New contract / New build - SE Pennsylvania, Gunite free form pool and spa

[Gorilla83]

What a mess but it is coming along nice! Those steps look so pretty!!!!

Kim

Thanks Kim! We are happy with the hardscaping work so far.

We are delayed a few days (hopefully only that much) waiting on scheduling of a township inspection prior to decking install. It's very unfortunate that once again this could have been avoided if the PB had scheduled this in the past 6+ weeks after the shell was poured and not last week. They are already well aware of my frustration and are working it now so just have to wait and see.

In other news, our boulders were delivered yesterday (Sunday) morning - we certainly received some odd driveby looks from our neighbors, LOL. Since it was so muddy in the back yard (yes, more rain) they had to leave in the front for now. Some fun pics:

 

[kimkats]

CURLS!!! Look at those CURLS!!! Oh wait you were talking about the rocks LOL sorry but she is SO cute! That is a mighty fine looking fella as well!!

How did they pick up the rocks? How will they move them to the back and place them? I so want many pics of that!

Kim

 

[Gorilla83]

CURLS!!! Look at those CURLS!!! Oh wait you were talking about the rocks LOL sorry but she is SO cute! That is a mighty fine looking fella as well!!

How did they pick up the rocks? How will they move them to the back and place them? I so want many pics of that!

Kim

Haha, everyone loves Jaclyn's curls. She gets them from her mommy.

The rocks were dumped on the lawn at about 8AM Sunday morning making a bit of noise, LOL. I'm told they will be moving them 1 by 1 with some heavy equipment, probably next week if I had to guess?

See if you can view this link to my onedrive video which shows the "delivery': Microsoft OneDrive - Access files anywhere. Create docs with free Office Online.

 

[jimim]

I would not have thought that would have been a dump and run. Lol. What if they cracked in half from hitting each other. I figured that was a job for a excavator and sling. I could totally be wrong. I remember when I was thinking about huge stone for behind my pool. When I went to the quarry they were taken from the very large ones were actually on these crazy large pallets. 1 per pallet.

Thst was pretty nuts seeing them roll off. If u did thst in my yard with all he rain we have been getting they wouldn’t have went straight down to China. Lol

 

[kimkats]

The video worked and was great! So did you get to pick out the rocks? I want this one, that one, oh look at that one over there kind of thing.

LOL Jim that is very true with all of your rain!

Kim

 

[Gorilla83]

I would not have thought that would have been a dump and run. Lol. What if they cracked in half from hitting each other. I figured that was a job for a excavator and sling. I could totally be wrong. I remember when I was thinking about huge stone for behind my pool. When I went to the quarry they were taken from the very large ones were actually on these crazy large pallets. 1 per pallet.

Thst was pretty nuts seeing them roll off. If u did thst in my yard with all he rain we have been getting they wouldn’t have went straight down to China. Lol

Nice talking to you last night, Jim! It will be interesting to see how they are able to move all of these beasts around the yard.

The video worked and was great! So did you get to pick out the rocks? I want this one, that one, oh look at that one over there kind of thing.

LOL Jim that is very true with all of your rain!
Kim

Didn't get a chance to pick out the rocks although we'll be there for the initial placement so we can tweak the layout.

 

[Gorilla83]

After a week hiatus from waiting on an interim survey and township inspection, the hardscaping crew got back to work on Monday. Paver decking and footings for the pavillion are coming along very nicely! Hope to see this wrap up in the next couple of days and then waiting on the waterfall crew to start, that's going to be my favorite part.

 

[kimkats]

Loving the color and REALLY loving the lay out! So classic looking!

Oh yeah on the waterfall work! I hope you can time lapse it for us!

Kim

 

[riley00dog]

It’s coming together nicely! I love the paving.

 

[Rich D]

Looks great.. Are they putting the waterfall on top of the coping? I think you can get a better look if you remove the coping in the waterfall area and replace with rocks.

 

[Rich D]

Now would be the time to consider how the waterfall will affect the type of pool cover you will use. These features can be difficult to work around. With some forethought you might make things a bit easier.

 

[Gorilla83]

Loving the color and REALLY loving the lay out! So classic looking!

Oh yeah on the waterfall work! I hope you can time lapse it for us!

Kim

Thanks Kim! I'm hoping they can pour the footings for the WF soon so we can get rolling. Not sure how long they will have to "cure" before they start placing the boulders though.

It’s coming together nicely! I love the paving.

