New Pool Build because of Big Green Egg - FINAL INSPECTION

[skylar18]

If anyone told us that we would be building a pool even 6 months ago we would have laughed out loud at the thought. Though something we always dreamed about, we have been boat people and have always spent time on the lake. However, with the kids getting older and a simple birthday gift, we now find ourselves in the process of building a pool. Even though I have immersed myself in learning everything I can about pool ownership, I am such a novice that I am sure I am going to need plenty of help or at least people to bounce ideas off of. 10 years ago we knew nothing about boating and quickly realized that some good boat forums with great people provided much better knowledge and experience than the boat stores.

Based on what I have seen here it looks like this forum is the same way. I am already glad I stumbled across it with a simple "Should I use a Salt Water Generator or an In Line chlorinator with Chlorine pucks or tablets for primary pool sterilization" into Google. (BTW, after 4 weeks, many sleepless nights looking for info on that subject on the internet, talking to pool professionals, and looking at countless pools in our neighborhood, I am still not comfortable with our decision!)

To pre thank everyone for any help or advice, I will try to keep this as humorous as possible without embellishing anything. I have found that life itself is very funny and things that happened already has helped motivate me to blog our progress.

How this started was getting a Big Green Egg Smoker for my birthday. We ended up using it so much that we were outside in our back yard much more. So from there we got the idea to put an outdoor kitchen in back. After kicking that idea around, and drawing up some plans, we decided to include a fire pit. That led to putting a spa in the project. At that point we just decided to go the whole way with a pool and outdoor living area. I still say the 800 dollar big green egg is costing us $$$$$!

We are in a Central Texas City that shall remain nameless because of permitting issues I have already had, and the fact that I am still going to need to pass some inspections. (Right now I am 0-1). I will give you a hint that you can hear a lot of live music here, everyone wears burnt orange, and the Governor of Texas calls the city home.

 

[linen]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Welcome to tfp, skylar18

Big Green Egg Smoker

I love the egg!...but I don't have my own...yet Ugly drum smoker (UDS) here.

p.s. i have no idea where you live but I like it when my team (cyclone fan here) beats those longhorns

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Did the usual....come up with an idea, interview builders, negotiate, try to figure out who is giving you the sales pitch, and who is really knowledgeable and someone you can work with and more importantly work well together when an issue arises. (One time one of the PB's told me something that I didn't think sounded right, and I got out my Ipad, got on this forum, and checked what he said....Let's just say he was not completely accurate)

Here is what we came up with along with some drawings and "Before Pictures".... Pay particular attention to the deck as that was a big permit problem.

Gunite Inground Swimming Pool with 19 X 43 with 114 feet perimeter with 581 sq. ft. Depth is 4' X 4.5' X 5. That will be to the waterline, not to the top of the pool....Did not want to get shortchanged.
Spa with 24' perimeter, spa area 44'.
Total Gallons 21,000

Pool Shell: 1/2" #4 Steel rebar on 10" centers, both ways
Pool Bond Beam: 1/2" Grade 60 Steel Rebar X 4
Concrete: Dry Mix Gunite Rated to Engineering Drawings
Thickness: Floor and walls to be minimum of 8"-10", out of ground beam to be 12"

Pool Plumbing: Upto 3 inch Schedule 40 PVC.
Returns: (6) Directional Inlets, Looped for even pressure.
Skimmers: (2) Skim Master, Indepenendently plumbed for optimum control.
Drains: (2) Pentair drains, VGB compliant.
Spa Plumbing: 2 1/2 inch Schedule 40 PVC, suction and return
Spa Jets: (8) Water/Air directional jets.
Drains: (2) Pentair drains, VGB compliant
Fill Line: Irrigation fill line or autofill
Overflow Line: 3/4" Line Included
Cleaner Line: (1) Independently plumbed
Gas: 75ft of Gas line with hookup included.
Electrical: Hookup from exterior sub-panel, bonding by Electrical Code (UL)
Includes required circuit breakers and GFCI, etc. for pool equipment, per plan

Pool/Spa Tile: Level 1 Waterline Tile - 6'' frost proof
Pool/Spa Coping: Random Pattern - Oklahoma Flagstone
Spa Facing: Raised Face in Oklahoma Flagstone
Raised Pool Wall: 100 sq ft Browncoat


