New Fiberglass Pool Build - Southeastern PA

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Am I being OCD about this? Would it bother you and/or will this create any problems for me in the future? I noticed when filling the pool that the waterline against the bottom of the tile indicates the pool isn’t really level. I imagine it will be less noticeable when there is concrete decking and water gets about the bottom of the tile. But do i need to be concerned about any issues? It doesn’t seem like much of an option to fix at this point and I don’t want to be a pain about if it’s not gonna be an issue. I think it’s something I can live with. I have considered that the tile isn’t straight but it is perfectly flush with the top lip of the pool. The level from shallow end to deep end looks spot on. It’s just from side to side where it appears off.

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Tile line not being perfectly level is not a problem. Move on with life.
 
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ajw22 said:
Tile line not being perfectly level is not a problem. Move on with life.
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Yeah. I don’t care if the tile line is off. But on a 13’8” wide pool is it bad for the actual pool to be off level about 3/4”? Because that’s what I have. I think it will be fine. My concern is more with the structural integrity of the pool if it shifted and twisted after backfilling and filling with water.
 
TFPNoobie said:
My concern is more with the structural integrity of the pool if it shifted and twisted after backfilling and filling with water.
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Ask Latham.

What does their installation documents say?

Typical goal is level within 1” in 40 feet. But fiberglass pools are often off by more then that.
 
TFPNoobie, we paid about $800 in water to fill our 16,000 gallon pool. That included the bundled sewer fees, which are almost 20% of the total bill - even though nothing went down the drain.
 
I’m curious why you need a retaining wall? It doesn’t look like the yard slopes a ton. Do you have all that land in the back to grade the dirt or is the fence/ property line close to the pool which would make sense for a retaining wall.
 
Liz315 said:
I’m curious why you need a retaining wall? It doesn’t look like the yard slopes a ton. Do you have all that land in the back to grade the dirt or is the fence/ property line close to the pool which would make sense for a retaining wall.
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I don't need a retaining wall. However, the PB insisted on it and drew up the plans with it. The problem I have now is he left a ton of dirt as a 'burm' around the areas he though there should be a wall. In other words, I need the wall now because of the burm. If that wasn't there, i'm positive no wall would be necessary. Otherwise I'm renting a skid steer and a dumpster and removing a bunch of dirt myself (Which I suppose would be easier than installing the wall). I'm not sure I'm even able to do that though because the plans were approved with the wall. Not sure I can make any drastic changes now. I think removing an entire retaining wall that was on the plan would be a pretty drastic change.

There was plenty of yard to grade it without the wall. My feeling throughout the process is that he is the 'expert' and would know more about this than I would. In retrospect, I think there are 2 possibilities why he feels it needed it.

  1. He wants to get rid of the least amount of dirt as possible. The more dirt left the less dirt that needs to be removed. Each truckload costs money to dump which eats into profits.
  2. He mentioned a couple of times that you don't want water flowing into the pool. I think he means flowing into the hole that the pool is in. Which I don't understand how that would have been an issue because I'm putting about 2' of decorative stone with drains all around the pool.
 
TFPNoobie said:
I don't need a retaining wall. However, the PB insisted on it and drew up the plans with it. The problem I have now is he left a ton of dirt as a 'burm' around the areas he though there should be a wall. In other words, I need the wall now because of the burm. If that wasn't there, i'm positive no wall would be necessary. Otherwise I'm renting a skid steer and a dumpster and removing a bunch of dirt myself (Which I suppose would be easier than installing the wall). I'm not sure I'm even able to do that though because the plans were approved with the wall. Not sure I can make any drastic changes now. I think removing an entire retaining wall that was on the plan would be a pretty drastic change.

There was plenty of yard to grade it without the wall. My feeling throughout the process is that he is the 'expert' and would know more about this than I would. In retrospect, I think there are 2 possibilities why he feels it needed it.

