New contract / New build - SE Pennsylvania, Gunite free form pool and spa

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Hoots711 said:
Keep in mind that it could be very tricky to coordinate the fencing when it is time.

In my case, they can't finish (pebble tec) until they know they can fill within a few days. They can't fill until the fence is up. The fence cant go up until they are done with all the patio/grading/etc. At least this is what Im being told.

Add in the floating schedule that it seems all of us in PA are seeing and its becoming another big headache.

Maybe it will be better near the end of the season, but fence companies are mostly booked and if you miss your window it may be a while before they can do the install.

Just something to keep in mind as we are managing that situation currently.
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That's very good to know, thanks. I will ask the PB about their requirements before plastering. I know the yard has to be back together at that point as well for the CO. The first fencing company I called mentioned they have a 7-8 week lead time. I better get on the schedule, yikes!

jimim said:
there is a pretty large diff between the S series and M series across the board. they use 2 totally diff technology for climbing to start with. THe S uses the newest tech with the jets that blow water in and out of them to move it in the direction needed either being L/R up/down for climbing. the M series uses floats for climbing.

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keep the pressure side suction for manual vac. it's pennies to keep and makes it alot easier for manual vac. open up the valve and close down some of the others to get good suction and go. i personally don't like the skimmer lid ones. i haven't used my manual vac since o got my s300i though. he is the best. does a bang up job. i brush off my ledges and steps and he does the rest. i push dirt out of the corners for him also.

jim

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i was able to fill with a temp construction fence which needs to be posted every so many feet which i'm still using a year later cause my pool house is one of the walls for the fence and it isn't done yet. just can't get my occupancy permit i was told which means you can't "swim in the pool" so we haven't been swimming in it. . . . . . . . . cough cough

i know when i was considering AS&S's they wouldn't plaster till permenant one was in, but the other 3 builders including mine didn't care.
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Thanks for the info - I'm also leaning toward the S300i. Where did you buy yours from? I'm planning on calling Marina as mentioned in the prior page. You can PM if easier. :)

kristmas said:
You're back on track! That's awesome!!
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Well, sort of, haha. Have to re-do the permit and all that stuff again, ugh. Hopefully it's somewhat accelerated but I'm not counting on that. I even have to re-do the HOA access letter and engineering drawings even though they are 100% the same thing, ugh.
 
Gorilla83 said:
That's very good to know, thanks. I will ask the PB about their requirements before plastering. I know the yard has to be back together at that point as well for the CO. The first fencing company I called mentioned they have a 7-8 week lead time. I better get on the schedule, yikes!
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How much is your PB charging to manage the fence? If its a couple bucks / linear foot it is probably well worth it.

Either way you are buying fence and paying to have it installed. (it all comes down to $/l-f)

If you can push that responsibility off to your PB (assuming he can get the exact fence you want and has competitive install rates) it will probably be worth the money vs headaches.

If you need 8 week lead on a fence, what are the odds of PB having the yard rdy on some exact date 2 months away?

Just another lesson we learned on this ohh-so-wonderful adventure...
 
Hoots711 said:
How much is your PB charging to manage the fence? If its a couple bucks / linear foot it is probably well worth it.

Either way you are buying fence and paying to have it installed. (it all comes down to $/l-f)

If you can push that responsibility off to your PB (assuming he can get the exact fence you want and has competitive install rates) it will probably be worth the money vs headaches.

If you need 8 week lead on a fence, what are the odds of PB having the yard rdy on some exact date 2 months away?

Just another lesson we learned on this ohh-so-wonderful adventure...
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He actually didn't have a quote available at the time - maybe this was intentional due to the hassle. :) I just fired off the email asking for a follow up there asking for pricing and as to if that would hold up the plastering process for them. Thanks for the heads up!


For those wondering, the last PB was 26/lf installed for 54" black aluminum and $500 per self closing gate. I'm sure most quotes will be in this area around here.
 