Stone Scuppers: (1) 6 inch x 24 inch Stone Scuppers.
Spa Spillway: Stone or Tile spillways/scuppers
Accent Boulders: (5) Stone (Moss/Hill Country Rock)

Deck Reinforcement: 3/8" Rebar 16" on center, 4" crushed base
Deck Material #1: 1068 sqft of Classic Sundeck
Steps: 78 lf, tread and riser to match deck
Turndown: 90 sqft of 6 inch beam included with Unfinished


Pool/Spa Plaster: Pebble Sheen Standard
Entry: 80 sq. ft custom tanning shelf
Benches: 2 total
Start-Up: Pool School with all required chemicals
Maintenance: 16' Telescopic pole, vacuum head & hose, brush, net, test kit & thermometer
Clean Up: 12 yards of Sandy Loam, spread and graded


Main Pump: Jandy E-pump 2.0 HP (Variable Speed)
Main Filter: Jandy Large Cartridge Versa Plumb Filter - 580 sq. ft.
Heater: Jandy LXI 400k Heater - LP
Cleaner: Polaris 280 Pressure Side Cleaner
Control System: Aqualink PDA - PS6 Pool/Spa
In-Line Chlorinator: Rainbow In-Line Chlorinator
Pool and Spa Lights: (4) Fiberstar Trio LED 12v - 79'
SWCG: Jandy AquaPure Salt Generator

Seat Walls: 19 linear feet with Flag Pattern - Native Sandstone 2 3/4" Cap (SF)
Outdoor Kitchen: 14 linear feet of Flag Pattern - Native Sandstone with Leuder Countertop
Firepit: (19') perimeter X (18'') high with Flag Pattern - Oklahoma Sandstone

 

[woodyp]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Sell the egg----------quick, before you pass the point of no return!
Welcome to the forum.

 

[pwrstrk]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Once again the egg has struck.

Welcome to tfp


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[harleysilo]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Let me go ahead and suggest an automatic pool cover. Which would suggest a rectangular shape for your pool but can be done on any shape. Also you would need to have your hot tub at the same level as pool. The benefits have been great, I'll write more Monday at work but you can search for my pool build last summer....

 

[thepoolman]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

I don't see a booster pump listed for the 280.

Have you considered iaqualink instead of PDA?

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Let me go ahead and suggest an automatic pool cover. Which would suggest a rectangular shape for your pool but can be done on any shape. Also you would need to have your hot tub at the same level as pool. The benefits have been great, I'll write more Monday at work but you can search for my pool build last summer....

I don't really know much about them, none of the pools I looked at here do, I will look up your thread and research....Thanks!

I don't see a booster pump listed for the 280.

Have you considered iaqualink instead of PDA?

I will check on the booster pump, I just assumed my main pump would run that also. I liked the iaqualink instead of the PDA, but my PB convinced the wife that having a big waterproof PDA to control everything is better. As far as I can tell, I can add the iaqualink module in addition for about 600 dollars after the fact.

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

THE PERMITTING PROCESS

I found this process for my unnamed city utterly inefficient, frustrating, and comical. I hope this is just isolated example and I am glad my PB had to deal with it, not me.

We signed the contract on a Saturday, and the PB went off to start filling out the application for the permit. We met a couple times that week to pick out tile, stone and such. On Friday he showed me the application and said he would submit on Monday. It was amazing how much detail was required. The PB warned me that our city has a very unfriendly, inefficient way of handling permits. For example, they only allow submission or intake of permits from 8 am -11 am three days a week. The rest of the time they spend approving or rejecting permits. My PB said that anytime it is rejected you have to go make the corrections, go back to one of the 3 intake days, stand and line and resubmit. He said " not to worry however, we have done this for a long time, we know exactly what they want".

My PB also said that you had to get there at 8, and even then you might have to wait for 2 hours, the line always wraps around the entire floor of the building, and it didn't matter where you were in line, at 11 am they cut you off.

Monday morning he called me and said permit was submitted, and at intake they reviewed it and said it looked good. Friday he called and said the city called and rejected it. He said that the city is saying that our measurement for the existing slab for our a/c units was inaccurate. I asked, what does this have to do with building a pool, this is on the other side of the house and has quietly sat there for 10 years. PB said it had to do with impervious cover restrictions. He went back to the city, picked up the permit application and headed to my house to re-measure.

