New Member, working on New Pool

[Jops]

Hi Pool People,
Love the website. I recently bought a foreclosed house in Ramona, 1/2 hour NE of San Diego. It is a lot hotter here than in San Diego and we need a pool as my family that loves the water. A big selling feature was that the house had a partially completed pool. At the time we figured it was pretty close to being completed and wouldn't cost much to finish off. Well, we were wrong, the quotes we got puts it out about $20,000 to $30,000. I am pretty handy and can do most plumbing and tile work, but I am still amazed at the cost of materials. We right now are shopping around for an inexpensive coping and tile. We of course want something nice but we want to stay within our limited budget. We'll looked at flagstone and the safety bullnose brick. My question to you if you were in my shoes, what materials and equipment would you be looking at (which would you avoid) and what other advice could you give someone who is starting out on his first 'Do it yourself' pool. I know from your website I want to add a suction line for a bottom pool cleaner and that I want to make sure I have the right expansion joints behind the coping. Attached are some photos of the pool.

40x20, 9 ft deep
120 liner ft around pool and 36 liner around spa.

Coping -- Still shopping around, probably go with 3 tons Quartz flagstone 2-3" and I will do the work
Tile -- undecided, I will do the tile
Plaster -- $6000 to $7000, subcontract out
Equipment -- no clue where to begin, been watching Craigslist for deals. Thinking of going sand filter and SWG. Need a pump for the spa as well.

Thanks in advance,
Jops

 

[Shane1]

Pics are not showing up for me.

 

[duraleigh]

Me, either.

 

[Bart]

No pics here either.

I'm no expert but while researching pool and options I think I remember reading that salt water (from the SWG) and flagstone don't mix well. You have to treat (as in seal) the flagstone every year to prevent the salt water from eroding it. At least that's what I think I remember. Do some research on that.

I tried to eliminate anything that would be a high maintenance item.

 

[zea3]

Hi Pool People,
Love the website. I recently bought a foreclosed house in Ramona, 1/2 hour NE of San Diego. It is a lot hotter here than in San Diego and we need a pool as my family that loves the water. A big selling feature was that the house had a partially completed pool. At the time we figured it was pretty close to being completed and wouldn't cost much to finish off. Well, we were wrong, the quotes we got puts it out about $20,000 to $30,000. I am pretty handy and can do most plumbing and tile work, but I am still amazed at the cost of materials. We right now are shopping around for an inexpensive coping and tile. We of course want something nice but we want to stay within our limited budget. We'll looked at flagstone and the safety bullnose brick. My question to you if you were in my shoes, what materials and equipment would you be looking at (which would you avoid) and what other advice could you give someone who is starting out on his first 'Do it yourself' pool. I know from your website I want to add a suction line for a bottom pool cleaner and that I want to make sure I have the right expansion joints behind the coping. Attached are some photos of the pool.

40x20, 9 ft deep
120 liner ft around pool and 36 liner around spa.

Coping -- Still shopping around, probably go with 3 tons Quartz flagstone 2-3" and I will do the work
Tile -- undecided, I will do the tile
Plaster -- $6000 to $7000, subcontract out
Equipment -- no clue where to begin, been watching Craigslist for deals. Thinking of going sand filter and SWG. Need a pump for the spa as well.

photo 1
photo 2
photo 3
photo 4
photo 5
photo 6
photo 7
photo 8



Thanks in advance,
Jops

Hi, welcome to TFP! I can't fix the links in your original post, but if you want you can click quote and cut and paste these links into your message. Good luck with your pool build!

 

[Jops]

Hey zea3 thanks for fixing my the picture links. As for the SWG, that is a good point, I was told that the Quartz shouldn't have a problem but I could be wrong. I know the sandstone base flagstone does erode. I would hate to have salt stained rock any how.

 

[Heckpools]

pics arent fixed jops. i think you need to copy them and repost the links. welcome to tfp

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Try photobucket.com instead - it's prob cuz it's facebook.

 

[jasonlmarsh]

You have to be logged into your facebook account to see the pics. It looks like it's going to be a nice pool!

 

[Isaac-1]

I just wanted to note that I have been able to find some significant discounts on pool equipment on ebay in the off season/winter time. I changed out my old sand filter for a Hayward EC-75 and 1.5 HP super pump combo with base bought in January a couple of years ago (similar pricing from multiple sellers) for about half what the same combo was going for when I checked best price I could find on ebay for the same thing a month or two ago.

Ike

 

[kellyj]

No pics here either.

I'm no expert but while researching pool and options I think I remember reading that salt water (from the SWG) and flagstone don't mix well. You have to treat (as in seal) the flagstone every year to prevent the salt water from eroding it. At least that's what I think I remember. Do some research on that.

I tried to eliminate anything that would be a high maintenance item.

I find it easy to copy pics to my desktop, then upload through TFP website. Otherwise I'm just too lazy to log into facebook to see your pics!!

As far as cheap stuff, I think you need to decide on a brand and I think Hayward gives the most bang for your buck and then try to stay with the same manufacturer - at least that is what several PB's told me.

I think flagstone is a great look for coping and decking, but the more natural the rock, the more susceptible to salt it is going to be (especially limestone). I have a friend with a SWG and flagstone that seals his rock twice yearly and still has some degredation after 3 yrs of saltwater - flagstone does chip some so I don't know how much is natural chipping and how much is due to salt, nor do I have any idea about the level of salt in his water. In my case, we are having lots of natural rock and I didn't want to mess with constant sealing or degradation so I've opted to just do chlorine. I'm going to add a small chlorine tank (15 gal) and a pump so that I can have at least some automation, the tank is about $100 and the pump is about $270.

Just my $.02, but I don't even have water in my pool yet so I don't really know if my plans will work out...