentially have problems with down the line. One of those vertical slivers on the side of my skimmer entry way fell off as well as a few places with grout popping. All easily fixed by me but with more tile comes more "opportunity". It's a small risk but one I've seen come to fruition in my pool.

Yes, you're right about the additional grout. It's something that may happen some day but more likely one of those things like, "Oh we'll just leave those two boxes in the dining room for a day or two and then unpack them this weekend" right after you move, and three years later, they have become an official part of your decor. The tiles will probably never change :) I DID ask them today to redo the skimmer boxes and sort out the two most noticeable areas where the tile and coping gap has gone off significantly, and they agreed to do that. I would like to get rid of the "sliver" tile at the top of the skimmer box wall so it would have bugged me no end to not tidy that up!

- - - Updated - - -

No words for those 4 :shock:

I have seen a couple/few builds. Some do coping first, some do tile first. It is what they were taught and how they are used to doing it.

Here is an idea. Find an example of what you think looks good. Don't use the word correct as we don't want to put him on the defense. Put it all on you. "I like how this looks." Then ask him how he can make yours look like that.

Kim:kim: (Poolgate you are SO funny! That was a great way to say that!)

Kim - I took your advice and kind of worded my request for the skimmer box retile that way. They didn't seem upset so I think it worked! I think it was a reasonable request, though.
 
Oh it was a VERY reasonable request and it did need to be done the RIGHT way! BUT knowing human nature you have to tip toe around to keep someone's back up and not wanting to work with you. Good job doing just that! I always tell someone to smile when they are on the phone as it will come through in their voice LOL Hey whatever works right??k

Kim:kim:
 
Hi - a few updates after having been away for a week and generally busy :) First post just to show the tile/coping stuff. I asked them to redo all the skimmers to be symmetrically tiled and get rid of the sliver tile at the top. I also asked them to reset the coping in two places where it had gone excessively wonky in comparison to the tile. One of those places happened to be near one of the skimmers so the "before" pic below shows examples of both things. All the skimmers and the two sections of coping were done while I was away, and they look better. (Also while I was away, they ripped up and had to relay a part of the decking to put in the overflow that was supposed to be there off one of the skimmers. I had asked about where it was, and they'd forgotten to put it in.)

Before all the skimmers looked like this
7KoVpdc.jpg


After showing tile redo
ip7ulYg.jpg


After showing coping reset
n3jzYxw.jpg
 
And for some really exciting shots - the equipment pad :) Partially done while we were away and finished last week. It sits along the fence so accessible from three sides. Nothing is labelled and I haven't had time to go through anything with the plumber so it's fairly mysterious to me at this point. I understand one of the pumps to be solely for the waterfall and the other is for everything else. I had mentioned the Jandy Never Lube valves, and they used those but I think they do anyway.

The front of the equipment pad (accessible)
PYirZCD.jpg


The back - i.e. the fence will be running all along the long side so won't be able to access from this side
jh8miq6.jpg


And the two ends - accessible on both counts
p8FDOn6.jpg


dYj6TsP.jpg


And the equipment panel board


2Tqtset.jpg
 
And a request for opinions on this. The following pictures are what my waterfall/slide area was supposed to look like as represented on the plans (and I know that wouldn't have been EXACT but was told that the placement and sizes were correct), what the waterfall looked like (which I was quite happy with), but then what the slide/waterfall look like together as the last pic. They were not able to set the slide next to the waterfall due to getting the right depths for it or something (I was away for this part), so it's actually quite far away, and they have filled in between the slide and waterfall with all rock. There was supposed to be a few artfully placed rocks outside of the waterfall area and then plantings around the slide. Personally, I think the amount of rock actually now looks overwhelming and just too much. I am thinking I will ask them to take out the rock at the top half of the area between the slide and waterfall in order to fill that in with plantings and a landscape light or something. It looks to me too much like a "landslide" of rock with a slide sitting on top of it now. What do you all think?

EQWGFhm.jpg


4S8MpEu.jpg

f37nROd.jpg
 
I think it looks good like that
Thanks - I'm still pondering ...

- - - Updated - - -

I'd be happy with that waterfall/slide as well. Did they leave any room for plantings or conduit for lighting/accents?

No, no room for plantings at all. And that was something the original plan showed. I thought the slide would be more sunk into the dirt as shown on the plan. There is an outlet immediately behind the top of the waterfall, and in the planting areas (which no longer exist) I was going to put one or two solar stake lights but can only do that now if I wedge them in between some rocks.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I think overall from a distance it looks great. Up closer you can see how the slide kinda looks like it's sitting on top of the rocks as opposed to being integrated and sunk into the rock formation, if you ask me to be picky. [emoji6]
 
I LOVE the skimmer tile and coping fix look awesome! SO much better!

