Small Yard, Big Pool Dreams - New Build - Lakewood, California
- Thread starter hollywoodfrodo
- Start date
OH what is that I see??? A pool!!!! SWEET!
Did they have any fixes/concerns/suggestions to make it a better pool?
It is time for YOUR own set of links!
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels
Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
TFP also has a Pool Math App! Here is the link: Pool Math It is so neat and easy to use!
Make sure to ask any and all questions you might have no matter how small! We have all been where you are at one point.
Also ask your PB what test kit he will be providing so we can fill in any holes.
Kim
Did they have any fixes/concerns/suggestions to make it a better pool?
It is time for YOUR own set of links!
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels
Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
TFP also has a Pool Math App! Here is the link: Pool Math It is so neat and easy to use!
Make sure to ask any and all questions you might have no matter how small! We have all been where you are at one point.
Also ask your PB what test kit he will be providing so we can fill in any holes.
Kim
- Oct 18, 2009
- 3,637
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Did they have any fixes/concerns/suggestions to make it a better pool? It is time for YOUR own set of links! Kim
Thanks for my own set of links! I'll be sure to print all that. I do have the math pool app already on my phone. The only thing that really got talked about on shotcrete day was the "weeping wall" feature - since that's a custom thing and not something they do all the time, we were discussing the best way to make it work as desired. Everything else seemed good to go.
Per recommendations here, we got drinks and sandwiches for the crew - they all appreciated it. Apparently not something they are used to so they were pretty happy to have them.
The whole process only took them about 5 hours.
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So Jealous that is going to be a great SPOOL aka social pool
SPOOL - I love it! That's exactly what this going to be!
Also ask your PB what test kit he will be providing so we can fill in any holes.
Kim
I have his kit - well it's in the box with the other pool supplies they give you, but I already ordered and received the TFT100 Test Kit along with the added Salt Water Test kit. So I'm good to go either way.
One thing I'm debating is whether I immediately step in and say "I'm doing my pool the TFP way." Or do I let the PB teach me his way initially (they come once a week for the first 30 days) and then afterwards migrate over to the TFP way. The PB is guaranteeing his work so part of me thinks it'd be better to just start his way...
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,925
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
The warranty is the rub. You have to protect that. But there is no way you can properly take care of a mature pool once a week. That's completely inadequate for a new pool with brand new curing plaster.
I would work with Kim to develop a solid plan, based on TFP and NPT, and present that to the PB and "negotiate" doing it all yourself, with his blessing, and with the warranty unaffected. If he balks, you can show him the plan (which is basically just maintaining industry-standard chemical levels, but daily instead of weekly, have it written out for him), so he should be OK with that. He can still send his guy once a week to verify that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, it that makes him feel better.
But that first week or two is hyper-critical to the appearance and longevity of your finish: brushing multiple times a day, testing every day, dosing several chemicals throughout the first week, and others virtually every day.
No, I don't think they're expecting to take care of it for once a week - rather, they teach us how to take care of it, then they come out once a week to make sure WE are taking care of it properly (on a daily basis) and make sure we are doing it correctly so that at the end of the month once we're on our own we have it down...
