Pool Renovation Project - MA (pics and video)
- Thread starter chinatti
- Start date
Final catch-up from last week. Day 6. We decided last minute to replace the middle sheer descent waterfall - the old one had a constant break in the middle of the sheet of water, and looking at it with the pool guys we saw that it was partially crushed, so we went ahead and had them replace the old unit with a new one. They had to remove the middle granite block up on the raised wall (using the excavator and heavy-duty nylon strapping - way too heavy to lift without machinery). Day 6 was spent mostly removing the granite, removing the old waterfall unit, and replacing with the new one. Looks like they also reconnected all the waterfalls (they had been disconnected and capped for the pressure stand), and filled in some of the holes to prepare for the concrete strip behind the raised wall. Granite will presumably go back on tomorrow along with the coping.
Also, we had a crack in the floor of the pool that they V-Cut out today. It had been "repaired" with pool putty a few years back, but hoping to get a more long-term fix in conjunction with the resurfacing.
Here was the inspiration for the waterfall fix (view from our hotel at Niagara Falls - we spent Labor Day weekend here...)
Here are a few views of the new waterfall unit:
And here's the crack (after they opened it up a bit):
And the video of Day 6 work:
Also, we had a crack in the floor of the pool that they V-Cut out today. It had been "repaired" with pool putty a few years back, but hoping to get a more long-term fix in conjunction with the resurfacing.
Here was the inspiration for the waterfall fix (view from our hotel at Niagara Falls - we spent Labor Day weekend here...)
Here are a few views of the new waterfall unit:
And here's the crack (after they opened it up a bit):
And the video of Day 6 work:
Here's a quick pic of the accent pavers next to the granite. They're TechoBloc 6x13" Black Onyx Blu60 Smooth concrete pavers. The pictures show them pretty dark, but I think they were a little wet when I took the pic so darker than they normally will show. Also, I had 2 samples before I made the decision, and one of the samples was much older and had been sitting out in the weather at the supplier, and was a fair amount lighter, so I think they tend to lighten over time. Anyway, here's the pic:
That is going to be very striking! Just make sure they don't slip the older one into the bunch! LOL
Kim
Kim
Catching up with Day 7 updates ... not too much done today, just replacing the granite beam over the fixed waterfall, and I think some digging around where the base for the diving board is going, plus concrete forms for the concrete strip behind the raised wall.
We're a bit stalled at the moment - a couple days of no work due to the masons being out sick :-?. We're basically waiting on them to get the coping installed and then waterline tile. Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow to get things going again ...
Also, I think we're going with Blue Surf PebbleSheen + Shimmering Sea. Had a long talk with the PebbleTec contractor today to understand all the differences between PebbleSheen / +Shimmering Sea / +Luminous Glass / BeadCrete ... head was spinning for a while, but I think I now understand it (at least I *think* I do). Bottom Line is shimmering sea is a *lot* less expensive than the luminous glass addition (4x - 8x more cost-adder for the beads depending on the amount) - and from what I was told the shells actually are more of a noticeable sparkle than the glass.
Here's the granite beam that they re-set:
and the concrete forms:
and a video of the days work:
We're a bit stalled at the moment - a couple days of no work due to the masons being out sick :-?. We're basically waiting on them to get the coping installed and then waterline tile. Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow to get things going again ...
Also, I think we're going with Blue Surf PebbleSheen + Shimmering Sea. Had a long talk with the PebbleTec contractor today to understand all the differences between PebbleSheen / +Shimmering Sea / +Luminous Glass / BeadCrete ... head was spinning for a while, but I think I now understand it (at least I *think* I do). Bottom Line is shimmering sea is a *lot* less expensive than the luminous glass addition (4x - 8x more cost-adder for the beads depending on the amount) - and from what I was told the shells actually are more of a noticeable sparkle than the glass.
Here's the granite beam that they re-set:
and the concrete forms:
and a video of the days work:
Those are some hard working guys! I think there was only two doing all of the work! OUCH! Oh and the tractor! Thank goodness for it!
So how long did that work take in real life time? Do you watch it in real time? I bet it is neat to see what is happening afterwards!
