New Pool Build Frederick County Maryland

[PCR]

Hi all - I have been learning so much from this forum and all you wonderful people, I thought I would have a go at putting our pool build on here! (Also at the encouragement of bmoreswim who was kind enough to answer some questions I sent him in a pm.) We have recently moved due to adding my dad as a member of the household and needing a house with a main level bedroom/bathroom. We chose to do a new build in a development only a short way from our previous home where the builder would customize a plan for us and moved here in September. During the process of deciding on a new house, my husband, who had never been interested in a pool before although I had grown up with one and had thrown the idea around previously, said, "maybe we should consider a pool." That was fine with me, and I'm a researcher so I immediately headed into my home office and started googling. I came across this site almost immediately and emerged from the office a week later having been infected by the Trouble Free Pool Virus and babbling about glass beads, infinity edges, rock islands and lazy rivers and such. Turns out that one antidote for TFPV is actually getting quotes for a pool here in this part of the country, at which point you are cured

Anyway, having a lot that would accommodate a pool became part of the shopping criteria, and this is what we ended up with, 2 acres but some is in the trees and the massive septic fields the county insists on occupies another significant chunk of space!:


Then we got to this stage of the house build, and I thought, "Hey that would make a pretty good pool, and we could all live in a shanty behind it!" but that was shot down


So after all was said and done, and the house unfortunately ended up being built a foot or so higher in elevation than it was on the plan and also had to be moved BACK 20 feet from the plan, here are the "existing conditions" of our back yard. The changes in house elevation/placement mean we don't have many options on how far back the pool is set, but maybe less choice is a good thing! The numbers coming out from the left and right sides of the back of the house walls are relative elevations; on the left the numbers are spaced 20 feet apart and on the right, 10 feet apart. The existing outdoor patio floor is at relative 100' feet elevation, and the top of the basement walkup steps are at 97.17.


And here are shots of the back of the house and then standing on the back patio looking out into the back yard (the second one taken late afternoon in late October). Our back yard faces the worst direction for a pool - north east. But even I am not attempting to change that




OK, next post coming up on where we have gotten to so far with a rough plan and a plea for help!

 

[Jimrahbe]

PCR,

Welcome to TFP... A Great resource for all your pool questions...

I am jealous of all the space you have!!!

Keep the pics coming, we are all looking forward to your pool build.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

 

[Winger 03]

Welcome! Where in FredCo; I am in Ijamsville.

 

[PCR]

Well, I certainly envy the folks in Texas and Arizona and Florida etc that can get 6 pool builders all drawing multiple iterations of beautiful full color pool designs for free! Here in this part of Maryland, the larger builders will give you an "idea" but you don't get any realistic sketches or plans without paying something for them. We were floundering trying to get started and ended up paying a landscape architect (who is affiliated with a pool builder) to do the "existing conditions" plan in my previous post and do a few sketches of possible hardscape and back yard plans that included the pool and also a "one day maybe" location for a pool house and a stand alone hot tub.

So the sketch below represents that
- we are not getting a hot tub or a pool house right now (and by "pool house" I just mean a small building with a bathroom, changing area and some storage so "pool house" is far too grand a term but sounds nicer than "shed"!).
- The sunshelf will get smaller and rounder to be more consistent with the curves of the rest of the pool.
- The deep end benches will be half sitting height/half standing height
- The steps into the pool will not go all the way across like that to give more shallow end space back - maybe some rounded ones off the slide side of the shelf that then become a bench along that wall.
- The patio is driving alot of cost because of its size, which is because we have the stairs splitting two levels. But I don't think we could just drop 6 feet from the existing outdoor patio to a single level for everything. I think it would look a bit odd, and then the basement stairs come up at a fixed point three feet below the existing outdoor patio so that would have to be handled. Would welcome suggestions, though!


