Owner / Builder - Sacramento - With Pictures and Prices!

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Yellow/blue for me. Yellow/red leaves the lower right corner too dark.
 
I'll throw out a question about gas. You have a MasterTemp 400, a fire pit and maybe a future stub for an outdoor kitchen (?). The NG heater alone is a HUGE gas hog (makes my meter dials spin like a Vegas roulette table).

You need to plan for the gas line properly. We've seen a number of threads lately where people install NG lines that are either too small, too short or the meter is underrated for the gas load and then the heater cycles from low gas pressure or flow.

Make sure you read through the MasterTemp manual to see what the gas load and line requirements are. I have 150ft of 2" diameter gas line to run the pool heater plus another 50ft of 1" stub'ed off that primary line to run my BBQ/firepit, gas pit and BBQ. I also had the gas company upgrade my meter to make sure there was enough flow to all of my NG appliances (two gas water heaters and a gas range top ).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
@indigo If you haven’t seen it yet, another poster on here did a great write up on his pool with all the bids included. It really helped me get a general idea for cost, although what region you’re in seems to play a significant role in the price. Here’s a link to his build…
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/80164-Owner-Builder-Build-Las-Vegas-Pics-and-Prices-Inside!

@pooldv 3/4 seems like a happy medium. I’ll go with that.

@gwegan I think the bid is so much lower because I have several mutual friends with the owner of the contracted decking company and I’ve agreed to be very flexible with my schedule. I knew right away his quote was probably going to beat the rest, but I still felt it was in my best interest to get three quotes. I actually know my steel guy personally too.

@joyful Thanks for the information. I'll read through the manual tonight and make sure my plumber installs accordingly. I only plan on heating the pool a handful of times per year, it will mainly be used for the hot tub. From what I've read, I understand that I should be able to get my hot tub heated up in 30-45 minutes. My plans right now call for a little over 30' of 1.5" to the pool heater and 36' of 1" for bbq/fire-pit. I'll take a look at my meter specs if it ever stops raining.

On to the bad news…Excavation is delayed. I don’t think it rained once in February but has been pouring for the last several days. The dig was scheduled for this Tuesday and it’s not supposed to rain then, but rain is expected for the next week after. I’m not in a big hurry, but it would have been nice to get some of this done before I went back to work this Saturday. You can see in the pic that my pond is trying to make its way back.

IMG_6271_zpsrsic0orc-1.jpg


 
Just wanted to say welcome from another Sacramento pool owner; we're in the County and enjoying our 1950s-era pool, even more so once I found this site. Having lived in the city before we moved here (albeit without a pool), I found the city building department and inspectors pretty easy to work with and reasonable, at least when dealing with this homeowner on small projects. Definitely look forward to hearing about the process.

Will your pool get full sun most of the day? You'll enjoy the great all-sun-all-summer solar gain during the day. You may want to consider a cover to use at night (a so-called "solar" cover) -- the great thing about our climate is that most nights cool off so nicely, but that really takes the temperature down. With just a cover (no solar panels, yet, or heater) I can hold the temps in the mid to upper 80s to 90 from May through most of September; without it would max out in the low 80s even in July.
 
@jmastron I thought they were very helpful when I was applying for my permit. The pool will get full sun pretty much the whole day. I want to get a solar cover to save some of the heat and avoid evaporation. I've read some of the reviews of the bubble wrap looking ones on amazon and they seem pretty well reviewed, as long as you understand that they'll only last a couple seasons. If you've had a good experience with yours, what would you recommend?
 
The general consensus on TFP is to get the lightest, cheapest, thinnest solar cover for easier handling. That would be 8 mil and I would go with clear. Although, there has been some discussion that a 12 mil cover might last longer. Especially if stored out of the sun when not in use.

Here is the one I have. It is my first solar cover and I haven't used it yet so I am no help on real world experience.
Yard Guard Clear Choice Solar Blanket 16' X 32' Oval - 8 Mil | Sunplay.com
 
I'll add some food for thought on the lighting- maybe some others can give their experience on some of these issues. I have a larger pool that is lit by 3 globrites. I'm happy with the amount of light, even in the deep end (9-10'), although certain colors are better (see below). I was limited on placement, so they face toward the house, which is my one gripe. I was debating placing one on the sun shelf, but the installer recommended placing it aiming toward the shelf, so the light would be more uniformly distributed across the shelf. He was definitely correct, although I have a large shelf (7x20') and this might not be as big of an issue with a smaller shelf. One thing that surprised me was how different the colors make the pool look, and I would imagine a large part of this is the plaster color you go with.

