In-Ground Pool Construction St. Louis MO

EQUIPMENT PAD / SHED
(Lot more info than you will need here)

So this pool is not just for my kids. It's also for me. My Mom had a pool when I was growing up and while I loved it, it was a NIGHTMARE to take care of. A mix of older technology and bad building (Not sure about this one). The equipment was a LONG way from the pool (over 70 ft) and down a steep hill. The poor pump had to push the water UP HILL 5ft. One skimmer worked, one jet BARELY worked. Depresses me thinking about it.

Anyway I've dumped about $3,200 into making sure my interaction with the equipment will be a clean and pleasant one. We poured a 6' wide by 12' long pad with a deck drain in the center. The controls are mounted on the side of the house at shoulder level. You can see from pics. Total distance from pool: About 20ft, and approx 22" above water level.

The next step will be to build a lean-to shed on the pad. This will be a custom, framed structure. We'll paint the interior walls white in order to ensure good ambient lighting. The heater will be side vented out of the wall. There is also a backwash drain built into the pad, this will go into a pipe that will run outside into the grass. Lighting will be an 8' LED fixture.

Keeping the equipment out of the elements will increase the lifespan of a lot of it, and just keep it cleaner in general. St. Louis MO has "dirty weather" storms, wind, snow.. All this Crud really ages your stuff. I remember. Housing it will drastically improve it's life. I mean look at the photo.. BRAND NEW Crud.. ONE THUNDERSTORM, and look at it.. I HATE that.

Also: I like how it makes me feel (Most important). Clean, out of sight, a place to store stuff.

Storage.. I remember one of the things I HATED about Mom's pool was all the "pool Crud" that just hung around the pool. Rafts, Skimmers, Vacuums, Hoses. AHHHHH. No place to put it away.

This shed is 6' wide and 12' long. So it will be able to house a fair amount of stuff (Not all of it) I have plans for more storage in the future, but this will get me started. We'll be organizing the paneling to make sure that if we need access to the equipment from all sides in case of emergency we can remove the walls. No biggie.

My pool will not have a lot of "detail" to it. Clean, simple, pretty. Low maintenance is my quest in life. The equipment will all be Wi-Fi connected and I'll have control from my smart phone. So that's nice too. So that's the equipment

Rain still cursing the build.. Did some work on the night design.

The deck on the back side will be 3ft wide. You could be right about grass clippings, but I'm afraid I don't have the space for anything more. If that does become a problem there are natural barriers I could make use of like Boxwoods, or gravel. I'll have to take a closer look at this once we've formed the deck and poured it.

Will be using a salt water system

Nevertheless your point about the decking is a really good one.. Gonna have to think about this a bit more.

kimkats said:

Very well thought out! Seems like you have it all covered!

One thing I want to point out is the storage of muriatic acid. It should be stored well away from chlorine and metal. The fumes from it can eat metal and chlorine and m.a. do NOT play well together. Several people have bought a small, plastic container that can be locked to keep little hands away and keep it outside away from everything else. It is okay to store it outside as it will not degrade. You will want some to have around to help with pH.

Kim

Click to expand...

Thanks Kim, I will do just that. Eventually there will be another shed, but this sounds like something to put in a smaller area.

Ok so today turned out very productive. Pool guys showed up to get ready to pour the steps. Also the shed got 80% finished. No more bad weather on my pool equipment and it still looks new!! Yeah! That room is gonna be great for storage, noise control, etc. Very happy, very well made. There's also a deck drain in there for when I clean the pump filter and such. Yeah! We are expecting dry weather Sunday and Monday so the pool guys are looking to make a HUGE push on Monday. My project manager says if the weather cooperates, he could tie up his part in 3 days. I almost fell over. It's getting done!

kimkats said:

What are you going to finish the inside with? I love that you planned ahead with the drain knowing it will get wet! Well done!!

Kim

Click to expand...

So cool of you to notice the drain! Thanks! We HOPE to paint the inside white so light will bounce well. However it will not be a top priority item as this is something that can happen down the road. Of course, we're having GREAT weather today, tomorrow will be good until around 5pm so everyone is planning to make a HUGE push tomorrow to finish back filling the pool, form and pour the first bank of steps, and start finishing things up. Once they can let go of the heavy equipment, weather won't be too much of an issue, they will start forming the pool deck. Once that is poured they are pretty much done. Last step will be applying the echo finish, I KNOW they need at lease a couple days of good weather for that one. I am VERY interested to see where this goes. Hopefully they will have enough good weather next week to get very close to completion.

Yikes?! I had no idea! We're avoiding it simply because I cannot see the point. As for venting, we have to because of the heater in there. 4 12"x12" vents minimum

To keep is simple, Chemicals will not be in the "equipment house" at all. That way I don't have to worry about what is where. They will most likely be stored in a vented plastic crate.

So this morning I am frustrated. Tell me if this is normal or a problem. When I started this whole thing, the pool company told me "the construction goes pretty fast, the only delay is weather". Well I've learned that this is NOT true. There is another delay they never shared with me: OTHER DARN JOBS. This company is running a few jobs all at the same time, and they have stood me up on very nice days (Hard to come by in St. Louis this time of year). Now when I was asked to pay $100,000+ for the pool I did so on time and with NO DELAYS. At what point am I allowed to ask for the same courtesy. Also, I tried calling them yesterday to get a progress report with every form of communication known currently to man: Email, phone, text. Not one response. They are clearly ignoring me. I called the office person, and asked HER to call them, and that worked. Said they would be out here today (Still waiting for them to show up)

They seem to be doing a good job, but the process itself does not need to be this frustrating. Does it? If they really stuck to this they could be done in 6 days. I've been cool but I wanted this pool finished by next week, and I've lost 5 days to their other jobs. That could end up making all the difference.

Even if this is "normal" their communication is lacking and it's not very professional. If I communicated like this to my team and clients, I'd be out the door on my butt.

Annoyed.

Jay