New Build in NE FL
- Thread starter Brooksrandy81
- Start date
Hey there, we are mid pool process in NW St. John's county. I totally understand the brain fry with all the choices. I agonized over it, poured over Pinterest and Houzz plus YouTube looking at everything on the color selections we were considering and after two months of it we ended up choosing the first ones my husband liked.
I do highly recommend going to the Belgard plant in the Northside as it helped us make a decision on our pavers. Seeing them outside is much better but as a heads up you can see a fair amount of the Tremron product line at a paver/plant place on Phillips Hwy near the Tremron store.
I also went to some of the newer model homes in the area to see the pools and their color selections. I love the products you chose...your pool will be beautiful!
I do highly recommend going to the Belgard plant in the Northside as it helped us make a decision on our pavers. Seeing them outside is much better but as a heads up you can see a fair amount of the Tremron product line at a paver/plant place on Phillips Hwy near the Tremron store.
I also went to some of the newer model homes in the area to see the pools and their color selections. I love the products you chose...your pool will be beautiful!
We actually read your recommendation for this in another post and decided we needed to go there and look too. We did go to the Philips hwy store, but not their plant, and that's where we saw the Lions Bridge vs Sierra and liked the LB more.
Good point about the glass tile, Kim. Sigh.. This might actually be more involved and difficult than the custom house was!
BUT you have all of us to bounce ideas off of and we will help you spend your money! LOL :slidehalo:
Kim
Kim
We are pool owner newbies but after a long process of finding a PB we like, we just signed on the dotted line and I think the dig should start around Jan 10th. We are contacting tree trimmers now as we have large spanish oaks behind the house and some of the limbs are over where we are putting the pool. My wife has had the county forester out to discuss trimming the trees and digging in areas under the drip line to ensure the trees will not be severely damaged or pose a risk to the pool and deck etc.
Here are the specs so far
Free Form 505 Sq Ft
7 Ft Round Raised Spa (18 inch) w/Spillway and natural stone surround and the elevated area above the tile on front of elevation inside pool
5500 Shotcrete They are saying 8 inches thick
3' 6" to 7' with a deep end swim out
Sunstone Pebble Finish (thinking Either Saint Lucia Pearl or Blue Peark) by C L industries
We will use a 6x6 tile by master tile by the water line
2 and 3 inch chedule 40 pipe
2- 3 inch drains
3 adjustable eyelets in pool
6 adjustables in spawalls
sun tanning ledge with a small section of steps
Equipment
Hayward Ecostar VS pump
Hayward Swimclear Cartridge 200SQ FT
3 hayward color logic lights 2 for main pool 1 for spa
Hayward 40 k Salt Chlorinator
Hayward Aqua Plus Automation with wireless remote
StaRite 330,000 LP heater for spa
Deck
1300 Sq ft
Tremron pavers either Mega old town or stone hurst in lions bridge color with Polymeric Sand. With Charcoal bullnose coping
Enclosure
32x 56 with Mansard Style Roof
7 inch Structural Super Gutter
2 Downspouts
Heavy wall bronze aluminum
18/14 charcoal phifer screen
I have option for LED bubblers at 525.00 a piece (not sure if we want that)
Also adding in a fire pit with propane ring. We were thinking of doing the paver/stone bench by the fire pit but now we think we will stick to furniture
I will also attach pictures of our layout and 3D rendering -
If anyone sees anything worth commenting on or experiences with products, good or bad, would love to hear them. Thanks!
Hi, we are in permitting stage as well with a lot of options to consider
I had a comment about the light. Hayward color logic can light up the whole pool if placed in the deep end, with a 2nd smaller version on the sun shelf. Is this your set up? Also would suggest an umbrella sleeve on the sun shelf positioned so when you open the umbrella it doesn't hang over the deck. I learned this on my first build and made a huge difference on a 9' umbrella edge within the shelf.Not yet!! We finally figured out our options. My wife has some specific ideas and there looked like there might be some things lost in translation so she put together a word document with pictures explaining each of the design options we wanted with pictures for examples. Permits were submitted last week so hopefully that is cleared in the next week.
Today we had the tree company out to trim the limbs that were hanging over the eventual screen room.