Frodo, some do think that THEM taking care of it once a week. Some will do as you say. It is best you find out for sure. I have a set of links I just made up to help with new plaster start up:
How to set up to have the best plaster job:A Plastering 'Watch List' | Professional Watershaping | Watershapes
Brief snap shots of different start ups: Pool School - Start-up New Plaster
Full run down on the best BUT hardest start up: A Bicarb Start-up guide for TFP members
Next best start up BUT it leaves out to NOT put water in the pool right away. Wait at least 6 hours after plaster is put in before putting water in! The back of the card is what you want: Start-up Cards - National Plasterers Council
Look over all of this info. and share it with your pool builder AND show him your test kit. We have had some members that were able to show they are willing and able to take care of their own pool. The PB allowed them to do so. MUCH better than their weekly way-come out and put so much stuff in in hopes it will last a week
Kim
How to set up to have the best plaster job:A Plastering 'Watch List' | Professional Watershaping | Watershapes
Brief snap shots of different start ups: Pool School - Start-up New Plaster
Full run down on the best BUT hardest start up: A Bicarb Start-up guide for TFP members
Next best start up BUT it leaves out to NOT put water in the pool right away. Wait at least 6 hours after plaster is put in before putting water in! The back of the card is what you want: Start-up Cards - National Plasterers Council
Look over all of this info. and share it with your pool builder AND show him your test kit. We have had some members that were able to show they are willing and able to take care of their own pool. The PB allowed them to do so. MUCH better than their weekly way-come out and put so much stuff in in hopes it will last a week
Kim
Thanks, Kim! Dang, so much information - it's so good, but so overwhelming, not only doing my job but trying to make sure my PB and contractors are doing their job too. I keep reminding my spouse I told him I'd be happy floating around in a $500 above ground pool from Walmart. :splash:
I want my pool to be the best it can be, both inside and out, and I want to get the 20+ years out of our plaster finish so I want to make sure everything is done correctly!
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,925
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
OK, so here's why I'm harping on a plan. You don't want to be figuring out what to do on Day One. You should already know what you're going to do before then, and what the PB is going to do. I just posted in a thread where the guy is asking about how long his just-now filled, brand new pool, can go without the pump running, WHICH ISN'T INSTALLED YET!! That pump should have been running the minute the pool was full. See? You'd think a pool builder would be on top of something like that. And that's why I'm encouraging you to develop your plan, know who's doing what-when, and well ahead of time. So something like, oh, NO PUMP, can be avoided...
Sorry I've been absent for a while... Partially due to lack of anything happening and partially due to us being crazy busy and having some issues with the contractors.
Our PB Sales/Design guy has been telling us from the beginning that for a few non-directly-pool-related things we wanted done, rather than do them through the PB which would cost more, he would have us talk directly to his landscape/all-around guy and go through him directly. We kept asking about this as each step was done and he said he'd have him call us. The key here is a lot of the work that we wanted done involved running conduit and of course, that's something you want to do while trenches are still open. Once shotcrete was done, we still hadn't talked to his guy and then we found out he was going to be out of town for a week...which then turned into two weeks.
Long story short, he finally got back into town and met with us last week, but waited until the night before he was supposed to be at our house doing contracted work to give us a quote for the non-contracted work we wanted done - a quote that was way higher than we were expecting. So we called the PB and told them to stop everything, to not send the guy to do the cleanup and backfill because now we needed to figure out how to get this stuff done with someone else.
Ultimately, not only to save money but also because we knew finding someone else, having them come give us an estimate, then scheduling them to do the work would delay things even longer, we decided to do it all ourselves. Well, not all - we focused on the two big things we wanted - run irrigation system to garden area behind weeping wall and install transformer and run conduit/wire for landscape lighting to same area. It was back breaking work and took us a lot longer than it would have professionals who do it all the time, but we took our time, made sure we did it all correctly and to code, and we got it done.
Now we're just waiting for the PB to get things going again. We have truly learned that everything people say about contractors and construction is true! Going forward we are watching everything they do like hawks and also planning to be there in the morning anytime a subcontractor arrives to discuss directly with them what they are doing that day and make sure the instructions they received from the PB are accurate based on what we want and the contract.
So much for smooth sailing with our pool build! Oh well, just the way it goes sometimes. Hopefully, things will be smoother from here on out.
Should have a long overdue time-lapse of the shotcrete process soon...
Our PB Sales/Design guy has been telling us from the beginning that for a few non-directly-pool-related things we wanted done, rather than do them through the PB which would cost more, he would have us talk directly to his landscape/all-around guy and go through him directly. We kept asking about this as each step was done and he said he'd have him call us. The key here is a lot of the work that we wanted done involved running conduit and of course, that's something you want to do while trenches are still open. Once shotcrete was done, we still hadn't talked to his guy and then we found out he was going to be out of town for a week...which then turned into two weeks.
