New Build KY

[Thasista]

Hi folks! I've made my list of desires by spending several hours perusing this forum. Thank you all for the info that you post. I've said in other posts this will be my third pool project with my PB and we have a great working relationship. To the horror of many on here I'd do the deal on a handshake with him as over the years he has been more than fair.

First a bit about me/us. I live on a farm about 200 acres, mostly wooded. I have a house and my daughter and her family have a house right next to each other. She has 4 children ages 18 mo x 2, 3, and 6. My son in law has one age 12. She wants two more kids. Yay me since she is my only child.. Just an aside those grandkids are why she was allowed to live through her teenage years! I chose to put a pool in here as bribery. "Go ahead and have a couple of more kids and I'll build a pool", I say. She says "awesome its a deal!" Win Win as they say.

OK for the pool: 18x38 IG vinyl liner, hayward VS pump, filter, SWG is aquaplus with the aquapod 2.0 (thanks to folks here), automatic pool cover (keep ducks off pool and grandkids safe) diving board and slide for now. With depths of 3 ft to 7 ft 8 in (water level) I can now estimate the pool volume around 26K . The shallow end will be 14 feet long with vinyl wrapped steps all the way across. I'm also going to add appropriate wiring to add heat pump if we want later. Pool deck will be brushed concrete. Shallow end and most of the far side (as seen from the houses) will have 12 feet and the close side and deep end will have 6 feet. I will be putting in a side walk with steps to the pool deck that will begin in between our houses. Son in law will build a picket fence as well. I'll have landscaping just inside the fence but haven't gotten that far in my head.

PB came out today to draw out pool on its spot after my son in law has taken down about 30 trees. He's got a few more to remove. We heat mainly with firewood so this will be used. When I initially called my PB, I told him I wanted a pool ready to use next season but anytime he was ready was fine. He penciled me in for September this year. Today he said his next job isn't ready for him and if I was ready he would be here in 10 days barring any delays from his current job. Alrighty then! In addition, I had told him I wanted a Dolphin M500 and asked if I could get it before July 31 to take advantage of the rebate so of course he brought it out today!

We are not looking for a pool like some of the crazy amazing things I have seen on here. We just need something functional and attractive.

Picture 1 is taken near the shallow end looking across where the pool will be. Two cedars and dogwood in foreground will be cut down. The double tree straight ahead is also coming down.



Picture 2 I have moved opposite where picture 1 was taken. You can see all the stumps. PB will remove any that need to be removed otherwise they will be covered with dirt after Son in law cuts them down a bit more. The double tree in the middle is coming down.


Picture 3 is moving clockwise from picture one to the deep end looking towards shallow end. My poor plum tree is right there.


I don't have any elaborate drawings. My drawing is spray paint and stakes.

Thanks for coming along! Feel free to comment in case I have missed anything or if you are just curious.

 

[Texas Splash]

Congrats on the new pool adventure! Exciting times ahead.

 

[Thasista]

Well kudos to whoever found the inexpensive speed stir! Back when I was using this kit for my previous pool well let’s just say I always wondered if I had swirled enough! Talk about a time saver.

I just tested my tap water

FC 1
CC 0.5
TC 1.5
pH 7.8 (uncalibrated) meter
pH >8.2 drop test
TA 130
CH 209 ppm
BR 2 ppm
CYA 0


Soooo much faster with speed stir!!

Do I need a borate test? If so which?

 

[Texas Splash]

Those look like fairly standard local water test results. No need to be concerned with borates at this time. Once you get the pool filled and allow the water to mix for an hour or two, you can pull a pool sample and begin adjusting the chemicals from there. I also love my speedstir.

 

[bmoreswim]

Looks like a great project. 7' 8" would be the shallowest diving board pool I've heard of. 8' is almost always the minimum. Ours is 8' 6" and I would prefer 9'. The reason being that the slope is the part mostly likely to be contacted. And the shallower the pool is, the higher up the slope will be too. May not be an option to go deeper, but it's good sleep insurance.

 

[Thasista]

I thought my last pool was 9’ but my PB tells me it was the same as this. He’s coming by tomorrow so I will double check. Thanks for the input!

 

[Thasista]

PB came out today and dropped off equipment. Digging starts Tuesday. He brought my pump, Aqua plus and Aqua pod. He also gave me the following pages. He said there has recently been several people asking for warranty replacements on their liners and automatic covers. They give you no room for any fluctuations in FC and insist on a lower CYA. I did a search on here of wrinkling in vinyl liners but there’s really not much.

