Would a pool light off center this much bother you?

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robininni

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Dec 6, 2016
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Stephenville
Gunite just occurred a few days ago and I'm watering and couldn't help but notice how far off center this pool light is on this piece of 12' straight wall which faces back toward the house. This wall will be extended up 4 feet and have 3 water scuppers that are supposed to be centered on the wall as well. The pipes coming up for those are also off center too, though not as much as the pool light. I assume the scuppers can still be corrected to be centered with the wall with the remaining plumbing to be done as so where those pipes come up may not matter much. But that pool light.... In the day time I'm sure it won't be noticeable at all but I worry at night the lack of precision in placement will be obvious and with the 3 water scuppers hopefully centered as they should be that the area will look 'dumb' with the light nearly a foot off center.

The drawing had the light centered but there is the disclaimer that plumbing final positions may vary due to steel placement. That being said, I have pictures of the steel placement before gunite (I failed to notice at that stage how far off the light was and that's not my job anyway), and it looks like they window the steel for the light cage and could put it exactly where it needs to be. Apparently the steel people just used the light dug out spot from the excavation people, which must have been eye-balled and not measured, and no one bothered to check for centering.

This wall faces back toward the house and so the light will be very visible at night and I assume will further catch attention with the water scuppers. There is another pool light at a different end on a curved wall that is centered (or close enough it doesn't catch the eye), and I know this one could have been done much better. Can this be corrected now? Would you care?

I've attached a pic of the offending light, the other light done well, and the pool layout. Thanks.

Off Center Light.jpgOther Light Centered Well.jpgPool Layout.jpg
 
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I would insist the center the three pipes for the scuppers and the light BEFORE any more work is done. It can be fixed. Will it be easy ? NOPE but if they had any pride in their work they would have done it right from the beginning!

Do you have pics of the steel work before the shell was done?
 
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You can core drill out the existing light niche and core drill in the new hole for the new niche.

Alternatively, you can core drill a new hole and add a second light so that you have 2 lights and they can be equal distance from center to create a balanced light.

Go to half the brightness to keep the total light lumens the same.

Two lights might look ok or maybe not depending on what you like and don't like.

1702230670595.png

1702230773697.png
 
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If you count the rebar squares there are 7 to the left of the light and 6 to the right. It was not centered when the rebar was done and should have been squawked then.

You can see the rebar was boxed around the light niche. It will not be that simple to move that size light over without cutting out rebar and affecting the wall integrity

1702236077460.png

It is easier putting in two or three 1.5" nicheless lights along the wall.

They can fill in the incorrect light niche hole with hydraulic cement. And they can core drill holes for 1.5" PVC pipes for the new lights. You need to show them exactly where it would be acceptable and not be where the rebar rods come down.

The scuppers are also not centered exactly but to fix that they will need to blow out a big portion of the wall.

You will have to see how accommodating your builder is.
 
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You can core drill the hole through the concrete and the rebar to install a new niche.

You will have to be able to move the conduit that connects to the niche.

A clean round hole will not affect the structural integrity of the wall in a significant way.
 

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ajw22 said:
If you count the rebar squares there are 7 to the left of the light and 6 to the right. It was not centered when the rebar was done and should have been squawked then.

You can see the rebar was boxed around the light niche. It will not be that simple to move that size light over without cutting out rebar and affecting the wall integrity

View attachment 544110

It is easier putting in two or three 1.5" nicheless lights along the wall.

They can fill in the incorrect light niche hole with hydraulic cement. And they can core drill holes for 1.5" PVC pipes for the new lights. You need to show them exactly where it would be acceptable and not be where the rebar rods come down.

The scuppers are also not centered exactly but to fix that they will need to blow out a big portion of the wall.

You will have to see how accommodating your builder is.
Click to expand...
Can't the scupper positions just be corrected by modifying the pipes sticking out? Have them 45/45 over to the right position? No need to remove wall for that.

The plumbing pipes being so near the light placement has me worried that moving the light could cause other issues with the plumbing. It's just so frustrating that the contractor doesn't over see his sub's work. There is no way anybody measured that light placement. Going back through photos, it looks like the rebar guys and electricians just followed along after the excavation and just put the light in the hole the excavation guys made which apparently was not measured and just guessed at. Miraculously, I guess, the other lights is well positioned. I wish I would have noticed how off this light was the day I snapped photos of the rebar (I take photos for knowing where pipes are and such if ever needed later, I wasn't scrutinizing it for positioning), but then the next day after that was gunite day and of course THAT'S when its REALLY obvious when something is off center..
 
2¢

Even if you could talk the builder into centering that light (a big if), I think that could create more problems than it is worth. There is also the issue of where the existing rebar is going to be relative to the new hole. Even if they don't saw right through some of it (and it's more likely they will), is the rebar going to be too close to the surface of the concrete (it's supposed to be a minimum distance).

Allen has the solution. Just fill in that hole. Have the contractor use the current position of the three vertical pipes, along with the picture you have of the rebar, and plot three mini-lights right into the middle of the existing rebar squares. Unfortunately, you have a piece of rebar dead center, so you'll have to pick a little to one side or the other. It will not be noticeable when the pool is finished. Then have them align the three scuppers and their plumbing directly over the three new lights.

If you're really obsessed with the centering, they can build out one side or the other with the finish coat (plaster, pebble, whatever) to get the three lights and scuppers dead center.

The end result, the three on three, will be a better look than the original design. So he did you a favor! And he'll be way more amenable to installing three lights than trying to move the one.
 
You might have to cut out a big rectangle to get access to the conduit and make everything easy to move.

Circles are always better than squares because squares cause weak points at the corners where stress can focus and cracks are most likely to originate at a corner.

For a circle, you do not have points where stress can focus.

That's why the windows of a plane are always rounded.

The pipes should have been set back out of the concrete because they create weak lines in the concrete where the concrete is most likely to crack.


1702238178118.png
 
Alternately, leave everything as is, and then they can change the curve of the wall on the left a bit to come out farther to the right. The two curved walls on either side of that flat wall are not equal anyway, so altering the one on the left won't "unbalance" anything. They can probably do that extra depth on that left curve with the finish plaster alone, or if not, they could build it out a bit with concrete, then plaster over that. You'd lose a little water volume, but not much.
 
Dirk said:
2¢

Even if you could talk the builder into centering that light (a big if), I think that could create more problems than it is worth. There is also the issue of where the existing rebar is going to be relative to the new hole. Even if they don't saw right through some of it (and it's more likely they will), is the rebar going to be too close to the surface of the concrete (it's supposed to be a minimum distance).

Allen has the solution. Just fill in that hole. Have the contractor use the current position of the three vertical pipes, along with the picture you have of the rebar, and plot three mini-lights right into the middle of the existing rebar squares. Unfortunately, you have a piece of rebar dead center, so you'll have to pick a little to one side or the other. It will not be noticeable when the pool is finished. Then have them align the three scuppers and their plumbing directly over the three new lights.

If you're really obsessed with the centering, they can build out one side or the other with the finish coat (plaster, pebble, whatever) to get the three lights and scuppers dead center.

The end result, the three on three, will be a better look than the original design. So he did you a favor! And he'll be way more amenable to installing three lights than trying to move the one.
Click to expand...
How do you route the wiring to the mini lights?
 
I explained my issue with the pool builder and he didn't give me any trouble about it, he said 'of course, we'll get that centered up'. This is what I had hoped for and expected from this outfit (based on price and previous pools they have built--my current house has one of their pools but I didn't build it), but that's really nice to not have to argue or compromise which is not how any building experience has gone for me before when issues come up. :)
 
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