New Northeastern Pa Build

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Ok layout Monday and dig Tuesday. I said I don't cAre if there is a hurricane dig the hole. Rebar is still saying Friday so we will see.

I have been trying to take my mind off all this waiting with some fishing.

That has been very productive for how early in the season it is. I'm already sick of trout fishing. Farm raised trout beat to thier own drum. Today was my last time for the season. It is fun but when it's on it's on but when it's off it stinks.

Going for panfish tomorrow and hopefully some walleyes if they r around.

Jim

Ps. I know I own pics but it's a dirt yard. I'll dump picks after they actually dig.
 
kimkats said:
Will you be able to be there for the layout? This is one of the times you will want to have input in case any issues come up. I hope it works out for Monday!

Kim:kim:
Click to expand...

i'll check it when i get home that night. we have gone over it so many times there is no excuse to lay it out wrong. we seriously have done it like 10 times since he lives right by me. i also have it pretty much laid out with pins. bends, sweeps, steps, swim out. it is pulled all off a central pin which is squad with the house. so literally all they are doing is turning my whole layout a few degrees cause they don't think it will look as good square with house being free form. i agreed, but i'm not taking the time to do it myself for them to follow. so hopefully me just checking that night will be fine. i'm confident. lol

they better dig. that's all i'm saying. they better dig. . . .
 
OK I need some advice from those who have gone through this process they are digging the hole today. RebAr Friday. The problem is they are calling for an inch of rain so I obviously that will be rescheduled but when I look at the long range forecast they are calling for rain for the next 14 days now I know that will change but how wet couldn't actually be to be safe enough to shoot the pool I mean what if they shoot it and it rains day after day after day for the next 2 weeks? I'm a nervous wreck here this has been the wettest spring in the past three years we have gotten more rain in the past two months then we have in three years
 
Don't be a wreck at all. The liability is on the PB - or should be - read your contract. Though rain can cause delays. Once the pool is shot it's mostly bullet-proof. What some PB's will do if rain is expected after the dig but before the shoot to help prevent cave-ins, is to flash the pool by shooting a thin layer of gunite on the dirt walls/floor.
 
What I'm worried about is if rebar gets pushed back then gunfire is messed up and more possible cave in chance. Ya I know it's on him. It I also don't need a mud pit in my back yard and I would just also feel bad for them cause I have known him since I was a kid. But you got to start. U can't watch the weather or u will never get anything done.

They r digging now. He said if he hits sand he is holding till after Friday's rain cause if it's sand it will cave in for sure and I know it will just cause that's what happened when I built my home. But I'm thinking he back yard is out of that vein of sand I had out front.

So once it's shot it can rain and rain it won't ruin the curing process. I know with sidewalks they always cover them but that's cause of causing marks I'm pretty sure.
 
As far as curing, moist / cool is actually better for the gunite. As it cures, the gunite will generate a lot of heat. Generally you would need to water the entire interior of the new pool twice a day for the first couple of weeks, at least, to slow the curing process (which strengthens the gunite significantly). So I wouldn't worry about rain after they shoot the gunite. It just isn't optimal before gunite because as you said you don't want a cave in.
 
After dig and before gunite, it's flashing that helps alleviate his issues. Any good PB has money in the budget to cover such contingencies as having to flash or dig out some collapses. Regarding not wanting a mud pit in your yard, yeah I wouldn't either. Not building a pool is the only way ensure you don't get a mud pit!

Yes, I may have misread, after shooting gunite, you can have a monsoon every day - no worries. Rain won't hurt the shell (unless you get a monsoon WHILE shooting). They will also leave holes in the bottom for groundwater to enter if the water table is high there.
 
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Yup pure sand. So 2 options. Flash or build out the walls with an overdig. No word from the gunite company to see if they will come up to even do it. no idea the cost to frame out the whole pool.

my thinking is flash if they will come to do it.

if we can't get them to come up to flash the free form dig then switch to a rectangle pool and frame it out cause that should be cheaper cause of the ease of the build out.

or do a lateral and go vinyl. i don't want to go this way, but if it's my only choice so be it. problem is i know nothing about vinyl and just don't want ot go there.

but at some point you have to consider cost. . .
 

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Ok so we got a company to flash the hole. So we r scheduled for beginning of next week. I guess the biggest trick now is to dig as late as possible so the time between being done with the dig and flash is not far apart since that's the whole point of doing this. I think I am going to take off some time next week to be there for the flash and plumbing to rebar just in case.

I love spending money. Lol I'll never get my outdoor pizza oven. That ship with the money for it has deff sailed.
 
Untitled by Jim, on Flickr

i am actually building a pool. i know no pics no pool. just haven't had time and to tell the truth it's been such a bad few weeks with this all going so up and down with issues out of our control i haven't wanted to post up pics cause it's of absolutely nothing anyway.

but we have 4 days with no multiple days of rain so we are going to try and get something done.

it literally rained from friday morning to 5 PM last night. heavy all day friday. hard saturday morning. on and off saturday afternoon and then just a steady fine rain for the next 24 hours. it's finally moved out. just plain crazy.

so there's a really bad pic of a somewhat kinda round hole in my back yard.

jim
 
ok i'm uploading pics right now so people know i'm actually building this thing. this morning was the flash. there isn't any records of someone needing to do one from my time i have spent here so it was pretty cool.

