New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Pool finished, end pix soon!

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Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Trenches!!

What exactly does the HOA do to maintain that? Just mow?

We're lucky as our HOA here is pretty good, but man so many of them are like the sneaky cranky neighbor always peaking out their windows behind blinds watching and judging!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Trenches!!

Water and mow. We've complained about the lack of watering (difficult argument here in CA, but still, we pay them to maintain the common areas), and areas where there are ~12" holes against the curb/grass, but to no avail.
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Trenches!!

Bad boulder! Right where you should NOT be!

LOL on the new grass-DUH you have construction going on at the house! Grass is going to get messed up! At least let me get done with it all before you start giving out notices! gurrrrrr

Kim:cat:
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Plumbing woes and scrambled eggs

Hey all,

I was busy yesterday so no check in, but the equipment went in and the main plumbing went in and I'm impressed with how good it looks in such a small space. I'll have pictures of the equipment setup later today. The excitement this morning is that we're having issues with the lines to the equipment (more cement had to come out due to the proximity of the house foundation). The plumbing dig is now into day 3 and is expected to go into tomorrow as well due to another problem that has come up. Our spa has a distinct shape, it is not egg shape, it is a circle that has been cut in half and widened a couple of feet with a straight wall... observe this cut out from the 'technical plans'-

spa_concept-1.png

Notice the distinct shape. What has happened is that while the digging of the hole cut out half of that shape, the rebar guys seem to have lost the shape and per discussions with the plumbers, the spa is now egg shaped ("huevo grande")... and due to the shape, the plumbing of the jets is all asymmetrical and tweaked according to the N-S alignment the spa should have. Also we have noticed that the jets are not space per a seat plan we had in mind (which the PB never noted or drew etc. on any plans). We voiced concern about it today and the PB is on call to 'call us back'.

The PB did eventually get back to our email(s) starting from last Wednesday, but with not much substance... and no real answers. Personally I didn't know what she was talking about. We're noticing that due to lack of foresight, planning, and attention to detail by the PB, it is now biting the project in the butt a bit. We had asked about in-depth plans and finer details beyond arm waving, but alas, they never came to be, and now, when the shovels are in the dirt, exact details are non-existant and are being made up as we go. If we didn't have the opportunity to be home 24/7 for the job I feel that we would be several days behind where we are already. The PB has the plumbing city inspector coming out today... which makes no sense since the plumbing will not be done... and not done properly... so, we'll see how that goes.

P7200343-1.jpg

Not the best image to get an idea of what we're talking about, but it's a tad noticeable in their piping being asymmetrical...

I'll report back later today with egg shaped updates and some pix of the equipment!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Plumbing woes and scrambled eggs

SO, plumbing is going swimmingly, the rebar guy is apparently coming out tomorrow to fiddle with the spa shape... concept is that, per the drawing above, the spa is an OBROUND shape, not oval etc... so all teams involved need to work to maintain that subtle shape difference.

From just now, some pix of pipe and EQUIPMENT!

P7210355-1.jpg

The world is but a mesh of pipes. Should we be worried about that multi cross over? We've had a pipe crush before here (sewage, had to cut through the slab, heck of a job)... it's all about the back fill etc. I assume to make sure it's done properly?

P7210352-1.jpg

From the mains and all the way down the side of the house to equipment... speaking of which...

P7210353-1.jpg

Ain't that perdy? I think it looks great in that tight spot. I can't wait to find out what all the valves do!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Plumbing woes and scrambled eggs

That looks great!! I can't really answer your questions but my pipes crossed like that too. Is there enough room to get to all of your pipes at the pad if you ever need to work on one?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Plumbing woes and scrambled eggs

I am not an expert on piping and such BUT my gut says there should be something (no real idea of what) to go under the pipes going over the other pipe to help support it at the place it drops down. My thought are the something will keep the pipe from getting damaged there from weight.

Kim:cat:
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Plumbing woes and scrambled eggs

Make sure they back fill with sand at least a couple inches over the pipes. What you are seeing is normal.

On to the equipment pad... Are you not going with a salt system? If so, there is no room for a cell.
 

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Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Plumbing woes and scrambled eggs

Nope, no salt water system, we looked up the pros and cons of both, an in-depth and long term price analysis, and decided to go with old fashioned chlorine. So on the pad is the variable speed pump, the filter, and the heater for the spa. I think there's also a valve to fill the pool (didn't know we were getting that, nice!).

SO... no work today... but the inspector is supposed to show up some time soon.