Pool is 44' X 23' at its longest/widest
Depth is 4' to 9'
Boulder waterfall, slide and diving board
Salt Water Chlorine Generator
Pool finish will be Diamond Brite (we can choose any color) or CLI Sunstone Select Quartz
6" waterline tile
About 42K gallons and 990 sq feet according to what is written on the pool if that is correct.
There is about 2300 sq feet of paver patio
255 linear feet of fence - wood board or split rail with mesh
retaining walls and two sets of patio steps

Pool Equipment Proposed in one of the bids (it will probably go somewhere near the septic tanks):

Pentair EasyTouch 8 520703
Pentair IC-60 Salt Chlorine Generator 521105
ScreenLogic 2 Wireless Interface 522104
Pentair 3HP IntelliFlo VS Pump 11055 - one pump for water feature, slide and circulation; is this ok?
Pentair FNS Plus 60 DE Filter FNSP60
Pentair UltraTemp 120 Heat Pump 460933
Polaris 9550 Sport Robot Cleaner
3 Skimmers, 6 Returns
SR Smith Big Ride Slide
InterFab 8' La Mesa Olympian Diving Board
2 - IntelliBright 5G White LED Lights 601302 (I would put them on house side of pool so they faced away from house)
40,000 Gallons Water by Truck

I think I need an outlet near the middle of the pool somewhere for the robot.

Looking for any and all comments, thoughts, suggestions etc!

- - - Updated - - -

Welcome! Where in FredCo; I am in Ijamsville.

Recently Ijamsville - now Monrovia!

 

[Jimrahbe]

PCR,

With one pump, make sure you can turn each water feature on/off, at the equipment pad, with an individual Jandy Style valve. You want to be able to pick and choose what you want on, and when. Do not let them use PVC ball valves.

As a highly biased Pentair guy, I congratulate you on your equipment selection... All the other major brands are almost as good.

Jim R.

 

[kimkats]

WOW! I love it! The design looks awesome!

Have you played with some bright rope (it would be a LOT of rope) to lay it out?? Or spray paint?

Pump-That is a LOT to ask of one pump BUT it is a 3 hp. Pump sizes are not my strong point. I will be on the lookout to make sure one of our pump people jump in on your thread.

You will want an outlet or two by your pool for lights, music, etc as well as the robot. I see it being on both sides of the steps going from the first level to the pool level. Of course they would be protected ones.

You say move in is Sept. but I see chairs on the back porch already LOL Are you already enjoying that wonderful back yard? That is SO pretty!

Kim

 

[bmoreswim]

PCR - That's a great layout! I do like the multi-level of the patio. Where will your gas grill go? I guessing not on the patio because of the roof causing smoke to gather. My thought is to eliminate the planting area to the left of the patio as you exit and put it up against the basement steps railing. It will block that with something that is attractive. Get a big one with some cabinetry on either side so you'll have a bit of storage space that could be used for sunscreen, etc. in addition to grilling accessories. On the sunshelf, instead of making it smaller by rounding it off, I might do more in the line of rounding off that whole end of the pool (at the expense of a little decking) and actually having a little bigger sunshelf but then still being able to blend that end into the curves of the rest of the pool (I agree with that concept).

The upper decking area will be a great observation area for some. And then also having two gathering areas down next to the pool. On the back right deck area, I might bump out the concave deck curve and make it all more a gently rounded arc. Reason being that it will then provide space to have several chaise lounges over their next to each other while still allowing room for folks to walk by and get to the slide stairs - which will have quite regular traffic I'm sure.


Be careful on the evergreen screening on the lower left regarding height. If they are trees, because they are due west of your pool, it will shade it in the late afternoon and evening. I find that in MD, I generally prefer to have sun on my while in the pool at those hours - we do a lot of evening swimming after work. Plus, the more sun, the less your heat pump needs to run to maintain your ideal comfort temp (probably mid 80's) throughout the season.