If there are certain colors you know you want to use, this might affect placement or numbers of lights. My plaster isn't as dark, but when the light cycles through some of the colors (white, light magenta) you can see more of the beam, and the color doesn't seem as distributed or as intense. The blue seems to be the most "intense" and uniform (also seems true of other pools from pictures that are posted). This is a good example of what I'm talking about with the white light Redirect Notice
 
napken said:
@jmastron I thought they were very helpful when I was applying for my permit. The pool will get full sun pretty much the whole day. I want to get a solar cover to save some of the heat and avoid evaporation. I've read some of the reviews of the bubble wrap looking ones on amazon and they seem pretty well reviewed, as long as you understand that they'll only last a couple seasons. If you've had a good experience with yours, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

I don't remember the brand or thickness, but I got a blue bubble cover from Best Pool Supply on Folsom Boulevard near Howe; around $150 for an 18x36 that I cut to fit; I called one day and they had it for pickup the next. I cut mine into 2 sections and don't use a reel; I just accordion it onto the deck and fold it, but the ease of that depends on how much clear deck you have on one side. It'll be 2 years old this summer, and while it gets deposits on the top that I've stopped trying to scrub off, it seems to be holding up fine. The key is to cover it with something when it's off the pool (I use an 8x10 tarp). For winter storage, I always *intend* to lay it out, let it dry, and store it in the garage, but *actually* end up leaving it piled wet on the pool deck under the shade structure until it's time to put it back on (in a few weeks!), so there's that.

How are you planning to chlorinate? If liquid (generally recommended here unless you install an SWCG), I've found good prices on HASA refillable bottles at All Clear Pool&Spa (Best has similar, but are not open hours that work for me). I recommend keeping the CYA level on the higher side of the recommended levels here, because we get a LOT of sun and it'll help reduce chlorine usage.

Unfortunate that the rain is delaying your build, but it's so badly needed that we'll take what we can get.
 

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@pooldv Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give an 8mm a try first.

@doggo I'll talk to my plumber and see what he recommends. I'd probably be using the blue light most. He was very helpful during pre-site and had some good recommendations. Thanks for sharing that link btw.

@jmastron If I can get 2-3 years out of a solar cover I'd be happy. I'm going to have a SWCG. I haven't read up too much on the pool school info yet, but will once this dig gets started. Do you think it's worth it to pay for initial start-up or is the process fairly simple if I'm willing to invest the time?
 
Well that sounds like a pretty strong endorsement! lol. From what I've read on here, people seemed to recommend the TF-100 frequently. Is the magnetic stirrer and salt test kit worth the extra money? And are you saying I should test my hose water now or wait until the pool is filled up and test that?
 
I am saying test the hose water or whatever water you will be filling with. That will give us an idea of what you will be dealing with when you fill your pool and you will have what you need on hand and ready to go. BUT do not bother testing the CYA as that has to be added to all water.

Here is a link to show you the whats and whys of TFP. It is a lot to take in. It will take some rereading and working with your pool before it all sinks in.

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

On the magic stir............the people who have them LOVE them. Get extra stirring beans for ease of use and just in case your lose it. Salt testing--you will do what your salt cells tells you to do. You can get a test kit but............if you salt cells is happy then you are doing it right. LOL

Kim
 
napken said:
Test kit came in. Here are the results of my fill water (just a reminder this was taken from my hose, not from a pool):

pH: 7.5
FC: 1
CC: 0
TC: 1
CH: 75 PPM
TA: 50
Click to expand...

You are SO set! WOW! Your pool fill will be easy to balance. I am going to share some links with you so you can learn how to balance your wonderful fill water.

Pool School - Recommended Levels

Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

These links should help you know what to get and how much to use to get your water balanced.

Oh and look at this link...........I LOVE it.........it does all of the math work for you!

http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Let us know if you have any questions or do not understand or just want a gut check.

Kim (always the teacher LOL)
 
napken said:
Test kit came in. Here are the results of my fill water (just a reminder this was taken from my hose, not from a pool):

pH: 7.5
FC: 1
CC: 0
TC: 1
CH: 75 PPM
TA: 50
Click to expand...

That's pretty good water; mine (Sacramento Suburban Water District) is FC 1.0, pH 7.3, CH 75, TA 90-100 (that measurement can depend whether you count it as "has turned all red" as I initially did vs "deeper red with no further change on an extra drop" as I understand now is correct). In any case, that will start your pool quite nicely. I hope you decided to get the SpeedStir; it really does make it easier and more accurate IMO.

Agree with the others -- don't pay anyone to start it up; you'll be able to do that just fine with your test kit, the pool math calculator here, and of course the great people here.

I hope you can get back to building soon; think of the rain as lower guilt when you go to fill it (I calculated that they're currently releasing my household's entire year water usage from the dam right now in less than 3 seconds).
 

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