The big little dig

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Its been over a year now and our pool build continues but we are getting to the pointy end. Our pool build is linked to the house build and I’ve been at it 7 days a week since march. I’m tired and just want to take my ball and go home but we are almost there.

The water line tile, coping and wall tiles are complete. The equipment is here, waiting install and the final glass fence comes this week so we can get compliance, spray the pebble and fill it up. The only catch is that the builders failed to book us in for the pebble and they are all booked out till next year. We’re hoping they have a cancellation, its getting hot and it would be nice to be able to cool down.

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If it is very sunny and hot when they plaster make sure they take precautions and tent the pool so the plaster does not dry too rapidly.

Lot's of tips at...

Ten Guidelines for Quality Pool Plaster

There are proper steps to follow for the making of durable pool plaster. There are also improper practices that can lead to early deterioration or discoloration. Following is a ten-point checklist that will help achieve a lasting and discoloration free plaster. 1. The best cement/aggregate...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Plaster Installation and Maintenance - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Thanks Allen,

Yes, it’s hot and humid and really not a fun place on a job site. Tradies deserve every cent they earn and then some. Thanks for the info, it’s is a good time for a refresher coarse if I can spare the time. We don’t ‘tent’ pools over hear, I guess I’ll just have to take our chances. I’m guessing we’ll have to start filling a little early. I did say we should plan to build over winter but that was lost in translation I guess.
 
We’ve been on the list and thought it wouldn’t happen this year but Monday I got the call, ‘it’s tomorrow’. So yesterday was a busy day with plumbers, the tiler, the electrician, the pool guy up first to clean the shell and then the pebble guys.

I thought the pebblecrete was a plaster base but it was white Portland cement, sand and pebble aggregate so I think that makes it concrete rather than plaster. It was a little cloudy so they didn’t tent the pool but they do that if the pool is in full sun. Its mixed on the truck, pumped in and troweled till it sets. After the tools are washed it gets pressure washed to expose the aggregate and their done. On to the next one, they are doing six pools a day.

It gets an acid wash today and then in goes the water.

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The whole thing is top notch but the deck absolutely takes it up another few notches. Way to go AP !!
 
Snoobug said:
That is really cool! The clear glass... are those doors?
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Thanks. There’s still more to do, so much more to do. There are two clear glass panels plus the clear glass gate on the left. The frosted glass on the right gives us privacy from the neighbours side. Just for interest sake the clear glass imported panels where $70 each while the Aussie made frosted panel was $700. I still need to install aluminium louvred privacy fence on the deck that intersects with the frosted and clear glass panels. And then we need to install matching louvred gates across the equipment area.
 
Dirk said:
Well, if it's any consolation, it looks absolutely amazing!!
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Thank you Dirk, the tiles on the back wall are the same as we’ve used on the bathroom floors to tie it all together.
 
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Leebo said:
I'm in LOVE with that wood deck!
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Thanks. It’s still to be finished, we’re letting it weather a bit first. It’s continuous lengthens of Merbau using the Creg secret screw system. Its really nice to have the builders plastic off.
 
Newdude said:
The whole thing is top notch but the deck absolutely takes it up another few notches. Way to go AP !!
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Thanks. I’m a bit disappointed how its weathered while covered. It really looked the bee’s knees when it was first laid.

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AUSpool said:
Thanks. I’m a bit disappointed how its weathered while covered. It really looked the bee’s knees when it was first laid.
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It STILL does. Lol. Weathering happens. Probably rather quickly in your climate.
 
Yeh it’s still special, just looks a bit more roughed up rather than weathered.

Water in and I’ve commissioned the pump. I cant do much other than bleach till the official handover but I’m thinking 30ppm of stabiliser cant hurt.

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The glass is toughened so if it smashes it breaks into thousands of tiny pieces. We have some tough laws around pools all designed around the safety of small children. I had to get it inspected and get my certificate of compliance prior to plaster and filling.

Actually I don’t comply but have compliance. We have to meet ‘no climb’ regulations to prevent young children from climbing into the pool area unsupervised. Along the back fence the no climb zone needs to be on my side of the fence and to achieve this the fence on my side needs to be a lest 1800mm high. I didn’t allow for the tile and bedding and now my fence is only 1760mm high. Apparently young children wont jump off an 1800mm fence but will jump off a 1760mm fence. I have to raise the rear tiled block wall by 40mm.
 
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wireform said:
This is a disaster waiting to happen. I'd get some decals of sort to put on the glass asap. I know of some very gruesome glass accidents you don't want to know about.
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As soon as there's salt in the water and you have kids splashing in the pool, the decal is occurring naturally. Speaking from experience...
 
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AUSpool said:
Actually I don’t comply but have compliance. We have to meet ‘no climb’ regulations to prevent young children from climbing into the pool area unsupervised. Along the back fence the no climb zone needs to be on my side of the fence and to achieve this the fence on my side needs to be a lest 1800mm high. I didn’t allow for the tile and bedding and now my fence is only 1760mm high. Apparently young children wont jump off an 1800mm fence but will jump off a 1760mm fence. I have to raise the rear tiled block wall by 40mm.
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We had to increase the height of the paling fence to the neighbour to 1.8m - even had to put 20cm extensions on the existing fence posts to get them to 1.8m. So, apparently 1780mm is still low enough to encourage children (we are worried about the little ones who can't swim yet - in Australia most kids learn to swim by the time they're 5) to get a ladder from the neighbours side to climb up and jump down from 1.78m. If they are that determined to climb a 1.78m fence, but not capable of climbing a 1.8m fence, they could just enter our property from the street and simply climb the actual pool fence (1.2m according to code). But I suspect, If they'd be able able to have climbed 1.78m in the first place, they'd be clever enough to work out how to open the pool gate...

But I guess, there is no room for common sense in safety regulations. You either comply or you don't, black and white. If you don't, then an insurance company or a lawyer will make use of that non-compliance should really something go wrong. It wouldn't matter that the same accident would still have happened with an extra 20cm.
 
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