  1. He wants to get rid of the least amount of dirt as possible. The more dirt left the less dirt that needs to be removed. Each truckload costs money to dump which eats into profits.
  2. He mentioned a couple of times that you don't want water flowing into the pool. I think he means flowing into the hole that the pool is in. Which I don't understand how that would have been an issue because I'm putting about 2' of decorative stone with drains all around the pool.
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I’d talk to a land surveyor and get a grading plan, they know way more than a builder. It isn’t too late the property needs to be graded anyway. A retaining wall that size will cost a lot of money. We just did ours and it was like $10k. I’m sure it will be cheaper to spread out. Plus fill isn’t cheap if you need to add it to fill in a retaining wall. Grading the dirt will actually keep water away from the pool.
 
Liz315 said:
I’d talk to a land surveyor and get a grading plan, they know way more than a builder. It isn’t too late the property needs to be graded anyway. A retaining wall that size will cost a lot of money. We just did ours and it was like $10k. I’m sure it will be cheaper to spread out. Plus fill isn’t cheap if you need to add it to fill in a retaining wall. Grading the dirt will actually keep water away from the pool.
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I already bought the wall back in December and it's being delivered on Monday. It cost me about $5,000 in materials and I'm going to do it myself. I've done a wall before and know what I need to do. It's just the aggravation of actually having to do it.

Survey and grading plan were submitted for permits. However, that did change a bit because we had to raise our pool 3.5 inches because of rock. Which translates into less retaining wall needed. I may just do a very small 14 inch wall with lights in it to illuminate the decorative stone between the pool concrete and the wall itself. For me to grade it now without the wall would require the removal of a lot of dirt which is probably just as much aggravation at this point.
 

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Your schedule was about the same as ours. We dug on 2/14 and swam late May, though I delayed the process while I did some DIY aspects. That wall will be a great background visual and will make the seating on that side seem more cozy. Also a great place for an impromptu sit, place to set a beverage, and place to install electrical outlets. You'll want a few around the pool for device chargers mainly. And for your robot, since your equipment area outlet will be too far away for that. Just make sure they are proper distance away from the waterline for code.
 
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bmoreswim said:
Your schedule was about the same as ours. We dug on 2/14 and swam late May, though I delayed the process while I did some DIY aspects. That wall will be a great background visual and will make the seating on that side seem more cozy. Also a great place for an impromptu sit, place to set a beverage, and place to install electrical outlets. You'll want a few around the pool for device chargers mainly. And for your robot, since your equipment area outlet will be too far away for that. Just make sure they are proper distance away from the waterline for code.
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Excellent advice. I hadn’t really thought about the outlets but I’m definitely going to put one out there. I’d love to be able to put a projector out there and watch movies at night from the pool. That outlet would make that a lot easier.
 
I'm only including a picture of my retaining wall area because I did something unique with it regarding creating little table/wall areas integrated with the wall. It works great to define the space and it's the most commented on area of our build. People say it creates a resort feel to the area.

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2019-06-28 19.24.58 - Resized.jpg

 
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bmoreswim said:
I'm only including a picture of my retaining wall area because I did something unique with it regarding creating little table/wall areas integrated with the wall. It works great to define the space and it's the most commented on area of our build. People say it creates a resort feel to the area.

2019-06-28 19.24.58 - Resized.jpg

2019-06-28 19.24.58 - Resized.jpg

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Looks great. On the side of the pool where the retaining wall is going we'll only have 4 ft of concrete and 18 inches of decorative stone between the concrete and the wall. So about 5.5 ft of open space between the pool and the wall. Not really enough to put loungers or anything like you got. Our larger decking area will be on the side of the house which is opposite the retaining wall. That's a pretty cool cozy layout you got though.
 
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I started my retaining wall. Rented a mini excavator to do most of the digging but there were still plenty of areas I needed to manually dig. The corners were difficult for the excavator to reach. I still need to but down about another 2 inches or so of road base and compact one more time. Get it as level as possible.

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