Kim
So how long did that work take in real life time? Do you watch it in real time? I bet it is neat to see what is happening afterwards!
Kim
Not sure yet. We had been delayed almost all this week because we were ready for coping and the masonry crew was out sick. They finally showed up today and got most of the way through laying out the coping (until their saw blade quit from cutting the granite). I should know more next week. I'm hoping I'll be pebbled up in 2 weeks, but that's just my uneducated guess....
I sometimes check in from work / remotely, but don't really sit there and watch - more just to see if they are there and generally making progress. You can see the timestamps on the upper left of the video, but I'd say in general most days the crews have 5-6 hours of solid work. Today was a little less because it was raining early, so they got a late start. The time-lapse videos are sped up 100x (and I've cut a few in the middle when there's dead time, like lunch), so a 2:30 time lapse video is roughly:
150 * 100 = 15,000 seconds = 4.16 hours of real video time
Friday was Day 8 - Coping guys finally back on the job (whew!). They got probably 75% of the coping laid out before their saw blade gave up on them. The granite is pretty hard on the saw, and the 8 foot pieces are no fun to carry according to the guys .... Looking pretty good - nice to finally see something being built back up as opposed to being torn apart.
Hopefully starting up the home stretch now. Fingers crossed that none of the pieces break while they're being set (they said it can happen due to natural imperfections in the stone, but it's rare). They should be back at it first thing Monday AM.
Here's the coping:
Our dogs giving it the full inspection (aka the sniff test):
Video of the days work:
Hopefully starting up the home stretch now. Fingers crossed that none of the pieces break while they're being set (they said it can happen due to natural imperfections in the stone, but it's rare). They should be back at it first thing Monday AM.
Here's the coping:
Our dogs giving it the full inspection (aka the sniff test):
Video of the days work:
You could see at the end where the blade was causing problems Even on fast it looked slow LOL
Those cuts are great! It really looks like they care about their work!
It looks like the dogs approve of the work done!
Kim
Those cuts are great! It really looks like they care about their work!
It looks like the dogs approve of the work done!
Kim
Skipping a day, and catching up a bit - Day 9 was just laying out the rest of the coping and installing the bonding wire.
Day 10 was setting the coping, and Day 11 was waterline tile installation. Starting to look like a pool again - we're getting to the home stretch.
Here are some pictures with the coping set and tile installed:
Here's the video for Day 10 - setting the coping:
And for Day 11 - tile install / grouting:
Day 10 was setting the coping, and Day 11 was waterline tile installation. Starting to look like a pool again - we're getting to the home stretch.
Here are some pictures with the coping set and tile installed:
Here's the video for Day 10 - setting the coping:
And for Day 11 - tile install / grouting:
That is a lot of work done right! Was it hard to find tile that matched the old tile?
What are they going to do about the crack? When will they do it?
Kim
What are they going to do about the crack? When will they do it?
Kim
We found something that matched probably 90% from Classic Pool and Tile. The existing tile has a bit of a green tint to it that the new one doesn't have (I think I like the new one better). With the point of the disconnect at the edge of the raised wall we didn't think it would be very noticeable. The bigger "isssue" they pointed out was because the pool beam was so far out of level, the new waterline tile will not line up height-wise with the raised wall (it's a little higher). It's more noticeable now with no water, but it didn't seem like a big deal so we didn't bother to redo the raised wall.
For the crack they said they'll V-cut it out a bit more when the do scratch-coating, and fill it with some sort of hydraulic material for a good seal. I think that's next up for Monday - they finished most of the final grading today. They said they normally do the plaster/pebble last, but may flip-flop a bit since we're running a little late and we need to have the water/filter running for ~30 days before we close. If we push that too late then the leaves will start to be a headache (esp. since I think we can't vacuum for the first 30 days either?).
I can't wait to see this pool with water! It's hard to believe this is an older pool - such a current/modern design! I love it - am bookmarking it for my next pool in my next lifetime!!! Ha ha - hope I can find it where ever I end up!!!
Suz.
Suz.
Yeah we like it too. We always say that if we were ever building a pool ourselves we would *never* have done a design like this (mainly due to lack of vision / style ...), but we love that we happened onto it!