Agreed you will want an outlet in the lee of slide stair arc for the robot. As well as numerous other outlets just on the edge of the decking near prime sitting areas for phone chargers, etc. Think about your general lighting if you haven't. We went with three pole lights which I really like. Low voltage is gorgeous but I wanted more light. Our pool is far from the home so none reaches from there. Some will reach from yours, but just consider how you will light the whole deck areas. But low voltage on your waterfall/grotto and whole slide/stair structure would look great.

Your Polaris robot may be fine, though there is a growing contingent of VERY happy Doheny's Discovery by Dolphin fans here. http://www.doheny.com/poolsupplies/Dohenys-Discovery-Powered-By-Dolphin-13416.html

I think the depth choice is excellent all around. 9'+ is great for a diving board and 4' is a good shallow end.

The IC-60 will be just fine for SWCG size - I know it's their largest anyway. Our pool is 27K gallons and our 40K SWCG in Maryland keeps up on very reasonable run time requirements. And this is the same relative size as yours will be. Just didn't want someone to say they thought it would be too small and have you worry.

 

[PCR]

PCR,

With one pump, make sure you can turn each water feature on/off, at the equipment pad, with an individual Jandy Style valve. You want to be able to pick and choose what you want on, and when. Do not let them use PVC ball valves.

As a highly biased Pentair guy, I congratulate you on your equipment selection... All the other major brands are almost as good.


Jim R.

Thanks very much for the input! OK, have taken a note down and will make sure PBs still in running include the Jandy valve at the equipment pad. This PB had all Jandy equipment originally but had a salt cell rated for 40K gallons specified. From what I have read here, it is better to go larger on the salt cell, so once I wanted to upsize that, he suggested moving to Pentair for the salt cell and then to ALL Pentair so the automation would work smoothly with everything. So hopefully I understood what I have been reading correctly!

 

[PCR]

WOW! I love it! The design looks awesome!

Have you played with some bright rope (it would be a LOT of rope) to lay it out?? Or spray paint?

Pump-That is a LOT to ask of one pump BUT it is a 3 hp. Pump sizes are not my strong point. I will be on the lookout to make sure one of our pump people jump in on your thread.

You will want an outlet or two by your pool for lights, music, etc as well as the robot. I see it being on both sides of the steps going from the first level to the pool level. Of course they would be protected ones.

You say move in is Sept. but I see chairs on the back porch already LOL Are you already enjoying that wonderful back yard? That is SO pretty!

Kim

Thanks for jumping in, Kim! Sorry about the confusion on the move in! I didn't type that very clearly. We moved in this past September We do like sitting and looking at the trees from the little patio we have there in the back.

I think you are right about more outlets - noted. I think we get one at the equipment pad, and then we are having whoever builds it run a 60 amp supply to the future hot tub spot. One builder said that off of that, we could run another outlet or two I think? I guess he called it running "a 60 amp shutoff" to the hot tub area that could be used like a supply panel or something. I have to clarify on that; electricity is not my strong suit so I need to understand that better!

We have laid some main points of the design using little flags my husband ended up with for some reason. (He is involved in the construction industry, and the strangest things sometimes show up in the garage But we need to lay out the pool shape in its entirety better.

 

[Jimrahbe]

PCR,

Assuming that you might want to add landscape lighting at some point in the future, it would make sense to control it using your EasyTouch. To do that after the decking is down could be an issue, depending on where your pad is located.

I suggest that you run several empty/spare PVC conduits from your EasyTouch under any decking. Once you put the decking down, it makes it pretty hard to add any out of sight electrical wiring later on.

Jim R.

 

[kimkats]

Ohhhhhh thought of something! You NEED a light at the equipment pad! Take my word on it. You do NOT want to need a light and have to hold one in your mouth while you are doing what you need to do!

I am glad you are living in the house already! That will make life quite a bit easier to build the pool.

With hubby being in const. will he have any input on work and who does it?

Kim

 

[Jimrahbe]

PCR,

As Kim says, a light above the equipment pad is really necessary. In fact, where I live, it is required.

