New Build - Vinyl In-Ground Innisfil, Ontario, Canada

[Thorvald]

Well guess it's time to start the build thread. We have our preliminary design sitting with Pool Builder, just waiting for the final drawing to approve before it gets sent off to Latham to build. So far very happy in the early dealings with the PB, covered almost all the items we had noted down to ensure and receptive to upgrades/changes. I'll post some pics of the property soon as besides regular advice and tips I'm also hoping to get some help from Brian (or others) on how to do the deck (and to visualize it). We have a raised bungalow with a high rear kitchen sliding glass door so it will have to be brought down rather quickly to the ground level.


Here is our last Intex pool which lasted extemely well for the past 3 years and left totally setup in the winter with not even a cover on it. Never had a green pool (large sand filter and SWG) and it was our third Intex pool. Love them for what you get for the cost.

We spent the weekend tearing it down and removing all the 6x6 wooden posts to prepare for the new dig coming soon:

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The new build will be a 16 x 32 Rectangle (Roman style apparently) and the basic layout is below:

Here is my rough background drawing showing proposed decking and deck/shed areas:

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We are going with the really cool Latham "Sit N' Step" for the shallow end and will likely be added jets with actuators to the Omnilogic to the seats (in white, could only find a grey pic):

and then Roman 8' curved for the deep end:

Our only issue is that the Sit N' Step will eat into our 8 foot concrete sun deck at the shallow end but there should still be enough room on either side for a pair of loungers.

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Equipment so far (covered on quote but still being reviewed by us):

Hayward Omni Logic Base system
Hayward Eco Star variable speed pump
Hayward Swim Clear Cartridge Filter (likely upgrading to largest model)
Hayward T-CELL-15 Salt Cell
Hayward Universal H Series 250 BTU (Natural Gas)
Wide mouth skimmer
2 x ColourLogic 12v Networked Lights (Wish Hayward had their Omni module out for these)
2 x Pool return/inlets
2 x Anti Vortex floor suctions/main drains (if deemed necessary by PB but I'll likely request it).
Plumbed in capped “T” fitting for future water fill line at mechanical pad
Min size 2" Schedule 40 PVC and CPVC at header
Drawing shows 17000 US Gals, 64300 Litres

Currently considering the Dolphin S300i as the "Cabana Boy" (aka Robotic Pool Cleaner). Wonder if we can get an attachment for a drink tray and use it to deliver beverages with the Bluetooth app? ;-)

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Hopefully getting the build half completed this year and finished in the Spring (all depends on fall/early Winter weather up here).

Cheers
Tim

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello Tim. That's usually how it starts ... a small Intex followed by the bigger one. Nice. I only had a couple thoughts and maybe some others will chime-in. First, I would go with a larger SWG cell. Generally the larger is better for longevity and to ensure you have no problems with FC production. The other is returns. You currently show two return jets. I might consider increasing to at least four return jets. Water surface circulation is paramount to moving that debris towards the skimmer. My pool is 16 x 40 and I have six returns, so you might appreciate a little more water movement. Also, and perhaps you've already accounted for this, make sure the poolside skimmer is positioned in the location to which your prevailing winds normally blow. That way on an average windy day, you can be assured the surface debris will go towards that corner.

Hope that helps. Good luck with your build.

 

[Thorvald]

Well very late in the season but they are finally here to do the dig. Looks like we'll get the hole dug, main frame up, scratch coat of concrete and possibly even the patio (depends on weather). Then it sits over winter (bottom filled with straw apparently) till spring, then finishing coats/liner etc.

Tomorrow is the start so I'll post some pics after.

With the weather we have right now, I should be able to swim in it with a snowmobile suit on lol!

Cheers
Tim

 

[duraleigh]

Is the patio concrete? I would give it all winter for the fill underneath to settle as much as possible unless PB is using gravel as backfill.

 

[Thorvald]

Apparently they use "clear gravel" (or something to that effect) which greatly assists with the compacting. Their warranty so if they screw it up, they get to fix it.

I should give credit to this company as well, so far they have done a great job, no drama, no headaches.

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That being said alot happened in the past two days! Still compiling pics and video but the pool is dug and frame is in. If weather holds out we get the first coat of concrete, backfill, patio and then a pool full of straw and it sits over the winder till spring. That being said I am VERY happy with the "Sit N'Step", it is HUGE in person. You could fit 4 normal people in it lol.

