Buried Pool renovation

[michmela44]

Ok. I know its been a while. Things have been a bit hectic.

As promised, here is the sketch of what the final layout should be .

Since then, we also added another LED light on the back wall of the tanning ledge pointing back towards the pool to give a little more light to the shallow end since the other 2 lights were pointing more towards the center of the pool away from the shallow. There's a bit more of a curve on the back wall than it looks like in the drawing.

Here is what the coping/tile will look like.

I think it's possible that they will be done in 2-3 weeks if we can get a string of good weather. It's been raining a lot and causing a lot of delays...

 

[spd500]

think it's possible that they will be done in 2-3 weeks if we can get a string of good weather. It's been raining a lot and causing a lot of delays...

Looking really good so far! We are not far away here in Houston and supposed to have a 10 day run of nice clear weather and I am hoping the same thing. My wife is so tired of the construction going on and all of the mess!

 

[Auburn02]

I think it's possible that they will be done in 2-3 weeks if we can get a string of good weather. It's been raining a lot and causing a lot of delays...

Whoa really? I was just trying to find this thread last night wondering about the latest, I didn’t realize you had ever found a builder to take this on let alone have work going on it already. Any pics of what’s been done to date since your last pics of the dig out in mid July?

 

[kimkats]

LOVE the design and lay out! Can't wait to see what has been done so far!

Kim

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Whoa really? I was just trying to find this thread last night wondering about the latest, I didn’t realize you had ever found a builder to take this on let alone have work going on it already. Any pics of what’s been done to date since your last pics of the dig out in mid July?

Yes, pictures please!

 

[michmela44]

I'll spare all of the details of how we got to this point and why it took so long (PB problems), but here is an update on the current status....

Still a bit more cleanup to do and some final touches, but at least the water is going in and we'll have a pool this summer.

 

[bbarfield12]

Wow!! I am just seeing this story and caught up to today- unbelievable! It looks amazing!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I'll spare all of the details of how we got to this point and why it took so long ....

Please DON’T spare us, we like details ... A LOT. No one will be able to learn from what you did without details .... and @kimkats would like to know why she wasn’t consulted in picking out the proper “bling” for your pool remodel

 

[mguzzy]

That is just cool.. I am absolutely amazed you got this done in under a year! We can see the pandemic didn't slow you down! And for those that want a before and after look without having to go back and rifle through all the 12 pages .. I just did that. Here is the pic from Post 140 of this thread:

Buried Pool renovation

I always leave criptic notes that relate to current events when deep into a remodel Zombie apocalypses are both current and cryptic if anybody has any renovations going on....

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[michmela44]

Not really too much interesting in the details. They made some mistakes on the tanning ledge depth from what we wanted, so they have to break out and redo some some of it. Getting the deep end benches presentable was another bit of an ordeal. The rest of it is just that the PB had some medical issues and his son was trying to run his business for him, and we were struggling to get them to show up and actually finish the work.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Did you fill in the spa part and turn it into a tanning ledge? Is there a design plan/layout you can share? What equipment did you settle on?

 

[michmela44]

Did you fill in the spa part and turn it into a tanning ledge? Is there a design plan/layout you can share? What equipment did you settle on?

There’s a layout up at the top of the page. We broke down the spa wall and just left the bench as a place to sit in the shallow end. We don’t have gas service so we had to choose what we wanted to heat. We decided we’d rather have a heated pool and the extra size in the pool. The tanning ledge is at the far end of the picture.

we broke down the pool wall and added on to the pool to get the tanning ledge.

we have 2 bubblers and 3 umbrella bases in the ledge and a 3’ waterfall in the wall.

I thought the equipment was in my signature, but we ended up with the EasyTouch 8 with IC40, IntelliFlo VSF, Quad DE 80 filter, and UltraTemp H/C Heat pump.

I know the tile is Raku Cobalt but I can’t remember the name for the travertine or the color of the plaster. It looks white right now but it is white with blue specks in it

 

[Auburn02]

So now I'm curious - and I'm not asking for exact costs, but in the end do you feel that you saved anything by already having the shell in the ground, or did it seem like the extra effort (both on your part and the PB) likely offset all of that and you would have come out of pocket about the same if you started with a blank canvas?

 

[michmela44]

I think money wise I probably would have paid double for what I got starting fresh with pool company instead of going direct through the sub, but I’m not sure the headache and stress was worth it. In the end, if I had to do it again, I would have done more of it myself and only got a company involved for the plaster and equipment.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The hard part with a pool resurrection like this is that most PBs don’t want the liability of touching someone else’s work, let alone a pool shell that was buried for that long. The PB makes less money with each component of the build that is not managed by them and the shooting of a concrete shell (excavation, rebar, rough plumbing, & shotcrete) is a huge part of the pool cost. So if all you’re offering them is to fix someone else’s mess and do a little bit of cosmetic work, that’s really not enough money to get them interested. In that case, it’s probably best to not bother with a PB and just GC the project yourself. The stress, headaches, and delays will be worse but it’ll probably save one lots of money in the end.

This was a great revival and it will be awesome when you and the family finally get to jump into it!!

 

[michmela44]

The hard part with a pool resurrection like this is that most PBs don’t want the liability of touching someone else’s work, let alone a pool shell that was buried for that long. The PB makes less money with each component of the build that is not managed by them and the shooting of a concrete shell (excavation, rebar, rough plumbing, & shotcrete) is a huge part of the pool cost. So if all you’re offering them is to fix someone else’s mess and do a little bit of cosmetic work, that’s really not enough money to get them interested. In that case, it’s probably best to not bother with a PB and just GC the project yourself. The stress, headaches, and delays will be worse but it’ll probably save one lots of money in the end.

This was a great revival and it will be awesome when you and the family finally get to jump into it!!

That's what I was factoring in.

Most pool companies we talked to wouldn't renovate. They wanted 10-15k to remove the old pool, plus 80-100k to put in a new one. So anywhere from 90-120k.

We spent less than half of that with this guy.

I would have spent less if I did it myself for the same amount of stress.

We were already in the middle of a home construction project so for once we decided to just spend the money and try to make it easier on ourselves. Especially since we were being told it was going to only take 2-3 months. Here we are 7 months later....

 

[Auburn02]

so for once we decided to just spend the money and try to make it easier on ourselves.

I hate it when I make that mistake. It is astonishing just how often that logic backfires.

 

[mguzzy]

... told it was going to only take 2-3 months. Here we are 7 months later....

I hate it when I make that mistake. It is astonishing just how often that logic backfires.

 

[kimkats]

OH MY GOODNESS! You did it! You REALLY did it!!! WELL DONE!!! I even like your tile picks!!!

Kim

 

[AndyTN]