A quick story. My equipment pad light is controlled by my EasyTouch. Simply push a button and the light comes on. But wait!! It is dark as heck out there at night, so in order to be able to even find the EasyTouch control panel, I had to take a flashlight with me. Sigh!!!

Well, about a year later I installed ScreenLogic, which I see you are getting... With ScreenLogic, I simply click my "Pad Light" icon on my computer (or phone) and just like magic the pad light comes on. Same with the pool light, my landscape light etc..

You will love ScreenLogic....

Jim R.

 

[PCR]

PCR - That's a great layout! I do like the multi-level of the patio. Where will your gas grill go? I guessing not on the patio because of the roof causing smoke to gather. My thought is to eliminate the planting area to the left of the patio as you exit and put it up against the basement steps railing. It will block that with something that is attractive. Get a big one with some cabinetry on either side so you'll have a bit of storage space that could be used for sunscreen, etc. in addition to grilling accessories. On the sunshelf, instead of making it smaller by rounding it off, I might do more in the line of rounding off that whole end of the pool (at the expense of a little decking) and actually having a little bigger sunshelf but then still being able to blend that end into the curves of the rest of the pool (I agree with that concept).

The upper decking area will be a great observation area for some. And then also having two gathering areas down next to the pool. On the back right deck area, I might bump out the concave deck curve and make it all more a gently rounded arc. Reason being that it will then provide space to have several chaise lounges over their next to each other while still allowing room for folks to walk by and get to the slide stairs - which will have quite regular traffic I'm sure.


Be careful on the evergreen screening on the lower left regarding height. If they are trees, because they are due west of your pool, it will shade it in the late afternoon and evening. I find that in MD, I generally prefer to have sun on my while in the pool at those hours - we do a lot of evening swimming after work. Plus, the more sun, the less your heat pump needs to run to maintain your ideal comfort temp (probably mid 80's) throughout the season.

Agreed you will want an outlet in the lee of slide stair arc for the robot. As well as numerous other outlets just on the edge of the decking near prime sitting areas for phone chargers, etc. Think about your general lighting if you haven't. We went with three pole lights which I really like. Low voltage is gorgeous but I wanted more light. Our pool is far from the home so none reaches from there. Some will reach from yours, but just consider how you will light the whole deck areas. But low voltage on your waterfall/grotto and whole slide/stair structure would look great.

Your Polaris robot may be fine, though there is a growing contingent of VERY happy Doheny's Discovery by Dolphin fans here. http://www.doheny.com/poolsupplies/Dohenys-Discovery-Powered-By-Dolphin-13416.html

I think the depth choice is excellent all around. 9'+ is great for a diving board and 4' is a good shallow end.

The IC-60 will be just fine for SWCG size - I know it's their largest anyway. Our pool is 27K gallons and our 40K SWCG in Maryland keeps up on very reasonable run time requirements. And this is the same relative size as yours will be. Just didn't want someone to say they thought it would be too small and have you worry.

First off - I love your pool and landscaping! It's just gorgeous, especially in that setting that you have. OK, regarding the grill comment - you are one clairvoyant guy! What you described is exactly where the grill and its countertop either side is going. My husband will build that later. It isn't in phase 1 but was supposed to stay on the drawing anyway (like the pool house and hot tub) but got dropped off for some reason. In fact we are likely going for an "L" shape with the grill in the side that runs along the basement stair railing, as you say. And then the other leg would come out approximately at the top end of the basement stairs as sort of a counter to sit at (back to pool, though - not ideal) or put food out or whatever. That's not happening this year, though, for sure. We'll just wheel the grill over there and imagine the counter tops for now

The sunshelf - I have been all over the place with that. In the drawing above, it is 12x12, which seemed alot. In fact I had squared it off like that to make it bigger but then didn't care for the look. It needs to be more integrated with the pool shape somehow, and I'll mull over your suggestions. I need to relook through people's builds and see what size sunshelfs seem to be popular. We did look at average measurements of loungers to figure out the 12x12, but it just looks kinda big stuck on the end of the pool. I'd like to bump out the decking near the slide steps, but we are trying to decrease patio square footage at this point to save on costs.

