New DIY build in Oklahoma

[kponytail]

New guy here and love the forum. We decided we wanted a pool and since have been reading every thread on this forum I can. I tried to get 3 different PB out to give me a quote and none showed. So I decided to build it myself, with my 12 year old boy as a father son project.

IT BEGINS
5-18-12 I rent the excavator for the weekend but do to rental screw up I don’t get it till 8pm to dark to dig. Me and the boy get up at 6:30 am and set the laser up and start digging. The boys doing a great job shooting grade and I am digging along. We dig till around 5 and were exhausted. About that time a storm moves in and the pictures tell the rest of the story. So I guess all we can do is let it dry up through the week and finish it next weekend. This will dip into my budget for the extra rental fee, as I thought I could dig it all out this weekend. As you can see from the plans the deep end is only 5' - 10" deep so we don’t have much to dig, but to much to do by hand.

My Questions:
1) I have included the pool plans, I need help deciding where to put the returns, and the skimmers will go offset on each long side.
2) Seems everyone says use 2" pipe, does it matter that all equipment inlets & outlets are for 1 1/2 (do I just use reducers on all of them)
3) I want to put my pool equipment & pad on side of shop but it is 40' from end of pool, is this a bad idea (1.5hp Hayward 2 Spd 1-1/2)
4) I have a lot more but I will save them for later, as I plan on documenting this project in hopes it helps someone else on their DIY pool project.

 

[kponytail]

More pictures

 

[steinholder]

Very cool... Waiting for more updates!

Thanks for the pics!

-Bill

 

[Casey]

Since nobody wanted your business, you should save a boatload doing it yourself and I guarentee ya it'll be done the way you want and need it done!

 

[kponytail]

Well we rented the mini excavator for the 3 day weekend and if the weather holds we should finish up the excavation. I included a picture of my spa in hopes someone will give me a little direction as to how to set it in the ground, depths, sand, concrete ext. Things seem to be going good but the plans for the dig are not very detailed. By the way I bought my DIY pool kit from Royal swimming pools if anyone one has any questions as far as service, quality ext.

 

[kponytail]

Some more pictures, I will be backfilling with the sand as all the dirt is like topsoil.

 

[steinholder]

You are the ultimate DIYer! Good luck and ty for the pics!

 

[8corneflakes]

looks like things are going well! I just did a 20X40 DIY last year. Just a little advice from my hard-fought experience. Set the bottom of the walls in place first. Then you can level all the tops of the walls. I did not stake my walls and fought a constantly shifting mess for days. looking back common sense should have saved me. LOL The dig looks great. I think it will be an experience you'll never forget. Please PM me if my experience can help in any way. I just did it all. What a gratifying trip it was. good luck

 

[8corneflakes]

My husband failed to mention that ours was a father/son project as well. Our son ran away on the fourth day and joined the circus.

the wife!

 

[kyle11]

I am looking to buy a pool from royal, what is your opinion of them? How long did it take to arrive after you ordered it? I want it excavated by the time the kit arrives and they say 5-10 days is why i am asking. I plan on ordering in the next few days and doing a semi DIY. I will be contracting out the excavation and decking. Also how is the quality of the walls? Steele or polymer? Thanks in advance!

 

[kponytail]

8corneflakes - Thank you for the advice as I will be setting the walls in the morning, I am curious about the dig plans you used, mine don’t seem very detailed. From the bottom of the deep end to the top of the shallow end there are no measurements, do you just make the slope as gradual as you can, and is the liner forgiving or did you get everything rite on.

8corneflakes wife - My boy has stuck with me now for 3 days but tomorrow is day 4. (note the Picture he knocked of early today)

kyle11 - It took 14 days from the day I ordered it ( I had a special order liner 30mil) that’s why it took the extra time.. When it arrived 5 of the steel walls were separated from the pallet and bent all up, it looked like they ran a forklift over them. I took pictures and made the shipping co take the damaged walls with them. I contacted Royal pools the next day, they called me back 2 days later and said the new walls were shipped and they showed up 5 days later in perfect shape. I held off my dig until I received everything and am glad I did now. Other than that I have had a good experience with Royal pools. Keep in mind I will not know if they left anything out until I start installing everything. They tell you to inventory the stuff and I tried but there are allot of bolts ext and if I tried to count them the shipping truck would have been there all night.

 

[kponytail]

A few more pics

 

[kyle11]

Thanks kponytail. I will be following you thread as I am very interested in the ease and quality of there walls. What brace did you get? I am thinking of going with the aframe deck supports.

 

[kponytail]

I just got the standard ones that came with the kit, as I am going to put some sono tubes in when I pour the collar around the walls and backfill with sand. I will also use 2' on center rebar mat in that should help my concrete deck, I will also cut in some control joints but all concrete cracks all you can do is control where it cracks. Also the metal walls seem of very good quality.

 

[kyle11]

I just got the standard ones that came with the kit, as I am going to put some sono tubes in when I pour the collar around the walls and backfill with sand. I will also use 2' on center rebar mat in that should help my concrete deck, I will also cut in some control joints but all concrete cracks all you can do is control where it cracks. Also the metal walls seem of very good quality.

Never thought of using sono tubes. Great idea. How far apart are you placing them? 6-8 ft. I have a buddy that has a lot of those so I can save that $275 I was going to spend on deck supports.

 

[8corneflakes]

8corneflakes - Thank you for the advice as I will be setting the walls in the morning, I am curious about the dig plans you used, mine don’t seem very detailed. From the bottom of the deep end to the top of the shallow end there are no measurements, do you just make the slope as gradual as you can, and is the liner forgiving or did you get everything rite on.


I tried to get everything as close as possible because, even trying to get as close as possible, i was off a half inch when done. Looks like in the pics you Used string and pins to set grades. This will give you the fall exactly perfect. You also need to account for your bottom material thickness, sand or vermiculite i would assume. I think i had the same dig specs as you and the same problem. I planned for 2 inches of vermiculite and put it up 2 inches on the wall however, i ordered a custom liner to spec. Your liner is the kit spec. I would measure the shallow end wall of your liner and account for a little stretch. That should give an accurate measurement to shoot for. The liner is forgiving but, error on the side of caution. Too small could cause wrinkles. Too big over stretches the liner which would split a seam upon installation. Mine was a little shallow in the deep end and it still needed to stretch into place . Our liner install went perfect. Your boy looks happy! Thats a sure sign of impending success.

 

[kponytail]

kyle11 - I got a good deal on some old used 8" & 10" pvc pipe on craigslist and plan on spacing them out about every 6'

Well I did not get the walls up today but I did get the trench dug to the equipment pad and installed the 2" pipe. I also made one of the raised flower beds and transplanted some trees and shrubs. The wife came out and cleaned out the hot tub and I started the plumbing on it. Now as I am typing there is a terrible storm pounding down the rain. I left one of the bottom drains out of the hot tub in hopes that the tub and the hole would fill up with rain water at the same time and the tub would not float, as I spent an hour just getting it level.

 

[kponytail]

some more pics

 

[kponytail]

a few more

 

[kyle11]

Any updates ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk