New Build Urban Arkansas Pool

[iain42]

They just layed out the form for our pool. Super excited. Maybe we will have a hole next week.

I had to remove a large stand of bamboo which was challenging and sad because it looked great and was 50ft tall enclosing and circling the yard. Yes I dug out the root system with a tractor. Now I've ripped out 8 years of landscaping so we can do a pool properly. That hurt lol. After the pool is complete we are rebuilding all the fences and relandscaping. Landscpaing will be tree form Youpon Holly's around the perimeter and I have a large stash of elephant ears and four varieties of banana trees to go around the pool for a tropical feel. If all goes well we will also have a tiki bar on the back right.

 

[sktn77a]

I had to remove a large stand of bamboo which was challenging and sad because it looked great and was 50ft tall enclosing and circling the yard. Yes I dug out the root system with a tractor.

Bamboo? I hope you poured a heck of a lot of agent orange to really kill that stuff......... like cockroaches, bamboo will survive pretty much anything!

 

[Texas Splash]

Congrats on the new project!

 

[bmoreswim]

That sounds great! I've never had hollies. Is there any concern with Youpon Holly's regarding the berries falling onto the deck and staining? Or do the birds eat them all first? Or will they not overhang the deck? They sound like a very nice variety though.

Useless but interesting information:

Latin name: Ilex vomitoria

The leaves and twigs contain caffeine, and American Indians used them to prepare a tea, which they drank in large quantities ceremonially and then vomited back up, lending the plant its species name, vomitoria. The vomiting was self-induced or because of other ingredients added; it doesnt actually cause vomiting.

 

[iain42]

Bamboo? I hope you poured a heck of a lot of agent orange to really kill that stuff......... like cockroaches, bamboo will survive pretty much anything!

Not if you dig up the root system. Which is now likely in the city dump growing like mad lol. Bamboo shooting season is coming up.

 

[iain42]

That sounds great! I've never had hollies. Is there any concern with Youpon Holly's regarding the berries falling onto the deck and staining? Or do the birds eat them all first? Or will they not overhang the deck? They sound like a very nice variety though.

Useless but interesting information:

Latin name: Ilex vomitoria

The leaves and twigs contain caffeine, and American Indians used them to prepare a tea, which they drank in large quantities ceremonially and then vomited back up, lending the plant its species name, vomitoria. The vomiting was self-induced or because of other ingredients added; it doesnt actually cause vomiting.

That is crazy I'll try not to make tea!!! The hollies are evergreen and will provide a screen along the perimeter of the yard. They will grow up to 15-20ft high. If berries drop no worries. In front of the hollies will be a mix of tropical like plants including podacarpus, elephant ears, banana trees, palm trees. This should screen part of the pool.


Here is a pic after I cleared our the tallest bamboo poles. I hope I saved enough for tiki bar.

 

[kimkats]

Big step forward! Glad you had access to a tractor to get those roots out. Doing it by hand NOPE! LOL

Do you have a list of your equipment? Share it here so we can look it over and tweak it if needed.

Kim

 

[iain42]

Big step forward! Glad you had access to a tractor to get those roots out. Doing it by hand NOPE! LOL

Do you have a list of your equipment? Share it here so we can look it over and tweak it if needed.

Kim

Without a tractor you can not remove a bamboo stand .. It was not fun but it is a wonderful screen for a pool. Moral of the story is use metal horse troughs instead of into thre ground loll....

Thank you I will add details as we get them or I need to go through documentation. I know most of the gear is Pentair and we got a good variable speed pump.

 

[iain42]

Don't seem to be able to load an 85k image. Google photos doesn't work via URL either. Weird.

 

[iain42]

OK I think I have the image thing figuted out. Tractor and dump truck showed up today. They got a late start but they did get about 8ft down. They said they will finish hole tomorrow.



Are there tags to change image size in embed tags?

 

[kimkats]

I have NO idea! LOL I just hit the little picture looking thing and upload the pics I want..........sorry. I like the size the above pic came through. It is big enough to see but still fits on my screen.