Evergreens - well, unfortunately, all the pretty landscaping shown in the picture and done by others is a victim of budget too! So we will be doing that ourselves over this year and the next. I agree we want to not put any more shade on the pool in the afternoon than, unfortunately, the house will already put across it. We have trees not far from that side already and with the trees generally in the background of the property, we are hoping it doesn't look too barren before we get round to doing anything!

Lights around the pool and at the equipment pad are not something we've thought enough about - note taken from you, Jim R and Kim. Thank you all!

 

[PCR]

Hi - we are slowly advancing towards a pool! We signed a contract and have HOA approval and county permit. But ... still working on the sunshelf, steps and benches and have gone through a few iterations. This is what we are gravitating towards now (my pitiful mark up in an ancient version of MS Paint )Thoughts on any of the following very welcome, and there are also some questions in there. FYI - at this point we can't significantly change overall pool or deck shape but we are still "tweaking" parts of it. (In the picture, "S" is socket; "L" is light; "CFL" is Ceiling Fan/Light)

1) Make the sunshelf edge a "wave" shape rather than a straight line. For aesthetics and so that the concave part can contain the first step down from the shelf and get the steps more out of the way of the shallow end area.

2) The steps are now just running along the side of the pool so as to not take up too much space. What size for each step is typical? Both tread and rise?

3) I had the steps on that side of the shelf originally for egress to the slide, but I've drawn in a new bench with a "booster" step on it to get out of the pool near the slide. Is the new bench a good idea? If I leave it, should the steps maybe move to the other side of the shelf (i.e. the "house side")?

4) Sunshelf is now about 9' X 13' at deepest/widest points and will have 9" water depth. PB said that means about a 14" step down from decking onto shelf (9" water + 3" up to bottom of coping + 2" coping). He mentioned putting an extra step in from the deck down onto the sunshelf to sort of split the difference so the first step from the deck isn't so large. But then said when water is drained down for winter it would be exposed, which isn't ideal. I'm thinking we should put one in for younger/older folks. Surely some of the pool wall is exposed as well when winterizing and that must be ok, right?

5) Thinking of maybe dropping shallow end depth to 3'9" rather than 4'. (Deep end still 9'). Agonizing over this tiny detail! I and my 15 year old daughter are 5'7", husband about 5'9", and 10 year old daughter is probably around 4'9" or so. So we aren't a particularly tall family. Save my sanity - does this 3" difference really matter??

5) Deep end benches - plan right now is 8 feet long each. 5' of the bench length at 16" water depth for sitting and 3' of the bench at 40" depth for standing. How does that sound? Bmoreswim - what do you think about size and depth of standing part as I know you are one of the only ones (only one?) that has this feature?

6) Equipment Pad is the rectangle at the top right adjacent to the straight part of the fence. It's labelled if you zoom in enough! Put it there for two reasons - keep whatever noise level there is away from house and also because those three shapes to the right of it are the concrete tops to our various septic system components so figured since we would be landscaping around those to hide them we could expand out and landscape around the equipment pad too. There is a double gate in the fence there so we can get out from the pool area to the pad easily. Thoughts about that location? Too far away? Should it be inside the fence? Covered? I need to research the Easy Touch and what components it has to connect it to my wifi. The pad is about 50 feet from the back of the house, and my router is at the front of the house! Will l need some sort of signal boosters with that distance?

7) Will probably put low voltage around perimeter; hopefully attached to Easy Touch if we can figure that out. Does that mean all of needs to be on one "wire" from the Easy Touch panel?

OK, that's it for now! Any and all answers/opinions/random thoughts welcome! (My husband has simpler goals for the pool and just keeps shaking his head at my obsession with all the details mumbling, "Hole in the ground ... water ... done" so I'm not getting quite as much constructive feedback from him as I am looking for )

 

[kimkats]

I LOVE the booster step by the slide! I bet it will be well used!