Wife has fallen in love with a glass tile from Lightstream in California. Anyone familiar with them? She read excellent online reviews of them. She wants to use the 2x2s along the edge of the sun shelf, deep end seat, stairs, and spa seat, and then either the 2x2 or 3x3 for waterline and inside spa at water line. Still trying to figure out the spillway since our spa will be fully wrapped in ledge stone and we want the waterfall effect, not the cascading water over the face of the rocks.
Also waiting to hear the PBs thoughts on cap for spa and fire pit. They had in the plans for the 6x9 coping but wife hates that. She wants larger, more solid pieces like either poured concrete or slate stone. Not stuck on the material but the look. So PB really appreciated her pictures and explaination of her wants so is reviewing and will get back to us.
We also want to go to some of their existing builds and see the different pebble finish colors with water over them in the pools to determine what color we want.
The light position is something we didn't solidify with PB. Original quote was for 1 but the quote we had him match had 2. Will add it to our list to discuss.
In regards to the umbrella holder, I was thinking of just getting one of those cantilever umbrellas but so many people suggest the holder. Wouldn't it be better to move the umbrella around vs just one spot on the sun shelf?
Freshly trimmed
The tile my wife is in love with set in a photo editor with our paver and color
The tile next to the spa stone
And this is how the tile looks installed
I would have two lights. Make it where you can turn one off if wanted. Better too many than not enough.
Umbrella-I agree with you........being able to move and adjust would be better to me.
That tile is VERY pretty and pricey! They need a LONG lead time as they make them to order so it takes a while to get them to you. Keep that in mind..........when you sign off on the design go ahead and order them so they will be there when you need them. Order extra for boo-boos.
I like your wife's style.......a picture IS worth 1000 words. There is no better way to get the idea across! Good job!
Kim
Umbrella-I agree with you........being able to move and adjust would be better to me.
That tile is VERY pretty and pricey! They need a LONG lead time as they make them to order so it takes a while to get them to you. Keep that in mind..........when you sign off on the design go ahead and order them so they will be there when you need them. Order extra for boo-boos.
I like your wife's style.......a picture IS worth 1000 words. There is no better way to get the idea across! Good job!
Kim
My wife (MotherShipp) chimed in earlier but a couple additional comments/suggestions/ideas from my side:
#1- the 3' walkway along the back of the pool was something we kicked around and eventually nixed. 3' is enough to navigate but, when it's the length of the pool and bordered by a screen, is something that most folks don't find particularly comfortable to walk along. We discussed whether to bump out cage/deck out further and make the 3' walkway into a 4-5' one or kill the walkway idea completely and do a planter. The planter won as it'll provide some visual relief from 100% decking as well as provide an opportunity for additional lighting and some extra color via the plants.
#2- Pool Lighting. Our pool isn't quite as "wide" as your design (~34' vs ~36') but is a little broader (20' vs 16'). We opted for a light in the shallow end as well as one in the deep end. Instead of LED bubblers we went with an LED light on the sunshelf... the idea here is that the sunshelf light should reflect and refract through the bubbled water with much the same effect as LED bubblers but at a fraction of the price and provide additional lighting for the rest of the shelf area.
#3- Spa spillover material. We went with granite that's a similar color to the pool finish (dark finish, dark grey granite). If you're doing natural stone coping (flagstone or similar), I can 100% understand the desire to maintain a level of continuity across the spa edge. It happens that this exact topic came up when I was chatting with the tile guy. He has another build currently with flagstone coping where the customer wanted a natural stone spillover. He was reluctant to set a piece of natural stone as the spillover because of the "jagged" edge and the potential for longer term liability. If someone slips/falls/slides off and catches the unfinished edge, they're going to end up with some potentially nasty cuts. The customer then requested a piece of flagstone for the spillover but that has some of the same issues but predominantly out at the corners... the solution was the cut/radius the outer corners in an effort to reduce the risk of injury. Potential downside here is that there's no guarantee that the flagstone won't crack/break as part of cleaning up the corners and, if it does, the customer would be the one on the hook for another piece of stone. If it's me, I'd look at the granite options that are either complimentary to whatever will be used as the spa coping/vertical spa wall or look at colors that are more in line with the finish.
#4- we had an umbrella sleeve added into the sunshelf... the thought here is that it was ~free (negotiated it into the deal) and we'll have it if we want it. We've got a large, cantilever umbrella that we'll likely use for a table/seats/pool but having the flexibility for an additional umbrella isn't a bad thing.
