Spa stone and coping is complete, so are decorative tiles on the steps and deep end seat. Next is final gas tie-in, deck, fence, rain garden, and final grading. We'll wait until spring for the plaster.
Under Construction in PA
- Thread starter bigfunky
- Start date
Deck was done today, went with exposed aggregate and it looks great, lots of control joints and piers so hopefully cracking is kept to a minimum. Next step is rain garden (for township stormwater control), final grading, seeding and yard cleanup and then the fence. Plaster and startup in the spring.
Prepping the area
Pouring the deck
Finished product!!!
Prepping the area
Pouring the deck
Finished product!!!
I should add the deck was poured 6 weeks after the excavation started, PB is moving along nicely.
Looks great! I bet winter is going to seem to take forever for you! Like its not long enough, as it is!
Its gonna be tough but I am so glad I did a fall build, the pressure and anxiety of not having people here working every day just doesn't exist now because I really don't care when they get done. If it was spring I'd be freaking out everyday that someone was not here. It also gives me some time to put the yard back together and really get a full season of swimming in next summer.
I am looking forward to BBB'ing next summer and taking care of the pool myself.
I am looking forward to BBB'ing next summer and taking care of the pool myself.
Tell me more about the piers. How many/deep/wide etc? We have clay soil here in TX and I'm entertaining piers if it'll keep the cracking to a minimum....your pool looks great!!
They put in 12 piers about 2 ft deep on the deep end of the pool where they built up the ground. Piers were about 6" in diameter. After that they tamped down about 4" of crushed stone and then 4" of concrete.
Concrete deck and coping look great. What was used in the expansion joints? Looks like some sort of flexible material. Nice project!
Between the coping and deck its a Styrofoam strip about 1/2" wide by 4" deep in the joint. The control joints are some kind of plastic product made for the joint, they look really nice. The exposed aggregate is really nice looking up close and pretty smooth. I was worried about it being too rough but I think we're be fine.
bigfunky said:
When Anthony Sylvan built my pool in SE PA in 2006, I also had a stryrafoam prodcut as a spacer betweeen the coping and the concrete deck. After about 3 years, the styrafoam degrades and allows water (ice in winter) into that joint and you run the risk of concrete cracks or coping cracks. I paid a caulking firm out of NJ, to remove the styraform (with a knife down to 2 inch below the concrete) and pour an elastic (rubber type) compound (like caulk) into the joint-so self leveling. Reasonable price and was much better both in water seal and looks. So watch the styrafoam for degrades-ice can be a problem in PA
The guys who poured the deck told me the same thing, they said to tear the styrafoam out next summer and caulk it properly. You remember who you hired to do it?
bigfunky said:
I used Russel Caulking out of Hadden Heights, NJ 856-547-5390. Great guy, very meticulous in his work and the caulking looked new after 3 summers (done in 2009). He charged by the sq ft. I paid $750 for a 700 sq ft freeform pool located in Downingtown, PA. His price was less than A&S who also called me at the 3 yr point and their price (A&S) did not include the styrafoam removal.
Highy recommend the guy-I was so impressed with his work I even gave him a tip!!. I have since sold the house and moved to FL, so no need for expansion joints down here!!
Great, thanks. Despite alot of negative comments on the web I hired A&S and they have been great, all their subs have been very professional and from what I can tell have a done a good job. I watched over them like a hawk and asked a million questions. I was well prepared and caught quite a few things that I had them do differently.
Question for you guys and gals:
Pool is done except plaster - main drains and spa drains are open to below pool (5" of crushed stone) and 3ft PVC pipes are threaded into hydrostatic plugs. Pool is about 1/2 full of nasty water from Sandy last week and skimmers are full. What should I do to protect the drains and skimmers from freezing, I have a pump, should I pump out the water from the pool, spa and skimmers and try to keep it to a minimum.
My piping was pressure tested with air so it is free of water.
Thanks!
Pool is done except plaster - main drains and spa drains are open to below pool (5" of crushed stone) and 3ft PVC pipes are threaded into hydrostatic plugs. Pool is about 1/2 full of nasty water from Sandy last week and skimmers are full. What should I do to protect the drains and skimmers from freezing, I have a pump, should I pump out the water from the pool, spa and skimmers and try to keep it to a minimum.
My piping was pressure tested with air so it is free of water.
Thanks!
I never heard of a rain garden before. Is that just for runoff from the concrete or are you back washing into it? Looks amazing!
In our township we have to offset impervious coverage (pool and deck) with stormwater management measures, in our case the rain garden was the only option because we're all clay and the ground does not perk, the rain garden is pretty but in heavy rains it holds water like a pond which could cause problems (mosquitoes) when it gets warmer. We'll have to see how things go all summer...