LOVE the curvy shelf! Goes much better with overall design!


For the rest I am going to link to a new post by one of our PO with his thoughts on his build he just completed! He would not mind you PM him and asking him to come to your thread I am sure.

All the things I wish I knew before our build

What fun!

Kim

 

[bmoreswim]

I'm with you on obsessing over details now. It will pay big dividends. I put my comments inline below.

Hi - we are slowly advancing towards a pool! We signed a contract and have HOA approval and county permit. But ... still working on the sunshelf, steps and benches and have gone through a few iterations. This is what we are gravitating towards now (my pitiful mark up in an ancient version of MS Paint )Thoughts on any of the following very welcome, and there are also some questions in there. FYI - at this point we can't significantly change overall pool or deck shape but we are still "tweaking" parts of it. (In the picture, "S" is socket; "L" is light; "CFL" is Ceiling Fan/Light)

1) Make the sunshelf edge a "wave" shape rather than a straight line. For aesthetics and so that the concave part can contain the first step down from the shelf and get the steps more out of the way of the shallow end area.

2) The steps are now just running along the side of the pool so as to not take up too much space. What size for each step is typical? Both tread and rise? My steps are 9" rise and about 10" tread. Works well for us.

3) I had the steps on that side of the shelf originally for egress to the slide, but I've drawn in a new bench with a "booster" step on it to get out of the pool near the slide. Is the new bench a good idea? If I leave it, should the steps maybe move to the other side of the shelf (i.e. the "house side")? I see more people saying they wish they had more benches rather than less. I'd keep the bench there. Before I read your commentary, I was thinking the steps should probably be on the house side of the shelf. Generally they are at the closest portion of the shallow end to the house, which usually coincides with the primary seating area. The booster step is fine but not required for sure. Most, except those with mobility issues can easily step out of an 18" deep step. I wouldn't want my main steps 18" but all of our benches are 18" deep and are fine to step out of. The only downside to having the booster is it takes up sitting space on the bench.

4) Sunshelf is now about 9' X 13' at deepest/widest points and will have 9" water depth. PB said that means about a 14" step down from decking onto shelf (9" water + 3" up to bottom of coping + 2" coping). He mentioned putting an extra step in from the deck down onto the sunshelf to sort of split the difference so the first step from the deck isn't so large. But then said when water is drained down for winter it would be exposed, which isn't ideal. I'm thinking we should put one in for younger/older folks. Surely some of the pool wall is exposed as well when winterizing and that must be ok, right? Correct that some of the plaster will be exposed on the walls anyway and isn't an issue in the real world. Our top step is also out of the water. No concerns there.

5) Thinking of maybe dropping shallow end depth to 3'9" rather than 4'. (Deep end still 9'). Agonizing over this tiny detail! I and my 15 year old daughter are 5'7", husband about 5'9", and 10 year old daughter is probably around 4'9" or so. So we aren't a particularly tall family. Save my sanity - does this 3" difference really matter?? I think 3' 9" is a nice shallow end depth for your pool design and layout.

5) Deep end benches - plan right now is 8 feet long each. 5' of the bench length at 16" water depth for sitting and 3' of the bench at 40" depth for standing. How does that sound? Bmoreswim - what do you think about size and depth of standing part as I know you are one of the only ones (only one?) that has this feature? Ours are 4' normal depth and 2' deep depth which I'm fine with. 5' and 3' lengths are even better. I want to remeasure my depth's - so as not to mis-remember them. I'll follow-up on that one.

6) Equipment Pad is the rectangle at the top right adjacent to the straight part of the fence. It's labelled if you zoom in enough! Put it there for two reasons - keep whatever noise level there is away from house and also because those three shapes to the right of it are the concrete tops to our various septic system components so figured since we would be landscaping around those to hide them we could expand out and landscape around the equipment pad too. There is a double gate in the fence there so we can get out from the pool area to the pad easily. Thoughts about that location? Too far away? Should it be inside the fence? Covered? I need to research the Easy Touch and what components it has to connect it to my wifi. The pad is about 50 feet from the back of the house, and my router is at the front of the house! Will l need some sort of signal boosters with that distance? I'd recommend running a hard-wired Cat-6 line out to your equipment pad with excess line. Then you can do something with that if needed. Location/siting of the pad looks good to me.