I was home and he got there and we went out to re-measure. Of course it was exactly what he had put in the application. I asked him, "what do they think it should be"? He said that they won't tell you that. I suggested that we take pictures of our slab being measured to verify ours was right. We did that and Monday he said he would start the whole process again with our exact same application with no changes! He only waited in line 2 1/2 hours that time and got it resubmitted. Now we are on our way!

The following Monday I got the call, they rejected it again. My PB said that the city is requiring us to apply for a demolition permit because we are taking down the wood deck and replacing it with the concrete pool deck. Now this is a little 10 x 10 foot deck that came with the house. My PB said that is usually only a requirement when you are demolishing houses and big structures, not redoing small residential projects, especially when you are replacing it with the new project. He said in 10 years, they have never been required to file one for this. I said, maybe the pictures of us measuring the A/C slab made them mad. He just laughed and said "I don't think so".

Monday he started filling out the application for the demolition permit. Believe it or not, that is more involved than the construction permit. It required my wife and I to sign it, and have it notorized. My PB calmly explained that it had to be filed with our Tax certificate. I asked what the heck was that. He said that it was a certificate from the city saying that we had paid our taxes on it. I pulled up my records from the city on my computer and said, it is right here, I am on the same site they would use, why do we have to do this? He just shrugged, took our signed, notorized application and went to a different office to request my tax certificate. He was really happy, he said it was only a 30 minute wait at the tax office. They told him there was a 3 business day wait for them to turn around the certificate. I guess it takes them that long to pull up the same information I did in 30 seconds. Maybe they don't have a print feature and had some poor person on a typewriter in the back typing as fast as they could trying to produce these certificates.

It was at this point that I decided that I am going to not let any of this stress me out, in fact when I looked at it a different way, it was hilarious.

MY PB got the certificate after 3 days, waited in the long line to submit the application for the demolition permit, and breathlessly kept me informed of his progress. A couple days later he called to say we got the demolition permit, and was now going back to submit the application for the pool building permit.

He was irritable the next time he called, said he got in line at 7:30 and he got it submitted at 10:30. but he felt this time our chances were good. At this point they drew out the pool on my yard, removed the problem deck, (It took them less than 30 minutes to remove it, which when combined with the almost 2 weeks it took to get the demolition permit, makes you shake your head), and removed some of the fencing to get the digging equipment back there. I have very little access so the dig will be a bit of a challenge using smaller equipment.

Friday he called and said we got our permit! We can start digging on Monday! Hooray! He said that they would start bringing the equipment in between 7:30 and 8 am and would wait for a city inspector to show up before they are allowed to dig. My heart sank a bit, but my PB said not to worry, the inspector would be there fairly early and they had plenty of prep work they were going to do before he showed up, so no time would be wasted.

Monday morning my doorbell rang at 7:30 am. It was the city inspector, he said he had to fail our layout inspection I asked why and he said our permit wasn't posted at the job site. He looked like he had a copy of it in his hand.....I didn't bring that up however, figured it would only hurt me in the long run! Said he would try again tomorrow.

He left, not 5 minutes later the excavating crew shows up with their back hoe, a bull dozer, and my PB.

My PB waved to me and proudly went over to the front of the construction site and posted a copy of the permit. I almost didn't have the heart to tell him what had happened 5 minutes earlier.

Of course the inspector showed up the next day in the late afternoon so we wasted 2 more days waiting to start digging.

You can't make this stuff up!

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Layout and the start of the dig......

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

They have hit nothing but rock......the 2-3 day dig took 2 weeks with 2 days lost due to rain.

Cat wants the equipment to stay forever, has a new bed.

 

[mdinwiddie21]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Wow!!! You seem to be handling all of this well, I would have lost it on someone! I hope the rest of your build goes better!

 

[bigmoguls]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Gotta love the Socialist utopia of central Texas.

I would suggest a pcc2000 in floor pool cleaner. I love mine. I don't have to wrestle with a python to clean me pool.

Also, avoid the chlorine pucks. They will get your CYA out of whack after the first season.