First the deck had to be partially taken apart and cut-down. I will take most of it down and rebuild it next year to match the new pool.

As you can see in the pic below, the survey lines were right under the front of the deck.

Then the gate/fence between the houses had to come down... Bobcat/skidsteer sitting waiting to get in with a full load of Diesel.

Due to good amount of space between the houses, they were able to get a larger sized excavator in which made short work of the dig. I love how those things can dig a trench in 30 seconds that would have taken our entire Section all day (Army days).

And on the second day entire frame was up and partially plumbed. If the daylight wasn't so short they could have been even father along but it gets dark quick now.

Overhead shots from my new DJI Mavic Pro drone (love this little guy):

Before:

Marked out:

Dig Done:

Frame in:

Cheers!

 

[kimkats]

WOW! When they get moving they MOVE! Sweet! Love the steps and sits also!

Kim

 

[Thorvald]

Yes so do I! The builder is adding four "Therapeutic jets" to the seats (two each) as there are indents for them. Was way out of my budget but it's one of those things that...well...it's not easy to simply retrofit once all the back fill and concrete is in. Hope they are worth it. Should be controlled by an actuator off the Omnilogic (now people need a waterproof phone in the pool to control the toys lol).

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Once I get a better idea on how much "backyard" is left, I'm hoping to persuade Brian to assist with a deck/yard layout. Just looking for ideas since we'll likely build a deck all along the back of the house with a step or two down to the pool patio level.

Suspect they bought the wrong Colorlogic lights (non-networked) as the part number on the box is SPSUV1002SPA but since Omnilogic doesn't have an interface yet anyways, not a big deal. At least they are Colorlogic lights

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Wow I see the guys are already here to start the rest today (early!) so more pics to come tonight.

Cheers
Tim

 

[MarianParoo]

They're just working up their appetites!

Btw, I like our jets in our steps.

 

[Thorvald]

Well guess I can FINALLY update this thread. The rain up here in Canada (and I assume USA) has been INSANE. It's been months trying to get this thing in and a blown out wall from water damage (well only a small hole but it did enough damage to the smooth coat).



After building a 9 foot deep sump (Well point) half by hand, half by mini excavator we got the ground water under control enough to finish the build... SHEESH. Darn thing was dry as a bone last year. Rain rain rain rain rain ARGHH.



However yesterday the liner was put in and three water trucks later we have a pool!



I'll update the "story" with more pics when I have some time, too busy "playing" with the new toy lol.

Cheers
Tim

 

[kimkats]

LOVE it! Now you will have it to jump into when you are doing other stuff! Keep playing we will wait for the follow up stories and pics! Just don't make us wait too long please!

Kim

 

[Brianf60]

It looks great! I know what you are going through. I'm 20 minutes south of you and trying to complete a self build. 2 steps forward 1 step backwards. I took a week off in June to work on it and it rained every day. Now I'm stuck working 6 days a week and trying to build a pool at night. How high was the water table there? I have about 5 inch's in my deep end. What was the soil like? Its solid clay here even 9 feet down.

 

[Thorvald]

Hey Brian, wow ambitious! Thankfully we had it dug last year when everything was "dry as a bone". However having it finished this year with the five continunous months of rain...ugh.

We are total clay up here as well, nightmare to dig in without a machine. I had water soaking the ground mid way down the deep end this year but I got lucky with that well point I dug and found the main "jet" of water coming from the forest behind us. That brought the water down to about 1 or 2 inches of the bottom of the deep end (8 foot deep).

I tried everything to slow that down with Hydraulic cement but the liner guy had it totally figured out. He didn't even both mixing his hydraulic cement, he just stuffed powder right into the cracks and the ground water did the mixing for him. Worked like a treat. However it helped that the well point right near there would take away the water when it could not get into the pool otherwise it would have just popped again.

Have to come down and check out your build!

Cheers
Tim

 

[bjohannes]

Looks great! Rain has been insane in Ontario so far. How deep is your shallow end? And how did you come to decide on 8' depth for the deep end?

 

[Thorvald]

Shallow end is 3.5 feet (as I recall) and deep end was just a number that everyone kinda agreed on. I think the builder said based on the length that was the max we could go so voila, we went with max lol.