Wow! Sorry to read about your situation. We literally were going through the exact same situation, but we stuck through it and our dig started last week, a full month behind schedule.

That being said, we were more annoyed that we signed our contract this march, told the PB we had no expectation of swimming this year, but were told "You'll definitely have no issue! In fact you're digging in May" We got a 5/1 dig date contingent upon approvals and weather. Well.. weather was bad and every landscape designer we talked to said the industry was totally swamped, not only due to weather but just the economy is up and so are pool builds.

Anyways, we were at our end but learned if we pulled out we'd be up creek without a paddle and would push our build a year easy, having already started yard demo we could not fathom leaving our yard in shambles for a year.

Glad yours is working out, ours appears to be moving forward and we'll think up some clever mantra to soothe our frustrations when weather impacts us during plumbing and paver phases...
 
blazin said:
Wow! Sorry to read about your situation. We literally were going through the exact same situation, but we stuck through it and our dig started last week, a full month behind schedule.

That being said, we were more annoyed that we signed our contract this march, told the PB we had no expectation of swimming this year, but were told "You'll definitely have no issue! In fact you're digging in May" We got a 5/1 dig date contingent upon approvals and weather. Well.. weather was bad and every landscape designer we talked to said the industry was totally swamped, not only due to weather but just the economy is up and so are pool builds.

Anyways, we were at our end but learned if we pulled out we'd be up creek without a paddle and would push our build a year easy, having already started yard demo we could not fathom leaving our yard in shambles for a year.

Glad yours is working out, ours appears to be moving forward and we'll think up some clever mantra to soothe our frustrations when weather impacts us during plumbing and paver phases...
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Hey, in the grand scheme of things a month isn't too bad at all really. :) Glad it's working out for you guys.

Looks like our re-submission of permits is good to go, again, ha. Waiting on the PB to schedule the excavation over the next few weeks i'd presume.

We had our 'meet and greet' last week and picked out the quartz plaster (onyx), tile (dark plain grey), and coping we decided to upgrade to travertine after seeing the paver choices. :) Should be pretty nice.

Today we just got our 'construction sheet' which shows the follow details - attached, looking pretty good!pic 1 of construction plan.jpgpic 2.JPGpic 3.jpg
 
Those are some detailed plans! Nice! I love the curves and features. Do you have a inspiration pic for the waterfall?

I am not sure I like the idea of the floor returns. All I can think of is someone stubbing their toes on them :( hurt toes and broken returns=sad times.

I also notice there is no return by the loveseat.

Kim:kim:
 
kimkats said:
Those are some detailed plans! Nice! I love the curves and features. Do you have a inspiration pic for the waterfall?

I am not sure I like the idea of the floor returns. All I can think of is someone stubbing their toes on them :( hurt toes and broken returns=sad times.

I also notice there is no return by the loveseat.

Kim:kim:
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Kim - thanks for the comments. Waterfall pic attached - this is from the same hardscaper (subbed through our PB) we're using and what I will show them for what we'd like to do. Ours will probably be 1/3 to half of this width (quite a bit smaller) but should still be nice nonetheless. I like the plantings mixed in to soften things up and the boulder extensions on either side. I imagine our WF budget may have to be increased a little too. :)

Triton landscaping WF sample 1.jpg

As for the floor returns - The PB mentioned they'd be flush with the floor but maybe we could push them toward the deep end? As for the loveseat return - wouldn't that be a bit overkill? Extra returns are roughly 275-ish each if we want to add any.
 

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kristmas said:
WOW, I love everything about this! And this thing is going to be huge...I see fun times ahead at your house! Can't wait to watch it come to life.