By a Taylor k2006 or tf100 test kit.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[chiefwej]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

You may find that a salt pool and Texas stone don't get along very well. The stone is soft and porous and deteriorates in the presence of salt. I love my salt pool, but it was designed and built as a SWG pool. No stone anywhere, no boulders, no waterfalls or other water features (other than a simple fountain in the center of the spa. Deck surface is vinyl coated concrete, which is impervious to salt. Everything else is tile or pebble tech.

I wouldn't trade anything for the SWG. It makes keeping the pool water sparkling and perfectly balanced so much easier than my previous pool.

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

You may find that a salt pool and Texas stone don't get along very well. The stone is soft and porous and deteriorates in the presence of salt. I love my salt pool, but it was designed and built as a SWG pool. No stone anywhere, no boulders, no waterfalls or other water features (other than a simple fountain in the center of the spa. Deck surface is vinyl coated concrete, which is impervious to salt. Everything else is tile or pebble tech.

I wouldn't trade anything for the SWG. It makes keeping the pool water sparkling and perfectly balanced so much easier than my previous pool.

We know, that has been the most confusing and stressful decision. My BP actually has 2 signed contracts now, one with salt and one without. He has switched our "real" one 4 times now. We are back to Salt. We went with the hardest flagstone you can get down here, plan on sealing it yearly, and hope for the best. There are plenty of people here that have salt pools, our rock and have no problems. And there are plenty of people that do have problems. I am pretty anal about my "hobbies" so I am hoping that the people with problems had other reasons for their rock flaking. With our situation and preference for salt, the risk is worth it, and at worst, at the start us noticing problems, we can switch.

I literally have read I think every article on the internet about this subject and all that does is make you more confused! I do know one thing, I really don't want to use pucks!

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Gotta love the Socialist utopia of central Texas.

I would suggest a pcc2000 in floor pool cleaner. I love mine. I don't have to wrestle with a python to clean me pool.

Also, avoid the chlorine pucks. They will get your CYA out of whack after the first season.

By a Taylor k2006 or tf100 test kit.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Hmm, have to check out the pcc2000. I am pretty sure one of my dogs is going to dive into the pool and eat the Polaris. Does that replace it?

Plan on getting the tf100 test kit.

Are there electronic ones that are accurate so I don't have to decipher colors? Or are they a bigger pain to use than the tf100? I had a fish tank and I seem to be kind of challenged on analyzing colors compared to a chart..... I can see myself self patting myself on the back because to me it looks like my PH is perfect, meanwhile in reality, every layer of skin on my kids is being eaten away because my pool water has the PH level of battery acid!

Thanks for the info!

 

[chiefwej]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Most of the testing in the kit recommended here are titration tests, where you don't have to judge colors, just add and count drops until a sudden obvious change happens. The pH test is an exception, but it's pretty easy to judge within a safe range.

 

[bigmoguls]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Gotta love the Socialist utopia of central Texas.

I would suggest a pcc2000 in floor pool cleaner. I love mine. I don't have to wrestle with a python to clean me pool.

Also, avoid the chlorine pucks. They will get your CYA out of whack after the first season.

By a Taylor k2006 or tf100 test kit.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Hmm, have to check out the pcc2000. I am pretty sure one of my dogs is going to dive into the pool and eat the Polaris. Does that replace it?

Plan on getting the tf100 test kit.

Are there electronic ones that are accurate so I don't have to decipher colors? Or are they a bigger pain to use than the tf100? I had a fish tank and I seem to be kind of challenged on analyzing colors compared to a chart..... I can see myself self patting myself on the back because to me it looks like my PH is perfect, meanwhile in reality, every layer of skin on my kids is being eaten away because my pool water has the PH level of battery acid!

Thanks for the info!

Yes, the PCC replaces the polaris robot. I only have pop up nozzles built into the bottom of my pool.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Our dig finished up Friday. Officially 2 1/2 weeks after the start of it. My excavators were sick of it and me. (Maybe because I kept kidding them that they told me after day 1 that it would be complete in 2 more days. They said it was one of their top 5 hardest digs they have done for a residential pool. I told them I am glad I could make their top 5 list. I gave them a thank you beverage and they took it and sprinted off my yard. I am pretty sure I will never see them again.

 

[skylar18]

Re: New Pool Build in Central Texas because of Big Green Egg

Saturday the framers came, didn't expect anyone over the weekend. Awesome!