Thanks! We are very happy with their work so far. Did did decide to make one adjustment - originally the border/edge of the pavers is the same grey but decided to a do a contrasting charcoal color. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Looks great.. Are they putting the waterfall on top of the coping? I think you can get a better look if you remove the coping in the waterfall area and replace with rocks.

Now would be the time to consider how the waterfall will affect the type of pool cover you will use. These features can be difficult to work around. With some forethought you might make things a bit easier.

I believe they said they typically have the WF hang over the coping but not sit on top of it. Any tips on how to set it up to make the cover/maintenance easier? I assumed they'd do a cable type setup for the cover in the area around the boulders.

 

[jimim]

Looks awesome! Coming together!

 

[BlueKoolAide]

Nice pavers. Are they EP Henry Village Square by chance?

 

[Gorilla83]

Looks awesome! Coming together!

Thanks! I'm assuming we still have a few weeks (2-4??) of work left with the Waterfall, final grade, river rock and plantings, and fencing before we lock it down for the winter. Really can't believe this will turn out to be a 9+ month project, ugh.

Nice pavers. Are they EP Henry Village Square by chance?

They are actually newline "terrace stone" pavers in granite color. The border edging (not shown in pictures yet though) is a EP Henry product in charcoal color.

 

[kristmas]

Our waterfall guy put the anchors/pins (not sure what to call them) directly into the mortar on the waterfall and jump rocks when he installed it. I would imagine your guy could/would do something similar.


Everything is looking so nice...you are going to have a real oasis next summer!

 

[Rich D]

I believe they said they typically have the WF hang over the coping but not sit on top of it.

It would all depend on how they accomplish that. I have seen some waterfalls that just look like some one put rocks on your pool deck. Replacing the coping with rocks makes it look more like you built your pool around a beautiful waterfall instead. I went to a bit of a extreme too accomplish this by setting my Boulders on a shelf that is submerged in 6" of water. I still need to grout things in but here is a pic.

Any tips on how to set it up to make the cover/maintenance easier? I assumed they'd do a cable type setup for the cover in the area around the boulders.

As Kristmas noted pins or cables set at the time of the build to accommodate the cover you will be using would be best. If you are going with a safety cover then It might be worth having the cover company talk directly to the mason. You pay dearly for those covers so you should do some home work to get the best job. I was told they just drill and set some anchors in your Boulders where they need to. That sounded like a terrible approach. Anchors work by expanding to lock them in. This could easily cause a crack in your rock.

 

[Rich D]

Don't forget to think about lighting...

 

[Gorilla83]

Our waterfall guy put the anchors/pins (not sure what to call them) directly into the mortar on the waterfall and jump rocks when he installed it. I would imagine your guy could/would do something similar.

Everything is looking so nice...you are going to have a real oasis next summer!

I will mention to them about the cover - thanks! Can't wait to see this come together (mostly) in the next few weeks....going to be a tough wait until the spring for plaster though!

It would all depend on how they accomplish that. I have seen some waterfalls that just look like some one put rocks on your pool deck. Replacing the coping with rocks makes it look more like you built your pool around a beautiful waterfall instead. I went to a bit of a extreme too accomplish this by setting my Boulders on a shelf that is submerged in 6" of water. I still need to grout things in but here is a pic.

As Kristmas noted pins or cables set at the time of the build to accommodate the cover you will be using would be best. If you are going with a safety cover then It might be worth having the cover company talk directly to the mason. You pay dearly for those covers so you should do some home work to get the best job. I was told they just drill and set some anchors in your Boulders where they need to. That sounded like a terrible approach. Anchors work by expanding to lock them in. This could easily cause a crack in your rock.

The company that is doing our waterfall has done some really awesome work in our area and they have done hundreds of these so I'd imagine it should come out looking pretty awesome. Also when they start each phase it's nice they confirm with me the placement and look/feel of things as they did with the pavers and will do the same for the WF. Good tips with the anchors as well - I will mention that to them!

Don't forget to think about lighting...

Yes! I'm having them leave me conduit and wire in addition to space for plantings within the WF. They are actually working on the retaining wall and path lighting today and will cap off the wiring right next to the WF conduit.

Decking is about 95% wrapped up as of yesterday, doing the final touches and cleanup today. Here's a preview of what's been done - I will take some drone shots tomorrow. VERY glad we did the last minute change to the contrasting border edge in charcoal.

 

[kimkats]

That darker outline DOES look wonderful! It really finishes it all off! Nice change/add!

Kim