This morning, the gunite guy came out and was supposed to meet with the PB, but she was late, so he left. We spoke with him about the rebar and gunite etc. and he voiced some concerns about the rebar not being straight and agreed the spa was some sort of random shape now and not anything near the shape in the plans. He said our jumprock needs support under it as well. He left, and then about 30 minutes later the PB showed up with the rebar guy. We spoke with them for a bit and things are moving along. PB mentioned about screening dirt and having the rocks hauled away (at cost to us) before filling back on top of the sand they'll apparently backfill with... Something that likely needs to be done since there are SO many rocks, but ya know, AGAIN, this is something we SPOKE about to the PB upon even the first meeting... about screening dirt with the loader etc. and separating dirt from rocks etc... and she kinda nodded off and said "Nah, we wouldn't have to do that". Again, the PB never listened to us, and another small detail is now something that will have to be worked with.

So, per the discussion that took place (PB spent ~5 minutes on property), the rebar guy will go through and assure the obround spa shape is maintained, that the south wall is straight (looked straight to us but the gunite guy said it needs to be perfectly straight, not squirrely a tad), that the jumprock has a platform to sit on, and that the south wall has the proper rebar set up for the 2 12" spillways.

No work today, but they said the inspector can do his thing and the rebar guy will do it later (does not affect the inspection etc.).

Cheers!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Plumbing woes and scrambled eggs

Phew, I was gone all weekend (hiked White Mountain Peak (14,252ft!)). Quick update-

- Inspector never showed up on Friday, per PB today the inspector showed up on Thursday, said the job was still in progress, and is supposed to come back tomorrow.
- Rebar came on Saturday, he tweaked a few things and tweaked the spa to get it toward that shape... it's close, but still off a tad we think... also, the vertical rebar pieces are twisted a tad and no longer vertical in some places... not sure if this is a concern or not.
- The rebar guy put a 'shelf' in for the gunite guy to gunite a shelf for the jumping rock... but the concept of the rock being set into the wall has been lost by our PB and she stated in email today that our rock will sit on top of the cement. We sent an email back etc. with some example pictures... but personally I'm getting a little upset at what WE are saying being ignored/not heard by the PB. Also the 'arm waving' she does is ticking me off as well... no fine details worked out etc. and that's what has delayed us a few days thus far.

I'd imagine that if we were not home throughout the day to keep the horse running the same direction, we would be several days behind where we are now.

Lastly, we did mention the crushed and impacted drains and the PB mentioned she'd get someone to quote us for the repairs that we are responsible for... we mentioned to her how we had mentioned it during the dig and were told to "Not worry about it" and now she's saying "you'll be responsible for it" and how the whole situation of 'silencing us' during our concern and now saying what they are is concerning to us... I'm sure she ignored the entire statement.

Cheers!
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Passed inspection, gunite soon...

Inspector finally came today (once in the morning and left a note on our gate) and after we called back he came in the afternoon and we FINALLY saw him. He went through real quick and signed off on the work. We sent a picture of the signature to the PB and she'll book gunite soon. She is coming out tomorrow to 'verify things are right' as we requested before gunite... because after all, the gunite is pretty much the 'end-all' of the work, so, speak now or forever hold your peace etc...

P7260366-1.jpg

Here's the current view, the spa has been made more of the proper shape, but we'll be verifying tomorrow that it is exactly as in the plans...

P7260362-1.jpg

The inspector voiced concern about these 90's sticking out above the rebar... wasn't sure how they'll do it without it sticking in the gunite etc... we mentioned it to the PB.

P7260364-1.jpg

This edge of the pool will be a raised wall (12-18") to the right of the image (ground will be lowered from pool coping)... we've voiced concern that the pipes seem to be in the way for this to happen... we'll see what the PB says.

We'll see how things go, but we're ready for backfilling of the plumbing to happen soon so we can walk around the backyard again!

- Cheers
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Passed inspection, gunite soon...

The 90's in the spa are the correct height. You want them to be as close as possible to the top of the bond beam (~3" above the rebar).

Thats an unusual way to plumb a spa. Can you take more pictures?
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Passed inspection, gunite soon...

Thanks about the 90's, if that's how they should be, then so be it! I've attached more photos of the spa below... I am quite curious to hear why you think this is "an unusual way" to plumb the spa.

SO, gunite is apparently on Saturday... we're still voicing our concerns to the PB to verify some details before gunite... the PB has not shown up yesterday (after saying she would) and has cancelled on us today, and then also told us "I might be sending someone else out for me, but I'm waiting for a reply with confirmation. Regardless, I can't do any of the work on the pool, so I really can't do much if I head out there bedsides take pictures and relay those images/info to my workers."... yet the rebar guy lied to her saying we told him after his adjustments that "everything looks good" on Saturday... we had in fact left halfway through the day and weren't back until after he had gone... her communication skills are beginning to approach "willingly deceiving practice" in our opinion.

Anyways, we've sent an email stating that we've mentioned these issues, and she has known about them, and if they do in fact become a problem after gunite is done, she is responsible. Mostly we've voiced concern about the spa as the plumbing was done with an egg shaped spa, and then the rebar guy came out and reshaped his forms... so how can the plumbing possibly be correctly spaced/set up with the new shape? All of this aside, there were no technical plans and measurements, so how do we know the jets are in the proper place etc?

Yeah... SO, anyways... here are some pictures-

P7280376-1.jpg

Here is the shelf the rebar guy put in for the jump rock. It is not low down to allow an odd shaped granite boulder to sit on it as originally planned... but we honestly said "forget it" and we're looking at a nice chunk of flatter rectangular quartzite to put there instead. Either way it will still be a nice feature and a 'statement'.

P7280371-1.jpg

A 'side' view of the spa. Note the rebar which is no longer straight vertical etc... probably not an issue, it's rebar...

P7280375-1.jpg

An overview... the shape is close... but, ya know... still off a tad... (and since the gunite guy said "I can't fix everything, the rebar has to be right", that's why were voicing concerns to make sure it's as right as possible etc.). The jet spacing is not as we neccesarily want... as there is an 18" overflow in the center of the 'top' in this photo into the pool, we wanted no seat there, but those jets on that side are too close together and if we had no seat there, the jets would be centered too close to the edge of the seat etc...

P7280380-1.jpg

Curious that being our spa is a football stadium shape... why the piping is baseball diamond shaped... will this affect the strength of different jets??? Another concern that we're voicing because, well, we don't build pools, we don't know, and it doesn't look right to us!

P7280374-1.jpg

Lastly here's a closeup showing the jets across from one another, and... again, while MAYBE it's not an issue, they are off by ~5 degrees from the light and drains. Why aren't they perfectly lined up? Is this adjusted after gunite etc.?

So... yeah... a lot of little concerns are culminating into larger concerns about the ability of the PB... are they small details? Of course... but still, they should be done RIGHT. Gettin' angry...
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Passed inspection, gunite soon...

The extra pictures cleared it up. Its the return line in the bench seat of the spa that was throwing me off.

In regards to the spa returns, make sure that they are pointing perpendicular to where the spa wall will be. Thats no something you can adjust later and it seems you are the only one that knows the shape of the spa.
 
Re: New Pool IG - Inland Empire, CA - Gunite on Saturday 7/30!

WELL...

The meeting this morning went well... I think frustrations got through as the PB showed up with 4 fresh peach donuts from Donut Man (a local institution in Glendora, CA) as a 'peace offering'. The discussions went well, things were clarified, and while nothing was adjusted with the shape of the pool, there is a better understanding of the spa shape and how things will go with the gunite tomorrow. We were happy, they were happy that we were happy, and all will move forward. There was an understanding that while we may be over-concerning things, we wanted to verify and have a pretty good peace of mind. The spa jets are good where they are... the spa shape is top most concern to be maintained and properly done by the gunite guy... the returns were adjusted slightly to allow the step into the pool... the back wall will be done to our wishes... and... I've gotten permission to fill in the side yard trench (something we wanted to do ourselves and have been anxious to do (gotta get the sprinklers back on and plants back in there!)).

Today we went and bought (hand picked) 15 wall caps (30ft) for the top of the pool (the 8-9-8' length wall with the vertical descents on it)-

radiusWallCapAutumnRose-1.jpg

Our pieces will not be curved, but this gives a better example of the color tones (their straight piece example is ugly and gray). When this stone is sealed and finished the grays are much deeper and the colors really pop... this is the wall cap version of our stacked stone veneer so the rear wall will be (as I say) quite a statement.

We also bought a big ole white quartzite jumprock... it's hard to picture it now, but it'll work out... gunna be a leap of faith from that thing into the deep end.

Next week, once we get measurements from the PB, we'll hand pick the stacked stone and hand pick the coping flagstone (I'll show you a pic of this later).

Lots of photos tomorrow during gunite! Cheers!
 

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