 

[JMadden]

Watching this thread as well, I just chose to go with an SWG after reading and seeing the advice of many of the Gurus here. Good luck on your build. !

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I have a fiberglass pool with a SWG and an automatic cover. Seven years on now and nothing has been noted of any degrading to the cover or mechanism, and my SWG has never needed cleaning or service.

I truly would never have a pool without both of those items. We can take long vacations and not have any worries about the pool as we just shut it up and let the SWG and pump run on minuscule settings.

Low pH is far more damaging to vinyl liners than anything else I've ever heard.

Looking forward to following this thread

Maddie

 

[Thasista]

I went to Rural King for start up chemicals

I bought
12 gal 10% chlorine $27
1 gal 31.45% Muriatic acid $2.99
24 pounds Borax $24
8 pounds CYA granules $26

I’m guessing I paid too much for borax and cya but it was one stop so I’m happy.

For the experts. Do I have enough on hand for a month for start up and did I forget anything? I printed the pool chemicals article of pool school and went with that. I have tons of 12 lb packages of baking soda already on hand.

 

[Thasista]

I have a fiberglass pool with a SWG and an automatic cover. Seven years on now and nothing has been noted of any degrading to the cover or mechanism, and my SWG has never needed cleaning or service.

I truly would never have a pool without both of those items. We can take long vacations and not have any worries about the pool as we just shut it up and let the SWG and pump run on minuscule settings.

Low pH is far more damaging to vinyl liners than anything else I've ever heard.

Looking forward to following this thread [emoji4]

Maddie

I know it’s purely “cover your behind” speak. I’ve never had an automatic cover. We are taking a short 4 day trip at the end of August. Will it be ok to leave cover on and not open for that long. I’ll figure my swg setting by then I hope.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I know it’s purely “cover your behind” speak. I’ve never had an automatic cover. We are taking a short 4 day trip at the end of August. Will it be ok to leave cover on and not open for that long. I’ll figure my swg setting by then I hope.

Normally we open the cover every few days if its closed to allow the sun to burn off any CC's or gasses that have built up. Its good for the pool to let it breath a bit, so to speak.

I've gone away for up to 17 days and left the pool covered and the pump running normally. The pool is always spotless and clear when we return. So 4 days will be nothing !

Maddie

- - - Updated - - -

I went to Rural King for start up chemicals

I bought
12 gal 10% chlorine $27
1 gal 31.45% Muriatic acid $2.99
24 pounds Borax $24
8 pounds CYA granules $26

I’m guessing I paid too much for borax and cya but it was one stop so I’m happy.

For the experts. Do I have enough on hand for a month for start up and did I forget anything? I printed the pool chemicals article of pool school and went with that. I have tons of 12 lb packages of baking soda already on hand.

You may not even need the Borax. You'll use the liquid chlorine at first to get your FC up to where you need it before the SWG takes over.

Have you purchased the salt yet or is the PB providing that? Do NOT have the SWG turned on while the salt is being added or for the next 24 hours. Let all the salt dissolve and mix for the day until the next day so you don't have a big salt blast of water go thru the device. That's a sure fire way to screw up a SWG.

Maddie

 

[Thasista]

Excellent! Thanks Yippee Skippy! Yes PB supplies salt.

Ok. Here is the before and after tree massacre/pool site as viewed from my front porch. PB called again and said they will be here Monday to dig.

Before:

And after:

I’m loving all the firewood. I run my house pretty hot in the winter. Son in law says that stack will last me a week. [emoji849]

 

[Thasista]

Question. Where do you all prefer to put your auto cover keypad? Near equipment pad since I will pass by it to get to pool or near gate to enter pool?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

It has to be in view of the pool itself for safety reasons- you wouldn't accidentally close it while someone was still in the pool.

Mine is on my deck near the back door, overlooking the pool below. Of course if it has the cover pump on it I still have to go down there to remove that before opening, but we don't always have the pump on, thankfully.

I like to open the pool just to see it rather than the cover, and it lets the pool "breath" which is important.

Maddie

 

[kimkats]

OH this is going to be a neat one to watch! Maddie is doing a great job guiding you!!

Kim

 

[bmoreswim]

Ours is by the equipment which is off one corner of the pool inside the fencing.

 

[Thasista]

Thanks. The electrician came by yesterday to go over my plans and I think it will be best there!


And PB called. They will be digging tomorrow. Excellent!

 

[kimkats]

How exciting!!!!

Kim

 

[Thasista]

And so it begins !

View from my daughters porch

View from my porch

Look at that smile!

End of day 1

Progress!