Your waterfall inspiration pic looks like it might be from Aquatic Artists. They did my waterfall.
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You and me both - the whole family is chomping at the bit to jump in. :) Patience is tough these days...haha

Funny enough we were looking hard at Aquatic artists awhile back. I did a few back and forth emails/calls with Chuck as well. The PB we're using has a good relationship with a local landscaping/landscaping/design company (Triton) that does lots of water features and were priced competitively so we're going with them. Based on some of their work I've seen (WF pic above from them) we shouldn't be too disappointed. They're also doing our retaining wall, paver decking, travertine coping, tile, and probably some planting beds and steps. They will be busy. :)
 
The PB we're using has a good relationship with a local landscaping/landscaping/design company (Triton) that does lots of water features and were priced competitively so we're going with them. Based on some of their work I've seen (WF pic above from them) we shouldn't be too disappointed. They're also doing our retaining wall, paver decking, travertine coping, tile, and probably some planting beds and steps. They will be busy.
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That's awesome. And it makes sense to have them do the WF and the retaining wall. Fewer subs = fewer headaches!
 
The return is up to you. I just worry there will not be enough water movement. I have an idea.....move D2 return to the other side of the light. That will move the water around the curve!

Now give me a min while I go back up and drool over that waterfall again sigh..................SO pretty!

Kim:kim:.
 
kimkats said:
The return is up to you. I just worry there will not be enough water movement. I have an idea.....move D2 return to the other side of the light. That will move the water around the curve!

Now give me a min while I go back up and drool over that waterfall again sigh..................SO pretty!

Kim:kim:.
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I also forgot to mention the PB uses a 'solar re circulation system" which allows the main drain flow to be reversed and used as a return as well (fed from skimmer). So in total:

3 wall returns (2 in main pool, 1 in sunshelf)
2 floor returns
Solar recirc (via main drain)
Waterfall as return should help move water
3 X bubblers / splash downs
Spa return

I'd imagine that should be pretty decent? The sales guy looked at me crazy already when I asked to add in the 2 floor returns, LOL.
 
I have a floor return in my deep end. We just use a drain cover for it. So all three match when u look in deep end. I use it when we heat the pool. Other than that it’s closed. Works well. I’m adding an accuater to that valve so I don’t have to walk over to the pad when I heat. We just didn’t install it yet.

I like my floor return. When we got a price from who u are using they mentioned the solar thing too. I guess they do it on all thier pools. Only info I ever found on it on the net always bounced me back to thier site.
 
kimkats said:
Well I never...........Do you know the name of the main drain system? I LOVE learning new things and this is new to me!!!

Sounds like you have it all sorted out and ready to go!

Kim:kim:
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They call it their patented "solar recirculation system" which is really just a way to flip the drain as a return. I think I have a brochure on this at home but it doesn't contain any real info.

jimim said:
I have a floor return in my deep end. We just use a drain cover for it. So all three match when u look in deep end. I use it when we heat the pool. Other than that it’s closed. Works well. I’m adding an accuater to that valve so I don’t have to walk over to the pad when I heat. We just didn’t install it yet.

I like my floor return. When we got a price from who u are using they mentioned the solar thing too. I guess they do it on all thier pools. Only info I ever found on it on the net always bounced me back to thier site.
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Our sales guy just added it in but it was itemized and was approximately ~450 on our pool, which included the 2nd skimmer so that was a no brainer. :D He said they do it on almost every pool.
 
Gorilla83 said:
I also forgot to mention the PB uses a 'solar re circulation system" which allows the main drain flow to be reversed and used as a return as well (fed from skimmer). So in total:

3 wall returns (2 in main pool, 1 in sunshelf)
2 floor returns
Solar recirc (via main drain)
Waterfall as return should help move water
3 X bubblers / splash downs
Spa return

I'd imagine that should be pretty decent? The sales guy looked at me crazy already when I asked to add in the 2 floor returns, LOL.
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I haven’t plowed through this whole thread, but I see you are in Pennsylvania & will have the ability to reverse flow of main drains.. so I’m betting lunch this is an AS build?? If so, don’t mettle with their piping layout, let them do their thing- they have been doing the reverse flow for decades.
 

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