Sharing my pool

[moze229]

I just wanted to throw a quick pic up of the pool this season so far. Here's where I was last year just after install. This is the grade I had to deal with.

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[center:2pow04n7]This is where we are now.

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We managed to get things to work out ok. I decided to have the deck built to the same level as the top rails. It works better for us because it allows you to sit comfortably at the pool edge and hang your feet in. We had some board shrinking as expected over the winter, but I'm not going to worry about it. If it starts to bother me too much, I'll just replace the boards that shrunk more than the others. I have a stock pile of decking boards out in the wood shop. As you can also see, we live out in the middle of the woods so I think I'm going to have to take more trees out. We only get direct sunlight on the pool from about 12:00PM to 3:00PM and as a result, our water is still at 75 degrees. I need it to be about 5 degrees warmer. I think once we get into June and July we should get there.

I wanted to thank those of you for your input, suggestions and knowledge along the way. This is a first pool for me, and we've been enjoying it so far. I'll be putting up some other pictures of the complete setup soon.

 

[crazykidsdad]

Wow, I thought I had it bad with my grade! Nice pool, I hope the leaves don't drive you crazy with the constant cleaning.

 

[frogabog]

It looks amazing! Very nice. You've been a busy bee haven't you?

 

[frogabog]

Wow, I thought I had it bad with my grade! Nice pool, I hope the leaves don't drive you crazy with the constant cleaning.

The skimmer should catch most leaves. Problem is, when the pump is off, no skimming. As long as the skimmer functions before the leaves become waterlogged and sink they shouldn't be an issue though.

 

[jblizzle]

Looks really nice ... especially the trimming of the boards around the pool.

Any concern over the wall of dirt around the pool being eroded by rain and washing down against the pool? Seems like a wall or something would be a good idea ... unless this pool is designed for partial burial where you could actually back-fill up against it.

 

[Jules]

It looks great!

 

[moze229]

Thanks for the comments all! I'll be including some additional pictures soon that will explain the grade issue. We built a block retaining wall behind the pool, which isn't visible from this picture. I far as the front end - I just buried it. It's about 50% buried in the front. I'm taking the risk against corrosion and this is my reasoning. If the bottom 3-4" of the pool can be covered like it usually is, why not 20%? Or even 50%? As far as corrosion is concerned, it's the same material at the bottom portion of the wall as it is at the top. So if corrosion is an issue, it's not just because it's buried. Now as far as caving in - that's a risk that I'm taking. I'm just betting that when I have to replace the liner, I can do it quickly enough to not worry about the wall collapsing. The soil here is 90% clay anyway, so once it's formed and packed it's not usually going anywhere anyway.

The leaves were troublesome last year but I closed the pool late. I'm going to be closing a little earlier this year.

 

[duraleigh]

I don't think I have ever seen a better looking deck/pool fit like that. Kudos for thinking it through so well. Did you build it yourself? The workmanship is excellent!

 

[67ragtop]

Beautiful install and deck!........hope ours turns out as well. Do you have solar to deal with the temp issue?

 

[moze229]

I don't think I have ever seen a better looking deck/pool fit like that. Kudos for thinking it through so well. Did you build it yourself? The workmanship is excellent!

Thanks duraleigh. I did not build the deck myself, but I did add some things afterwords. I built the gate and added the skirt around the bottom. I had a guy that's done some work for us before do the main build. I just told him exactly what I wanted to do, how I wanted the decking boards, etc. and he just did it. I was going to take it on myself, and I was sure that I could have. But, it would have taken way too much time for me to do. We just bit the bullet and paid for the build. And believe me - we paid for it.

Beautiful install and deck!........hope ours turns out as well. Do you have solar to deal with the temp issue?

I haven't messed with any type of temperature control yet. I want to run through one entire season to see what happens first. As I stated, for a mostly shaded pool we are at 75 degrees so far. I'd like it a little warmer, but we have a lot of swim weather to go still.

I wanted to go ahead and put the rest of the pics up here so that I can answer any questions, defend myself, get reamed, whatever might happen.

[center:jlppuo89]This is a shot of the grade after landscaping.

A closer one from one side.

The retaining wall in the back.

This is the opposite side with the stairs.

Deck view.

A view from the other side of the deck.

Access panel for the skimmer. No, I do not have direct access to the return but I can reach it from this access point. Or I could crawl under the deck. Or, I could just remove a board if needed. The decking support around the skimmer is screwed together rather than nailed so that if I ever need to remove the skimmer, I can.

Pump and filter. I know, I know. I plan on hard plumbing the connection soon, but last year I didn't have a lot of time and just wanted to get everything going.

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For plumbing, everything goes underground and up to the pool. It's about a 1 ft. incline to the pool, but the Dynamo handles it no problem.

Well, that's it. I just wanted to share because I've gotten a lot of help here.

 

[MeSue]

Very nice! We got the same pool installed this year to replace a 12 year old pool (same size) that had corroded. I love how you did the deck even with the top rails.

You might want to consider putting a solar blanket on at night. It really does keep the heat in overnight, and that nice big deck could accommodate a reel easily.

For the leaves, you may want to look into the PoolSkim... we have one and it does great.

 

[nelson411]

What a beautiful set up! That deck is incredible!! :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

That's what we want, but we will have to wait! I think the Matrix is a great pool!

May you enjoy years of happy times with your beautiful pool!!

Cheers,

Liz

 

[Hub]

Beautiful. Well done.

 

[moze229]

Very nice! We got the same pool installed this year to replace a 12 year old pool (same size) that had corroded. I love how you did the deck even with the top rails.

You might want to consider putting a solar blanket on at night. It really does keep the heat in overnight, and that nice big deck could accommodate a reel easily.

For the leaves, you may want to look into the PoolSkim... we have one and it does great.

Thanks for the comments. I'm looking at solar blankets now so I've got a lot to figure out on that still. Thanks for the suggestion. I also did a search for the PoolSkim - nifty little device! If I were to extend our swim season somehow I might try and take advantage of it but I don't think I'll have the pool open long enough to really get use out of it. We'll see what happens this year.

What a beautiful set up! That deck is incredible!!

That's what we want, but we will have to wait! I think the Matrix is a great pool!

May you enjoy years of happy times with your beautiful pool!!

Cheers,

Liz

Thanks Liz!

Beautiful. Well done.

Thanks!

 

[Butterfly]

Wow, what a nice job! Everything looks fabulous including that sparkly water!

As you can also see, we live out in the middle of the woods so I think I'm going to have to take more trees out. We only get direct sunlight on the pool from about 12:00PM to 3:00PM and as a result, our water is still at 75 degrees. I need it to be about 5 degrees warmer.

I agree with you....those dang trees! Too many! Some gotta go!