background. i am in a sand pit. river ran through my home and a few others 300-400 years ago i was told. you can actually see the river basin. so they were very afraid the hole wouldn't hold if it rained esp after rebar. so i ponied up the cash to flash it. pretty much it's a 2 inch shoot, really rough to hold back everything. they do a lip also. then the pool guys just chip out or cut out what isn't needed for plumbing and such. problem was wit the force of the gunite. it was blowing the sand away and taking the shape of the pool away so they had to be really careful. long sweeps. it went smooth. my pool guy was in the hole talking with them and the guys from the gunite company worked really well together. they whistle and yelp at each other. they must have their own little thing of sounds so the others know exactly what to do since it's pretty loud. was pretty cool. i never saw anything like this so it was a learning experience. i hope this is the crew that shoots the pool. i liked them. sand was late so i fed them and sent them on their next stop 2.5 hrs away with donuts and water.

now at least we bought ourselves some time cause everyone is backed up cause of all the rain. we pushed rebar back to thursday or friday so they can take their time wit the forms and such.

i really think i got a great team here. senior (owner) is very OCD like me. like to take things slow and think them out. junior (his son) is very good at making known to the crew what he wants and needs. their one other guy who will be doing my coping and tile (from Italy :) ) seems like a very detailed kinda guy. i like talking with him. he is making new braces for the forms cause the others they were using are looking old and they needed a lot more they said to keep the angles on the pool. pretty much its a 3 guy company with crews brought in for rebar, shoot and plaster only.

so here are some pics.


IMG_7903 by Jim, on Flickr
my buddy and his partner who will be doing all my hardscaping and pool house with me.

IMG_7904 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_7905 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_7906 by Jim, on Flickr

pool guys for layout:
IMG_7981 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_7984 by Jim, on Flickr

dig:
test hole for rain to see wash away of sand
IMG_7991 by Jim, on Flickr

dig:
IMG_7998 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_7999 by Jim, on Flickr

you can really see the sand and river lines and all the perfect topsoil we needed to stay cause we were so below grade!
IMG_8000 by Jim, on Flickr

the ramp of dirt. my neighbors have love that.
IMG_8002 by Jim, on Flickr

done!

IMG_8006 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_8007 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_8009 by Jim, on Flickr

gunite time. watch close it will be done in a flash. lol oh man i crack myself up. sorry.

IMG_8013 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_8018 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_8027 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_8030 by Jim, on Flickr

- - - Updated - - -

you all said you like pics! more on my flickr page
 
top 14 inches was topsoil. it was dredged from a lake and then mixed with mushroom mulch and humus from canada that get. the result is the blackest richest best draining but still always stays moist dirt ever. i dug in all my plants with my hands. what my whole lot is and some other house in my development is literally a basin from a river. rock layers with sand and then river dirt which is actually really good too. we laughed today when we were moving some around and junior commented that most people would be happy to get their hands on just my fill. i aid ha lets keep it fill cause i want my own stuff I used back when finished. Even the fill which is river soil is still easy to dig by hand. it never really turns into clay even when really hot and dry. I guess where I live is a blessing and a curse. But if you think about it being built on so much sand is actually good cause the old layers are so compacted it drains perfect for a house foundation but also holds more weight to prevent shifting cause its finer and compacts greater. but again we are talking old layers not new. my sump pit has never seem water even with 3 floods in my area. my french drains have always remains drained quick. after 3 days of rain i can cut my grass the next morning. they had zero issues with mud even yesterday as you can tell and we got 1.5 inches plus of rain.

these guys are awesome. i mean i knew senior my whole life, but didn't know the business side of him and his guys. just awesome. i know this is going to be smooth. it was just rough to get to his point cause i didn't know about him last year and then the weather was a factor, but if we knew about him when we first started researching it would have been a walk in the park. I'm so glad this is all working out. So glad.

tomorrow is finish framing the pool shape. get the bottom drains in and get the floor return in. i didn't realize they were doing a true floor return. i thought i was doing the drain reverse thing. i'm happy they are doing it that way. oh and ge the pad to elevation and framed to get shot with the shell. one guy is doing it so he is just taking his time, but that is fine cause we are waiting on gravel andrebar is pushed to thursday or friday cause of all the rain we got. they r backed up. gunite sunday. but that might be wishful thinking, but junior is saying sunday he wants it done.


so that's it. fingers crossed.

again. . . sooooo happy with my team!
 
more pics. end of today. took the last 2 with my wide angle lens. it was a pain to get full views with my walk around lens so i think i'll use this lens to document anymore so you guys can see what i'm seeing .

IMG_8033 by Jim, on Flickr
knocking down the lip a bit for the A frames. i'm so lucky my pool gets some nice new ones. lol

IMG_8036 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_8039 by Jim, on Flickr

and the end of the day shots!
 
Your pool is getting spoiled LOL with those brand new A frames!

That is looking great!

Thanks for history on your area! Got to love knowing the how and why of where you live!

Kim:kim:

That is a neat lesson on your area and how it was done!
 
not much today cause frames took a while I guess. Tomorrow gravel. Friday rebar. Saturday 2 inches of rain. Guess we will see if the flash was worth the money. :)

They got the bottom drains in today and the 1 floor return we added to move the deep end water around a bit when heating the pool. I know I should prob have more than 1 but I really don't want to add too much plumbing under the pool, but I also knew I didn't want that wacky setup A&S uses with the bottom drain. I do know it works but you got to be opening and closing valves.

IMG_8041 by Jim, on Flickr
IMG_8045 by Jim, on Flickr

I never realized you can bend PVC so much. Pretty cool.
 

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