Now the waterfall and slide :( That slide just looks sad. It is sitting on top of the rocks.My first thought was to ask you if you have touched it to make sure it is secure and solid. To me it looks like it would flex over time and crack. Look on the sides. You can see the "lip" that is meant to be covered with some thing.

Total redo......don't not pass go, do not collect $100, redo. :hug:
 
I hate to agree with you on this as I know it is not the easier answer but I see your point on how it looks like the slide is kind of just sitting on top of the rocks instead of being "Integrated" in to the rocks. On the drawing it doesn't look like there are rock on either side of the slide unless I am looking at that wrong. I think removing some of the rocks possible on both sides (if not necessary for stability) and leaving space for some plants would soften this up a lot and make it look a little more natural. Of course as it is it's 100% better than the slide I have (I do not have a slide)!
 
I LOVE the skimmer tile and coping fix look awesome! SO much better!

Now the waterfall and slide :( That slide just looks sad. It is sitting on top of the rocks.My first thought was to ask you if you have touched it to make sure it is secure and solid. To me it looks like it would flex over time and crack. Look on the sides. You can see the "lip" that is meant to be covered with some thing.

Total redo......don't not pass go, do not collect $100, redo. :hug:

The slide is mounted on three support "piers" they built with leftover bricks and then they concreted up around the bottom of the slide - which all had to be chipped out and redone after I got home from vacation and pointed out that they had mounted the slide such that the starting elevation from the deck was only 46 inches when it was supposed to be 66 inches. It took me a couple days to figure out why the slide looked weird to me when I got back - and then I realized it was because it was way too "flat" and I got out the installation manual. They had to reset the whole thing, but at least it's a slide now rather than a flat half tube :) But it's pretty solid. We'll see how it holds up with people going down it I guess if we ever get that far!

The best I could do as far as the look was have them take out some rocks and give me space to put plants in to soften it up and hide the lip, especially towards the top. This is what it looks like now with just river rock where the plants will go. I also had them move a massive rock that was randomly just sticking out at a 90 degree angle from the rocks running up the left side of the slide - both because it looked really dumb there and because I will also plant in the gap they had pushed that into. So it still doesn't look great, but I think now with some room to plant, it will look much better when I get some stuff in there.

Before with the weird "side rock"
ieTfOfF.jpg







After with some upper rocks taken out and the side rock made into a feature on the mulch hill. And yes, they are replacing that brown/tan rock at the bottom left of the slide with the grey river rock that has been used everywhere else!
goFEyix.jpg


eJEAj1s.jpg


- - - Updated - - -

Who are you using for your water feature build? Aquaticartists by chance?

No, the same company that did the pool is doing the waterfall.

- - - Updated - - -

I hate to agree with you on this as I know it is not the easier answer but I see your point on how it looks like the slide is kind of just sitting on top of the rocks instead of being "Integrated" in to the rocks. On the drawing it doesn't look like there are rock on either side of the slide unless I am looking at that wrong. I think removing some of the rocks possible on both sides (if not necessary for stability) and leaving space for some plants would soften this up a lot and make it look a little more natural. Of course as it is it's 100% better than the slide I have (I do not have a slide)!

No, from the drawing I absolutely expected a slide embedded in the hill with artfully placed rocks around it! That's what I wanted so I was satisfied we were on the same page. But I think one of many lessons learned is to print out inspiration pictures, go through them with the designer and attach them to the contract so there is no question what the feature should generally look like. That was dumb of me not to do that :-( As per the answer to Kim - I have done the best I could now with the changes that were practical given where we were, and I think it will look fine once plants are in to hide some of the harsher lines of the slide lip etc.

- - - Updated - - -

And we finally got plaster 8/16

DXR9zJS.jpg


ieTfOfF.jpg


- - - Updated - - -

And water on 8/17. That green swamp at the end is interesting because the water came from the neighboring county drinking water supply. I guess it's just how it looks once there is alot of it and we do have trees near by, but the water guy said every pool he fills with that water ends up swampy green - gack!

4myBhDJ.jpg


PMfeLzg.jpg


zJbTCqH.jpg


- - - Updated - - -

And a week later

goFEyix.jpg


j1AVlae.jpg


qekd81Z.jpg
 
Wow your pool is absolutely fantastic - a real showpiece! Congratulations on surviving the build! I hesitate to ask but what was your final build cost?
 
Wow, seeing the finished product, stunning! :cool: How much was your water feature all told? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to share costs publicly. I'm pricing out various water features currently and would love to get something similar to what you have, perhaps without the slide. Enjoy! :)
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
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.