Christian
#1- the 3' walkway along the back of the pool was something we kicked around and eventually nixed. 3' is enough to navigate but, when it's the length of the pool and bordered by a screen, is something that most folks don't find particularly comfortable to walk along. We discussed whether to bump out cage/deck out further and make the 3' walkway into a 4-5' one or kill the walkway idea completely and do a planter. The planter won as it'll provide some visual relief from 100% decking as well as provide an opportunity for additional lighting and some extra color via the plants.
#2- Pool Lighting. Our pool isn't quite as "wide" as your design (~34' vs ~36') but is a little broader (20' vs 16'). We opted for a light in the shallow end as well as one in the deep end. Instead of LED bubblers we went with an LED light on the sunshelf... the idea here is that the sunshelf light should reflect and refract through the bubbled water with much the same effect as LED bubblers but at a fraction of the price and provide additional lighting for the rest of the shelf area.
#3- Spa spillover material. We went with granite that's a similar color to the pool finish (dark finish, dark grey granite). If you're doing natural stone coping (flagstone or similar), I can 100% understand the desire to maintain a level of continuity across the spa edge. It happens that this exact topic came up when I was chatting with the tile guy. He has another build currently with flagstone coping where the customer wanted a natural stone spillover. He was reluctant to set a piece of natural stone as the spillover because of the "jagged" edge and the potential for longer term liability. If someone slips/falls/slides off and catches the unfinished edge, they're going to end up with some potentially nasty cuts. The customer then requested a piece of flagstone for the spillover but that has some of the same issues but predominantly out at the corners... the solution was the cut/radius the outer corners in an effort to reduce the risk of injury. Potential downside here is that there's no guarantee that the flagstone won't crack/break as part of cleaning up the corners and, if it does, the customer would be the one on the hook for another piece of stone. If it's me, I'd look at the granite options that are either complimentary to whatever will be used as the spa coping/vertical spa wall or look at colors that are more in line with the finish.
#4- we had an umbrella sleeve added into the sunshelf... the thought here is that it was ~free (negotiated it into the deal) and we'll have it if we want it. We've got a large, cantilever umbrella that we'll likely use for a table/seats/pool but having the flexibility for an additional umbrella isn't a bad thing.
Christian
Hi all. Brooksrandy's wife here.
We are on hold right now with permiting. Yesterday a woman from the county showed up at the house to measure our tree. She said it was for permiting so I figured no big deal. Then I am watching her and she's not just measuring how far away the house is from the tree but then starts measuring the width of the trees trunk, the canopy, etc.
So I walked out to inquire what exactly this was for and apparently the state of Florida has a special interest in "champion trees" which are trees in certain species and grand size. Basically if it is over 30" in diameter and a few other criteria, we cannot impact the tree according to their arborist.
I did have a county arborist out to discuss our concerns of the tree and we even mldified the design to move the pool to the left away from the tree. However, the environmental department uses a much different thought process than others may. And even though my arborist said it was ok, he said it cant be used as an official statement bc he works for the county and then if the state says its not ok, it could turn into a lawsuit with state vs county etc.
So now we are waiting to hear if we are going to be side lined in even proceeding forward. They said if it is a champion tree, we would have an arborist out to discuss options that we could do to not impact the tree.
What's frustrating is that I am the biggest advocate for my trees and I spend a lot of time and money on maintaining my trees and even modified the pool plan to reduce any stress on the tree. Also made sure the work done with the footer for the screen wouldnt kill the tree. Of course it will stress it but jts less than 25% of the drip line which is a key factor.
So that's the latest update. Seems to be going backwards. We are meeting with the PB on the 20th to see pools they have done so we can pick a pebble finish color and see the pavers we like in a real installed setting. Will discuss the tree tomorrow and also touch base about the glass tiles that my husband mentioned above.
We are on hold right now with permiting. Yesterday a woman from the county showed up at the house to measure our tree. She said it was for permiting so I figured no big deal. Then I am watching her and she's not just measuring how far away the house is from the tree but then starts measuring the width of the trees trunk, the canopy, etc.
