My name is Dave. I wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I live on 5 wooded acres in a Milford, MI with my wife, 2 kids (9yo girl and 5yo boy), dog, 5 cats, 2 horses and a miniature donkey. We are just outside of the crowded suburbs of SE Michigan. I've been reading TFP for over a year now. Thanks to all for the great posts. The information here has been wonderful. I am using TFP BBB in my 29,000 gallon pool (still need to add CYA but the water is otherwise perfect).
Starting about a year ago, I built my own vinyl liner in-ground pool with a kit from Royal Swimming Pools. As a software engineer with a degenerative spinal disease, this was a pretty big undertaking for mostly just me and my compact farm tractor. I did everything (excavation, assembly, plumbing, pool-crete, electrical, liner install, concrete and equipment install). I did hire someone to dig the deep end but I ended up hand digging 14 additional inches due to their misread of the dig spec. The whole project took about 4 months from breaking ground to swimming. The last picture is the progress just before I closed it last fall. The pool is 31 ft wide and 40 ft long with custom seating/swim-out in the 8 foot deep end.
To be done in the next 2 months will be the tumbled bluestone deck (2 ft wide), Synlawn artificial turf with flagstone stepping stones, 3 ft wide x 5 ft tall pondless waterfall (non-pool water), 30 ft long x 2 ft high stone retaining wall/seating bench, diving board, Stenner chlorine pump and a country/farm style fence (built to pool code). We are also adding a fire pit outside the pool area and will have a 12 ft outdoor movie screen. The plan is to host dive-in movies and bonfires all summer long.
I'm looking forward to opening the pool in the coming weekend. The pool still has the winter cover but I de-winterized 2 weeks ago. I have been running the heat pump only on warm sunny days and the pool temp rises about 4 degrees each day. It started at 49 degrees and is at 70 degrees today. I closed the pool with 3ppm FC and tested at 1.2ppm FC the other day without ever adding additional chlorine.
Feel free to ask any questions on self construction. As a pool building novice, I had to master every aspect of the build. I might be able to give some tips if you need help.
Starting about a year ago, I built my own vinyl liner in-ground pool with a kit from Royal Swimming Pools. As a software engineer with a degenerative spinal disease, this was a pretty big undertaking for mostly just me and my compact farm tractor. I did everything (excavation, assembly, plumbing, pool-crete, electrical, liner install, concrete and equipment install). I did hire someone to dig the deep end but I ended up hand digging 14 additional inches due to their misread of the dig spec. The whole project took about 4 months from breaking ground to swimming. The last picture is the progress just before I closed it last fall. The pool is 31 ft wide and 40 ft long with custom seating/swim-out in the 8 foot deep end.
To be done in the next 2 months will be the tumbled bluestone deck (2 ft wide), Synlawn artificial turf with flagstone stepping stones, 3 ft wide x 5 ft tall pondless waterfall (non-pool water), 30 ft long x 2 ft high stone retaining wall/seating bench, diving board, Stenner chlorine pump and a country/farm style fence (built to pool code). We are also adding a fire pit outside the pool area and will have a 12 ft outdoor movie screen. The plan is to host dive-in movies and bonfires all summer long.
I'm looking forward to opening the pool in the coming weekend. The pool still has the winter cover but I de-winterized 2 weeks ago. I have been running the heat pump only on warm sunny days and the pool temp rises about 4 degrees each day. It started at 49 degrees and is at 70 degrees today. I closed the pool with 3ppm FC and tested at 1.2ppm FC the other day without ever adding additional chlorine.
Feel free to ask any questions on self construction. As a pool building novice, I had to master every aspect of the build. I might be able to give some tips if you need help.
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