7) Will probably put low voltage around perimeter; hopefully attached to Easy Touch if we can figure that out. Does that mean all of needs to be on one "wire" from the Easy Touch panel?

OK, that's it for now! Any and all answers/opinions/random thoughts welcome! (My husband has simpler goals for the pool and just keeps shaking his head at my obsession with all the details mumbling, "Hole in the ground ... water ... done" so I'm not getting quite as much constructive feedback from him as I am looking for )

- - - Updated - - -

If you want to get an in person look at the depths we have, benches/shallow end, equipment pad, steps, etc., send me a PM. I can pop the cover easily. I will be doing that anyway this weekend to fix one tile that popped in the skimmer mouth.

Checked my measurements. Our steps are in fact 11", 21", 30" and 40" (pool bottom) from the coping. Our benches are at the second step level of 21" from coping. And the standing bench is 40" deep. I'd say the standing bench could be 40-46" deep and be nice.

 

[PCR]

Hi All - So an update and question on the world's slowest build after signing a contract on 2/22 Some pictures of the dig (4/19), steel (4/24) and gunite (5/12) (from my terrible phone camera!) But the first two pics are of some exposed rebar after gunite. There is about 3 feet exposed just above the sunshelf across two sections with the foot or so in between the two sections I am sure only barely covered with gunite. So a fairly long stretch to sort out. Please can someone weigh in on the right way for this to be corrected so I can understand and follow up on it with the PB? Interestingly, in the two weeks between gunite and when I am pointing this out to them, nobody from the PB noticed this :-(

Also, another question on something you can see in the last picture. My contract said 6 returns. I assumed they would be six separate returns sort of evenly or strategically spaced around the pool. Instead they are plumbed as 3 pairs of returns. Each pair is its own run to the equipment pad but for each pair one pipe gets split into two near the pool and two returns are set fairly close to each other. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this - just different from what I was expecting and found it interesting and wondered if this was a normal way to do returns?

 

[jimim]

Hi All - So an update and question on the world's slowest build after signing a contract on 2/22 Some pictures of the dig (4/19), steel (4/24) and gunite (5/12) (from my terrible phone camera!) But the first two pics are of some exposed rebar after gunite. There is about 3 feet exposed just above the sunshelf across two sections with the foot or so in between the two sections I am sure only barely covered with gunite. So a fairly long stretch to sort out. Please can someone weigh in on the right way for this to be corrected so I can understand and follow up on it with the PB? Interestingly, in the two weeks between gunite and when I am pointing this out to them, nobody from the PB noticed this :-(

Also, another question on something you can see in the last picture. My contract said 6 returns. I assumed they would be six separate returns sort of evenly or strategically spaced around the pool. Instead they are plumbed as 3 pairs of returns. Each pair is its own run to the equipment pad but for each pair one pipe gets split into two near the pool and two returns are set fairly close to each other. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this - just different from what I was expecting and found it interesting and wondered if this was a normal way to do returns?

pretty cool build! awesome plan.

i can help with the returns. some companies plumb them together and others do not. the one company i was dealing with grouped them. up to 3. i had them quote me each separate and would have to pay more.

the company i ended up using does all dedicated everything. each return has it's own valve to control flow. it was all included in the price. he said he would rather do it that way cause of service issues down the road and it would be easier to trace the issue.

jim

 

[kimkats]

Rebar-"invite" the PB to the house and ask how and when will they be taking care of that. It needs to be covered in gunite so the rust does not bleed through to the plaster.

-returns-can you share a picture of your plan and use paint or such to show where all of the returns are? Two sharing a valve can be okay. We really need to work on the placement.

Kim