landscaping after my conversion

[pepsiholic]

OK, so I finished my conversion about 3 weeks ago and am totally thrilled with the results.

Soo, after the conversion, I decided it was time to backfill and landscape a little. We ran permanant electricity to GFI boxes we installed to the deck. Now my daughter and her friends can have their lights and music and whatever else they plug in out there...lol

I had about a 2 and a half foot deep space to backfill towards the back of the pool. I laid some drain pipe first. Then my husband decided he wanted to replace our front walk (it was old and cracking up everywhere) So we broke the side walk into little pieces and backfilled around the pool with that. I bought the landscaping brick and went around the perimeter of the pool and then filled in with 2 truckloads of mulch. I NEVER want to see or lift another rock in my life...lol

I added solar lights around the pool and in my little plant bed and on the top post where the gate is going to go. I still need to do plants around the pool, but I think I'm just going to do them in pots.

It's not big and fancy, but it's my own little piece of paradise in my backyard :-D . And since my conversion, I thoroughly enjoy using it. We've only had the pool 2 years, but the first year all the money was spent on trying to keep it clear with baquacil. Now that I've went the bleach method, I had the extra money to fancy it up a little.

I've posted a few pics of my progress and hope you enjoy them as much as I do :-D

 

[Pisces]

That's a really nice 'little piece of paradise', Pepsiholic! You guys did a great job around the pool! And the surrounding scenery...so heaven! I miss the countryside. Enjoy that view and your newly sparkly (and much easier and cheaper to maintain) pool! I'm like you...after we landscaped ourselves...I never want to dig another hole..(but probably will) . Just letting the memory fade a little. :lol: It IS a satisfying feeling to get the landscaping done and the pool looking so good.

 

[dattia]

That looks just beautiful... now time to sit back and enjoy all your effort!

 

[dlduvall]

very nice! I like the way you used the retainer wall blocks as edgers. Lots of hard work, I'm sure, but worth it!

 

[MikeInTN]

Very nice! Always does a soul good to send the end result of a bunch of hard work.

Question - Your codes folks didn't jump up and down about no handrail on the steps, and no self-closing, locking gate?

 

[pepsiholic]

Well, thats on our to do list. But I live outside the city limits and we don't have to get permits or have certain things inspected, so thats a plus.

We had someone build us a gate, but they didn't know what they were doing, so it was all lopsided..lol..we took it down and are going to build us a new one.

Thanks everyone, yes it was hard work and it's nothing fancy, but it's something I know I did and that's what matters :-D

 

[momof3]

I really like the way you did this... I didnt think you could put mulch in to back fill... Can we really do this??? I am just putting in my AB pool and I have about 2.5 "ditch" around half of where my pool will be.. If I can just put mulch in there I will be sooooo happy...

 

[pepsiholic]

I have a drain pipe with about 2 ft. of broken up slate and concrete from an old sidewalk we are replacing underneath the mulch. My pool walls are steel with a vinyl coating, I did some research and couldn't find anything saying that mulch would be bad as long as there was proper drainage underneath of it. I really wanted pebble or pea gravel, but it was an expense I didn't want to deal with right now.

 

[momof3]

They delivered my pool yesterday (still in boxes) and I asked the guy if we could do it this way... He recommended crushed lime stone and a drainage pipe then the last 2 inches or so I can add mulch... I am sooo happy I don't have to leave a huge gape between the ground any my pool.. I was really concerned about little kids falling in there and never being seen again lol...