Rectangular gunite pool shot crooked

[jml84]

Hi all,

I'm in the gunite and plumbing phase of my pool build.

After the gunite was shot and I did the 10 days of watering twice per day and then I happened to catch the front edge of the shell in line with my deck (soon to be removed) railing.

Basically, the back edge of the pool lines up perfectly with the railing, but the front edge of the pool did not. I went and got my laser measure and a level. The front left corner is almost 10 inches closer to the house than the right corner. So, it seems like when they shot the shell, they skewed the front edge to the left and created a slight trapezoid.

The problem is what with our upper deck/lower deck and retaining wall with stone cap design, the straight line of the retaining wall will make it VERY obvious that the pool is crooked when standing on the upper deck. Also the lower deck is only 9 or 10 ft from the retaining wall, so it would be hard to hide almost 10 inches of skew. Even on the back side of the pool where we're doing a straight fire pit and seat wall, you'd see the crooked shallow edge against the straight line of the fire pit when sitting there.

The construction manager is coming this week, so I'm just wondering what's reasonable to expect them to do? I'm going to be over 200k for this build and to have it look stupid because the pool doesn't line up with anything else is frustrating given that symmetry was the main objective.



Appreciate any input!

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Can you provide pictures of the areas in question? This would help provide more details, Ray.

 

[kimkats]

Pics are a must with this one for sure. We are a creative bunch and I hope we will help you find a solution that looks good.

 

[jml84]

Back edge of pool lines up with deck rail:


Front edge of pool drifts from side to side. The edge is about 1 foot thick and the drift using the railing as reference is almost the whole thickness. The laser measurement from each corner to the house shows about a 10 inch difference.

 

[JamesW]

Can you check the 4 wall lengths inside to inside and the two diagonals?

 

[JimMarshall]

Can you check the 4 wall lengths inside to inside and the two diagonals?

This

 

[Tcadwall0]

Are there more retaining walls to be built? or a dirt haul still need to be done? Photos can be deceiving but it looks like grade is going to run to the pool. I don't think you want to back-fill the pipes with dirt. Would want a clean stone around them.

Second pic does look a little off (notice the top of the second photo makes the opposite end of pool skew some as well)

 

[jml84]

Can you check the 4 wall lengths inside to inside and the two diagonals?

I'll check it out tonight if the rain stops. I'll have to dig up my 100 ft tape measure.

 

[jml84]

Are there more retaining walls to be built? or a dirt haul still need to be done? Photos can be deceiving but it looks like grade is going to run to the pool. I don't think you want to back-fill the pipes with dirt. Would want a clean stone around them.

Second pic does look a little off (notice the top of the second photo makes the opposite end of pool skew some as well)

The mounts of dirt are a bit deceiving, after the pipes are covered, the decking (10 ft on each side) and the yard will slope away from the pool.

I think for me the biggest aesthetic issue is when you stand on the upper deck above retaining wall (upper deck will be where the existing extended deck is once removed), the line of side will be retaining wall (straight) vs pool coping edge, which will be crooked assuming coping follows the edge of the gunite exactly.

 

[Bill1974]

Are you having pavers installed for the patio around the pool (or anything with a regular pattern)? If so that will make it stand out like a sore thumb. If you are going with a natural stone with an irregular edge it could be disguised. Other option would be very large tile or poured concreate with well thought out expansion joints.

Most people won't notice it based on the railing, but now that you know it you can't un-see it either. I

 

[jml84]

Ok, so I got out there and measured the pool's long edges and diagonals. It actually IS a rectangle. I think the deck rail sight line made it a bit deceiving where the skew in the front shows way more than the back because of distance (looking at an 11 inch edge from 10 ft away vs 50 ft).

Anyway, I pulled a tape measure from the left side front and back corner to the house and then the right side front and back corner to the house.

It confirms that the pool is off by about 10 inches and the reason is that the pool, although rectangular, was poured totally crooked.

I don't understand how they managed that, they literally just had to mark the front 2 corners the same distance from the house wall. 1 or 2 inches off, OK, but 10 inches?!

So I'm trying to figure out what to ask them to do now. Thinking of:
1) Have them re-shoot the front wall of the pool, extending the left side to make it same distance from house as right side, basically making the pool a trapezoid so that it lines up with the retaining wall?
2) Build the retaining wall in line with the crooked pool edge so at least the retaining wall to to pool edge sight line is equal, then try to hide the difference on the upper deck?
3) Request some compensation, but what would be appropriate here?

 

[jml84]

Are you having pavers installed for the patio around the pool (or anything with a regular pattern)? If so that will make it stand out like a sore thumb. If you are going with a natural stone with an irregular edge it could be disguised. Other option would be very large tile or poured concreate with well thought out expansion joints.

Most people won't notice it based on the railing, but now that you know it you can't un-see it either. I

The decking will be tumbled/leathered/sandblasted marble, which I believe is 3 different sized tiles.

The deck railing you see is on the extended wood deck, which is going to be removed to make room for the marble deck above the retaining wall.

Basically when you walk down the wide steps (remaining portion of wood deck) to the marble deck above retaining wall, the sight line of the stone slab retaining wall top (straight in reference to house) vs the front edge of the pool coping will be off pretty noticeably.

So it winds up looking like:

 

[JamesW]

Can you make a scale drawing?

 

[reggiehammond]

I think you'll be hard pressed to fix that without making something else look weird.

 

[JamesW]

So, it's a rectangle with the walls and diagonals being equal, but the pool is just rotated a few degrees clockwise when looking down?

How many degrees is it off?

 

[jml84]

So, it's a rectangle with the walls and diagonals being equal, but the pool is just rotated a few degrees clockwise when looking down?

How many degrees is it off?

Not sure how many degrees, just that one side is 10 inches closer to the house than the other side.

 

[jml84]

Can you make a scale drawing?

This is the diagram. Pool was to be centered with covered deck and of course in line with the house.

 

[Bill1974]

i'm sure this is not the look you're going for but you disguise it with tiling this way. It would be a lot of cuts and be a challenge even if it were perfectly square.

 

[Newdude]

Convince the PB to discount you what it will cost him to replace the front and back walls. $10k (?). Then lower the railing by one inch on the right side, put some potted plants along the bottom of the railing so you don’t realize *that* is off and it will look perfect.

 

[JamesW]

Maybe rotate the house by the same amount?

Then rotate the street to match the house?

And, then rotate the neighbor's homes to match the street?

Easy Peasy.



Ok, but seriously, that will be a huge pain to try to correct or even to try to hide that it's off.

It will probably bug you forever.

After a few years, you might start to be able to pretend that it's not so bad.