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Here is the reason we had to dig the well point / sump. A crazy microburst type rain storm hit and of course the entire pool is basically one big weeping tile... the water pooled up on the ground and then "poof" disappeared... then it re-appeared inside the pool with the wall popped.

Thankfully the damage was really only to the smooth coat and not the concrete behind. Once I pulled all the smooth coat that had popped I found a baseball sized hole from the water pressure. We have had ground water all this year due to the heavy rains and the builder patched with plastic and felt but the water got in behind the plastic and build up enough pressure to pop it. You can see all the relief cuts from earlier in the year when they tried to let all the ground water out.

Once I put in the well point almost that entire wall dried out and only a trickle was at the bottom. I tried to patch with hydraulic cement but the water was just too much. Eventually when the liner guy came (after re-patching) he simply stuffed the hydraulic cement powder right into where the water was coming (no mix) and it "mixed itself" and sealed well. Should have thought of that myself.

Just to be safe I installed 4" PVC for the downspouts on my and my neighbors house to redirect all rain water to the back swale and also a simple French drain along the side fence to catch any surface water from the neighbors higher yard. I've had more fun driving the mini-excavator than anything else heheh.

The liner was put in that same day without any issues and water from three trucks did the rest:

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The liner guys had (I assume) one of their wives to supervise the work and keep them inline lol:

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I was shocked how much water it takes to fill one of these, that tractor trailer was huge:

 

[kimkats]

How did your neighbor react when you ask them to let you do the gutter and drain? That is an awesome thing for both of you!

That looks so pretty with those steps! I love that liner! How is ALL of that water looking now?

Kim

 

[Thorvald]

Thankfully have a very friendly neighbor so no issue there. Fence is totally on my side and so is PVC and slotted corrigated French drain. I think they were more sad to see a fence go up after 18 years but an iron/chain link just isn't has handy to mount stuff as the wooden ones are. Still have to sort out other drainpipe on other side of house but that can wait.

Thanks on the liner, can't wait to actually see it in the sun lol (blasted rain). Water strangely is doing great but I guess being town water it must have some chlorine in it. I just picked up my TF100 deluxe kit today (Thanks Rebecca!) so will be doing my initial tests this weekend.

I had to email Hayward (no reply yet) on how the SWG works with Omnilogic as there are too many contradictory messages and reports on it (needs a schedule, doesn't need a schedule, etc) but I've got it running at 50% right now and running the pump for 4 hours in morning and 4 hours at night at medium speed. Will adjust once I get back home and get some initial tests under the belt. One benefit of all this cloudy sky and rain is that what little chlorine is in there isn't getting toasted by sunlight lol.

By the way having the Flowvis is awesome for setting up the variable speed pump, I just wish the automation systems had flow meters as an option so I could see it from the webpage/app. We are down at Darien this week and I've been keeping an eye with cameras and the Omnilogic app, so far so good.

 

[Thorvald]

So now to update the story with what happened AFTER the liner went in... *sigh*. The next morning I noticed the water was down 6 inches! Contact the PB who amazingly predicted what happened immeadiatelty. I had spent the next night reading about Fixaleak and other crazy methods to resolve leaks so I was ready for anything.

A crew came by the following day and since they had used unions everywhere (thank god!), it was a simple matter to remove the main valve and insert an air plug into the main drain line (since that is where we suspected the issue was).

Then fire up the air compressor and build pressure in the line. Stop the compressor and run around listening for the "hissss". Sure enough it was found right near the walkway (Phew) instead of in the ground! A little digging down and voila... a concrete spike from the forms for the walk way had gone right into the Tigerflex... ARGHH. But easy to fix.

Unfortunately the leak was in a rather annoying spot and the water kept coming out so they had to dive down in their skivies and remove the main drain covers and plug the pipes (good on the boys for this one).

Cut the tigerflex and installed a coupler, all good now. Water level has been stable for almost a week after the fix.

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For goodness sakes I hope this is the last of the "major" issues... BEER ME PLEASE! Lol.

Cheers
Tim

 

[kimkats]

SWEET! LOL and that is why you make sure your skivies are not full of holes and clean AND thank goodness he was wearing some

Glad to hear it is all good now!

Kim

 

[Brianf60]

Looks great! I hope mine looks that good soon...