So I walked out to inquire what exactly this was for and apparently the state of Florida has a special interest in "champion trees" which are trees in certain species and grand size. Basically if it is over 30" in diameter and a few other criteria, we cannot impact the tree according to their arborist.
I did have a county arborist out to discuss our concerns of the tree and we even mldified the design to move the pool to the left away from the tree. However, the environmental department uses a much different thought process than others may. And even though my arborist said it was ok, he said it cant be used as an official statement bc he works for the county and then if the state says its not ok, it could turn into a lawsuit with state vs county etc.
So now we are waiting to hear if we are going to be side lined in even proceeding forward. They said if it is a champion tree, we would have an arborist out to discuss options that we could do to not impact the tree.
What's frustrating is that I am the biggest advocate for my trees and I spend a lot of time and money on maintaining my trees and even modified the pool plan to reduce any stress on the tree. Also made sure the work done with the footer for the screen wouldnt kill the tree. Of course it will stress it but jts less than 25% of the drip line which is a key factor.
So that's the latest update. Seems to be going backwards. We are meeting with the PB on the 20th to see pools they have done so we can pick a pebble finish color and see the pavers we like in a real installed setting. Will discuss the tree tomorrow and also touch base about the glass tiles that my husband mentioned above.
WOW! I have never heard of "champion trees" and their impact on builds. So sad that you had one out already but it does not "count" Can you hire the one that came out BUT when he is off the clock for his county job? More as a sideline job?
Nice to have you with us! Saw your post about your tile picks on another thread! SO pretty!
Kim
Nice to have you with us! Saw your post about your tile picks on another thread! SO pretty!
Kim
Good luck with the tree situation. I wanted to share one thing. We also are doing a 3.5" shallow end with 3 steps/4 risers (including the shelf). If this is truly your desired water depth, it will yield 12" steps (42" water depth + 4" from water to decking = 46"/4 risers = 11.5" per riser). Here in Palm Beach County, I believe that is the max allowable riser height per code. We do not have water in our pool yet, but to the eye and legs (without water) they are steep. Certainly the buoyancy factor will help but we are concerned with our little ones and our older parents being able to easily get in and out of the pool. We are probably a couple of weeks from being finished, so once we get swimming, i can give you a better idea of how steep or not they are. It sounds like this will be well before you have gunite.
Tree update:
The environmental dept was out again today with their arborist. The tree is in fact a "champion" tree and therefore protected so we cannot impact it. She is concerned that digging down and placing the footer will sever too many key roots and given the age of the tree (120 + years) it will be a lot for it to recover from since we just had to remove 6 branches.
However, we met with the PB today before the arborist came out to look at pools they just did and decide on a pebble finish (going with CL industries blue pearl) and discussed the glass tile and the tree issue. He did say if we need to, we could do a header instead of a footer there.
So after talking to the arborist she said we need to do either piling footers where they just put small, individual footers like pilings in water, to reduce the amount of cut roots, or we could do the header option instead of the footer.
Good news is that with that discussion, our permits will be approved.
I called the PB back and discussed this with him. He said he will talk with the engineer with the screen and see what we need to do. He mentioned higher strength concrete, adding more rebar, doing a 6x18 footer vs 12x12, etc but basically anything to prevent digging down and cutting those roots. His goal is also to make these changes without adding cost.
So we are very thankful for that outcome esp after the last 14 months....
Also no issues with installing our glass tile following Lightstreams guidelines. So waiting on him to give me the linear feet and tell me how much tile is needed for the accent parts and then how much for water line so we can decide if cost wise we can or want to swing for the glass water line tiles.
We are finally back in gear...only 1st gear but at least we are moving forward!!
The environmental dept was out again today with their arborist. The tree is in fact a "champion" tree and therefore protected so we cannot impact it. She is concerned that digging down and placing the footer will sever too many key roots and given the age of the tree (120 + years) it will be a lot for it to recover from since we just had to remove 6 branches.
However, we met with the PB today before the arborist came out to look at pools they just did and decide on a pebble finish (going with CL industries blue pearl) and discussed the glass tile and the tree issue. He did say if we need to, we could do a header instead of a footer there.
So after talking to the arborist she said we need to do either piling footers where they just put small, individual footers like pilings in water, to reduce the amount of cut roots, or we could do the header option instead of the footer.
Good news is that with that discussion, our permits will be approved.
