Backyard Renovation - The Fun Begins

[duraleigh]

BTW,

I feel your pain. Building my pool, I picked up a cube of concrete blocks with the hoe on my full size backhoe so I could lower them into the pool.

I tried to turn to quickly and rolled the backhoe almost on it's back. Stupid and avoidable on multiple levels on my part.......yours' looks like you couldn't avoid it.

I was unhurt, the backhoe was miraculously unhurt (very soft dirt) but I was too embarrassed to take pictures.

 

[Marcm15]

You are both extremely lucky. I lost one of my best friends to a very similar accident several years ago. He rolled a Case 580 and was trapped under a stream of water. I'm glad you were both OK. Sometimes its the most routine tasks that can become the most dangerous.

 

[beartoothweb]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, and yes, lucky and being watched out for by God, for sure. That fall would have been 5' without the pool, and would have at the very least, hurt like heck.

I spent the weekend that was supposed to be deck building doing metal work and rebuilding the pool. Ran out of warm sunshine yesterday to warm the liner, but when it heats up today, I'll get it restretched and refilled. All in all, not a terrible experience. The worst part of the liner is getting the skimmers and returns back in place.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

That really stinks! amazing pictorial journal though. Hope the rest of the build goes more smoothly

 

[Little Aussie Battler]

Nice re do job and quick too.

Your pool is going to be awesome mate.

 

[Henry Porter]

I'm so impressed by you beartoothweb! Such major backlash that you were through and still so good temepred. Very Impressive! I wish I was more like you mate.
What I can see on that last picture have you done a terrific job renovate that pool frame :-D so I really hope that your build continues more straight forward from now on

 

[beartoothweb]

Thank you Henry, nice of you to say. In any big project, things go wrong...just how you manage to work through that, I guess. The repairs went quite well, and I actually filled in the 2nd skimmer stuff yesterday with patches to eliminate it. I didn't like it that much, and this gave me a chance to rectify that situation. Nothing a little vinyl patch and riveted steel wouldn't take care of. Hopefully, the sun will show its face today, and I can get the water in it!

 

[beartoothweb]

Well...some actual progress getting back to where I started.

I can't believe how much the liner actually shrunk/shrank? Probably a foot all the way around. This meant I had to patch the skimmer and return hole and I'll recut them. Ironically, I ended up with a bunch of little holes, but from a wind storm that came up while I was stretching, not from the accident.

It's 1/4 full now, so by this time tomorrow, we should be swim-ready again. Thanks for the well wishes.

Overall time of repair ~20 hours, $0, not including vinyl repair kit I already had.

 

[Heckpools]

How did you fix the pool walls?????

 

[beartoothweb]

How did you fix the pool walls?????

To put it gently...BFH + Significant Effort.

I've got a little auto body experience, so it actually wasn't that bad. Everything will be under the deck, so I was more concerned with structural integrity than aesthetics in this case. If it had been a true above ground setup, I probably would have cut out the damaged section and put in some new steel, or just ordered a new wall.

It's structurally sound, but a little wrinkled. Considering what it looked like when I started, not to bad though, and with the pool insulation wall (bubble wrap type), you can't even tell from the inside.

This picture shows the wrinkles pretty well.

Another angle - also shows all of the post holes I dug last night...

But...this is what I started with (from previous post), so I'll take it:

 

[beartoothweb]

Wow, didn't realize how long it had been since I updated this. Every free moment has been working on the deck. This deck ended up being HUGE. Not quite finished, but the decking is down. Still need to do the steps on front, and some lattice for trim, plus some inside trim on the pool edge side. Pool slide is permanently mounted though, but needs to be finish plumbed, and, of course, deck stain.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I used these Phantom II fasteners I got from ebay (old style), and they are a nice design, but required that I route a groove in each board of the deck, which, as you can imagine is a big job. That, and the "picture" frame inside and out took a ton of extra time, but it really helped to define the look a little better.

The Framing:

Finished Decking:

Had to drain a bunch of water out to fix a leak in the liner. After I do the interior trim, I'll fill it back up for the winter.

 

[MrsFusion]

looking good!

 

[Rico Laguno]

just out of curiousity, it appears your above ground pool is under ground with the surrounding deck and the hole that you dug to put it in...Was there a reason you chose not to go with an In ground Pool kit for the project?


Btw, things look great

 

[Henry Porter]

That's what a wood deck should look like. That changing colour of the wood planks is awesome.
The only nail in my eye is that little gap between the pool wall and the frame of wood that surrounds it.
I would do something about that now when everything else is so perfect

 

[beartoothweb]

That's what a wood deck should look like. That changing colour of the wood planks is awesome.
The only nail in my eye is that little gap between the pool wall and the frame of wood that surrounds it.
I would do something about that now when everything else is so perfect

What do you suggest? I'm adding a band of trex trim around the inside to cover the PT lumber and give support to that edge/overlap. I saw a similar build that did that on this site. The gap is obviously there to facilitate liner changes (which, coincidently, is happening next Spring).

The distance from the bottom of the deck board to cover the railing completely is 11.25", so I could potentially use a 1x12" painted board there (I can't get trex's 1x12"s here), but I would be concerned with splash. I could also do 2 runs of deck boards (ripped thin) horizontally.

Are you thinking that I would cover all the way down to not have the railing exposed at all? I'm definitely open to that, I want it to look as clean as possible.

 

[beartoothweb]

just out of curiousity, it appears your above ground pool is under ground with the surrounding deck and the hole that you dug to put it in...Was there a reason you chose not to go with an In ground Pool kit for the project?


Btw, things look great

Purely economics. Pool was a craigslist find for $500 vs. the substantially higher cost of an inground kit. With the liner, repair due to the accident, stairs, pool heater and plumbing, I'll be into the whole thing for under $1200 or so. Everything but the liner has been bought used. Obviously, that doesn't include the deck, but you'd have to pour one anyway for an inground setup.

 

[Rico Laguno]

Oh ok got it...

 

[beartoothweb]

Pool Deck is sealed. I ordered some miratech to go around the inside rim, as suggested by a previous poster, this will cover up the bottom rail, and once painted, I think it'll really look nice and finish it off. I've moved on to the main deck (posted below,) so I'll install that once that's a little farther along. I'm racing snow here a bit. The stain (s) are 2 different colors for contrast with the "frame" and the main deck, and no sealers. With our weather, we're looking at annual staining anyway, so I am experimenting a bit with the Olympic stuff from Lowes. Went down and seamed to cover very nicely.

 

[beartoothweb]

The main deck is now underway...the major framing is done, save for the main stairs, etc.

I discovered something on these costco hot tubs that make for easier access. I just turned all of the access side panels upside down so I could frame right up next to it. That way, you pull out, and they'll pop right off. I built the surround in such a way that a few deck screws and 8 lag screws and the whole thing comes apart.

 

[Samantha_in_AL]

Beartoothweb, your pool and decks look amazing! I love the stain colors you chose. Nice job!!!

Please forgive me if I overlooked something, but how do you access your skimmer basket to clean it out, vacuum, etc?
Is there a trap door below the slide?