Recent content by azdesertpool

Being in Arizona, our primary consideration was how hot the coping/decking would feel to the touch. We went with tumbled travertine because it is much cooler than concrete pavers and cools off almost instantly if you splash water on it or put shade over it. We were concerned about how slippery...

Based on my limited experience, the PBs I talked with seem to use linear feet or square feet as a shortcut for pricing. The shotcrete company we used simply charged by the cubic yard, and it didn't matter whether the shotcrete was being applied to walls, benches, floor, or raised wall for water...

Re: New Owner Build Pool with Rock Blasting - Loomis, CA What are the four holes for that lead down the slope towards your deep end?

So far we love our fake grass. Green with no maintenance - of course keeping things green may not be as big of a hassle in California. It is considerably hotter in the sun than real grass. On hot sunny days we'll burn our feet if we are not wearing shoes. Supposedly you can spray it down and it...

You probably know that costs (and thus potential cost-savings) vary quite a bit by region. For what it is worth, here in southern AZ I paid for 40 yards of shotcrete at $150/yd and $2,520 for white plaster as part of my OB 16x32 pool+spa. Your best bet may be to call shotcrete and plaster...

Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Stonework! (cautiously moving forward)- I learned some of the same lessons in my build - they always give you way too optimistic timeline for finishing the build, and for some reason they underestimate the materials needed. I noticed my contractors...

The snarky and vitriolic post that I was responding to has now been completely removed by the mods or by that poster, which makes my first post (now listed as post #7, originally it was #8) a little out of context. I appreciate TFP and all of the posts aimed at educating others and avoiding...

Like Isaac-1 said, the big concern seems to be potential damage to stone coping/decking from the salt. You hear stories of some PBs refusing to do both SWG and travertine - you have to pick one or the other with them. If you google the issue, most of the travertine sellers include disclaimers...

Wow. Really surprised at the venom aimed at the OP. I don't think he is suggesting anyone not follow the TFP-approved process, just explaining what he has done so far. I ordered the test kit, and my pool consultant also threw in a container of test strips. I don't blame the OP for not wanting...

I agree with the others. Don't fight the elevation drop. I don't know how much space you have, but having a terraced look with decks, spa, pool at different heights could look really nice. You could add a swim-up bar/kitchen area on the downhill side of the pool.

Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Stonework! (cautiously moving forward)- The curve looks great in the picture. I think having chiseled edges really helps avoid the octagon look.

Everything is possible... it just may cost someone (hopefully not you) more money to do it right. Hopefully their solution of extending the retaining wall solves any problems, or they can come up with another solution that will.

About local inspectors - I had one PB suggest that his design would have a large "landscape rock" instead of a jumping rock so that it could pass inspections. Not only is your depth a little shallow for my tastes, but I would be worried about kids jumping from your rock and going just a little...

Very cool design. With that surface area but only 18,000 gallons, do you not have a deep end? Your design has a lot of enticing rocks to jump from and plenty of space, so I'd make sure there was a deep end somewhere. I would also want to make sure there was plenty of above-water lighting to...

Ours was always going to be + or - a few inches. Did you upgrade to 9' to the waterline, or to the coping? It seems to me that if you specifically upgraded from 8' to 9', and the PB only got about half-way there, you should get back at least half of the upgrade cost.