I called the PB back and discussed this with him. He said he will talk with the engineer with the screen and see what we need to do. He mentioned higher strength concrete, adding more rebar, doing a 6x18 footer vs 12x12, etc but basically anything to prevent digging down and cutting those roots. His goal is also to make these changes without adding cost.
So we are very thankful for that outcome esp after the last 14 months....
Also no issues with installing our glass tile following Lightstreams guidelines. So waiting on him to give me the linear feet and tell me how much tile is needed for the accent parts and then how much for water line so we can decide if cost wise we can or want to swing for the glass water line tiles.
We are finally back in gear...only 1st gear but at least we are moving forward!!
Oh and for the steps and all. Its a 9" depth of a sun tan shelf and then the steps. Not sure of the actual height. Can ask the PB.
That is good news! YEA for your PB! He sounds like a keeper!
Kim
He was def part of the reason we went with this company. We had one other company se liked as far as design, price, reputation, and sales lady however we liked the guy we went with more. However he was a few thousand more even when pricing the same exact design as the other company. However they matched the other companies bid and that included getting a lot more stuff (7' deep end, extra light, stone on spa, etc) than his original rendering. So we really appreciated them working with us on the price. But its a smaller company, only around 25 pools a year (in Fl!) and him and his friend own it and are on the job site every day. Excellent reviews too. They have been a dream to work with so far.
Also, spoke with PB and the ledge water depth is 10" and then basically just over 6" to the top of the coping. And you are correct that the actual water depth at shallow end is 42" so I def see what you are saying about the steps and also stepping down into the pool to the ledge. Will talk to the PB and see about adding a small step there esp given my back and ankle issues. Ty for bringing this up grumpiebk aka Brian.
The delay with permitting has allowed me to spend even more time reading and looking at projects on this board. We decided to go ahead and add the 2 LED bubblers on the sun shelf and I now have them giving me the price of doing a back wall with columns on either side. The columns will be covered in the same stone as the spa and fire pit, and then we will have firebowls on the top of them. The wall will be covered in the glass tile and then a sheer decent water feature.
I took our proposal from the PB and built it in my Google sketchup program. This allowed me to build the wall and. columns to see how it would look. Currently have the PB giving us a quote on building the wall and columns to my mmeasurements (18" columns that are 24" high and a 10' long wall that is 18" tall and however wide needed, was thinking 12") with a 4' sheer decent that has LED lights. Likely will need a booster pump with that. Then asked him for the price of doing the same wall and columns but a short wall and shorter sheer decent to see how much the cost difference is esp if we wouldn't need a booster for a smaller water feature.
I also read on here about the NPT Lightwaves glass tile that looks similar to the Lightstream tile I love so ordered some samples. Only issue is they don't have a color that is similar to the steel blue and the Lightwaves seems to be a lot more blingy since every single tile is irridecent but if the cost is significant and looks comparable, we may do that.
Final clearance and building plans should be finalized this week and I am hoping PB can give me the costs of these ideas I have and start digging a hole before I come up with even more changes!
Here is my 3d drawing showing the wall
I took our proposal from the PB and built it in my Google sketchup program. This allowed me to build the wall and. columns to see how it would look. Currently have the PB giving us a quote on building the wall and columns to my mmeasurements (18" columns that are 24" high and a 10' long wall that is 18" tall and however wide needed, was thinking 12") with a 4' sheer decent that has LED lights. Likely will need a booster pump with that. Then asked him for the price of doing the same wall and columns but a short wall and shorter sheer decent to see how much the cost difference is esp if we wouldn't need a booster for a smaller water feature.
I also read on here about the NPT Lightwaves glass tile that looks similar to the Lightstream tile I love so ordered some samples. Only issue is they don't have a color that is similar to the steel blue and the Lightwaves seems to be a lot more blingy since every single tile is irridecent but if the cost is significant and looks comparable, we may do that.
Final clearance and building plans should be finalized this week and I am hoping PB can give me the costs of these ideas I have and start digging a hole before I come up with even more changes!
Here is my 3d drawing showing the wall
LOL Time to look and think can hurt that wallet for sure!!!
I really like what you have done with the mock up! I can't wait to hear what the PB says!
Kim
I really like what you have done with the mock up! I can't wait to hear what the PB says!
Kim