Let the MUD begin! FUN times starting!

Kim

 

[iain42]

OK they will have the hole completed today. The pool seems much bigger than it looked on the drawing. The guy running the tractor said about 18K gallons.

 

[kimkats]

NO turning back now!!! Your job now is to go out and measure-----add about 8" for the gunite,steel, plaster. Is it big, deep, wide, long, etc enough?

We will dial in your size when you start to balance your water.

Kim

 

[iain42]

NO turning back now!!! Your job now is to go out and measure-----add about 8" for the gunite,steel, plaster. Is it big, deep, wide, long, etc enough?

We will dial in your size when you start to balance your water.

Kim

Yeah they are spot on with measurements. They start rebar next week. They saud there was a lot more clay than expected.

The house dates back to 1890 so they found lost of old glass including a coke bottle from early 1900s and a large bone lol.....

 

[iain42]

The wall to the right will be plastered or stucco to match the pool plaster French grey.

They added the to returns and completed digging the hole this morning.

 

[riley00dog]

Looking good! That bamboo must have been a nightmare to remove. We had a large palm that's roots were horrible to get out. You're a little ahead of us with your dig our started yesterday, but no action today due to rain. Our concrete was booked to be shot next Thursday but is now Friday. Love the shape and size of your pool.

 

[iain42]

Looking good! That bamboo must have been a nightmare to remove. We had a large palm that's roots were horrible to get out. You're a little ahead of us with your dig our started yesterday, but no action today due to rain. Our concrete was booked to be shot next Thursday but is now Friday. Love the shape and size of your pool.

Thanks.. The good new is we will both be chill'n and floating by summer. I personally miss the bamboo because it was a 50ft tall screen around my yard. Too bad it hit the Bamboozilla phase. lol... Landscaping from scratch is going to be fun and replacing all fencing. This is only the beginning :cyclopsani:

I think rebar starts next week. Maybe gunite later in week. I don't expect everything to be done until April.

 

[riley00dog]

Thanks.. The good new is we will both be chill'n and floating by summer.

We're in Australia so should be finished just in time for winter [emoji31] Oh well, it will give me time to get the hang of the chemistry before hoards of children mess it up. I do love the look of bamboo too but I think you did the smart thing taking it out now as removing it after the pool goes in would be a nightmare. We have done a fair bit of our landscaping work prior to the dig. It didn't seem like we had much to do as our pool area will be very small and all paved. We have a huge rock retaining wall surrounding the area and that needed a little work, plus put in a new fence on one boundary side a little planting along it ect. We were initially annoyed that it took almost 2 months to dig from signing contract but we actually wouldn't have been ready any earlier. We too are looking at finishing in April. Will be interesting to see how things are done over there compared to Australia. All the best for next week!

 

[iain42]

We're in Australia so should be finished just in time for winter [emoji31] Oh well, it will give me time to get the hang of the chemistry before hoards of children mess it up. I do love the look of bamboo too but I think you did the smart thing taking it out now as removing it after the pool goes in would be a nightmare. We have done a fair bit of our landscaping work prior to the dig. It didn't seem like we had much to do as our pool area will be very small and all paved. We have a huge rock retaining wall surrounding the area and that needed a little work, plus put in a new fence on one boundary side a little planting along it ect. We were initially annoyed that it took almost 2 months to dig from signing contract but we actually wouldn't have been ready any earlier. We too are looking at finishing in April. Will be interesting to see how things are done over there compared to Australia. All the best for next week!

LOL Sorry I missed that little fact that your on the other side of the planet....
I'll gladly trade countries with you as ours has gone a bit strange at the moment and I love Australia. We signed a contract in October and they started digging end of January. I told them as lond as we swim by summer I don't care when you do your work. Stonework is fun. I am capturing video clips from our ring floodcam and am working on a timelapse video.

 

[iain42]

Rebar started today and he should have rebar finished by end of the day.