Long story short, he finally got back into town and met with us last week, but waited until the night before he was supposed to be at our house doing contracted work to give us a quote for the non-contracted work we wanted done - a quote that was way higher than we were expecting. So we called the PB and told them to stop everything, to not send the guy to do the cleanup and backfill because now we needed to figure out how to get this stuff done with someone else.
Ultimately, not only to save money but also because we knew finding someone else, having them come give us an estimate, then scheduling them to do the work would delay things even longer, we decided to do it all ourselves. Well, not all - we focused on the two big things we wanted - run irrigation system to garden area behind weeping wall and install transformer and run conduit/wire for landscape lighting to same area. It was back breaking work and took us a lot longer than it would have professionals who do it all the time, but we took our time, made sure we did it all correctly and to code, and we got it done.
Now we're just waiting for the PB to get things going again. We have truly learned that everything people say about contractors and construction is true! Going forward we are watching everything they do like hawks and also planning to be there in the morning anytime a subcontractor arrives to discuss directly with them what they are doing that day and make sure the instructions they received from the PB are accurate based on what we want and the contract.
So much for smooth sailing with our pool build! Oh well, just the way it goes sometimes. Hopefully, things will be smoother from here on out.
Should have a long overdue time-lapse of the shotcrete process soon...
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Sorry you had to deal with this kind of "wool pulling". You can be sure it was planned. Hoping you would go for it as it was so last min. He did NOT count on you having a smart head on your shoulders and willing backs and hands to do the job yourself! Your poor hands and back though
Kim
Kim
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,925
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Awesome!
PS. Don't forget, you owe me the time-lapse tile-selection/layout video!!
PS. Don't forget, you owe me the time-lapse tile-selection/layout video!!
Surprised that the services on the pole allowed you to build so close. Cannot be that close over here. Personally i would have had that stuff moved as if something ever happens in the future its going to be almost impossible for them to dig and work around your pool without damage.
But nice build
But nice build
What kind of suggestions? I don't think so...
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Don't forget, you owe me the time-lapse tile-selection/layout video!!
I have not forgotten! Hopefully, my time-lapse devices cooperate...
Some times they will say "If you do this or that it will work/look better". It comes from their many days of experience doing this kind of thing.
Kim
Kim
Sorry, I haven't posted much. Things are just insanely busy for me right now... Work continues. Since the Masons finally started, they've been working away and getting things done. Deck Drain system is in - Coping is in - Water line tile is in - Weeping Wall Rock Tile is mostly done - They are starting on decking today.
Have been doing time-lapse vids and stuff but haven't had time to process any of them. Will try to at least post some pics soon.
Dirk - you're gonna have to hold the BP responsible for this - no time lapse of us laying out the tiles! Our project manager failed to inform us last Friday that the masons would be at our house working on Saturday!!! (No work had ever been done on Saturday before.) So the tiles were delivered Friday and we thought we were gonna have a relaxing Saturday evening project laying them out. Then at 8am on Saturday - we were thankfully awake but not really up - the doorbell rang. SURPRISE - we're here to do the water line tiles. So I did not have my usual time-lapse cameras charged or anything and we had to jump out of bed get dressed and run out and start laying out tiles.
Anyway, will try to share some pics soon and more Time Lapse vids in the near future.
Have been doing time-lapse vids and stuff but haven't had time to process any of them. Will try to at least post some pics soon.
Dirk - you're gonna have to hold the BP responsible for this - no time lapse of us laying out the tiles! Our project manager failed to inform us last Friday that the masons would be at our house working on Saturday!!! (No work had ever been done on Saturday before.) So the tiles were delivered Friday and we thought we were gonna have a relaxing Saturday evening project laying them out. Then at 8am on Saturday - we were thankfully awake but not really up - the doorbell rang. SURPRISE - we're here to do the water line tiles. So I did not have my usual time-lapse cameras charged or anything and we had to jump out of bed get dressed and run out and start laying out tiles.
Anyway, will try to share some pics soon and more Time Lapse vids in the near future.