OKC renovation - forty-year facelift

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Re: Oklahoma City area PB recs and can this even be done?

I realize that anecdotal evidence is a dime a dozen, but a friend's pool which has a plaster finish that is 20 years old and has been well maintained from a chemistry perspective, still looks quite good. It's starting to show signs of deterioration, sure, but it still has life left while looking more than serviceable. I feel that plaster gets a bad rap, longevity-wise, based on those who don't maintain excellent water quality in all respects.

No doubt that other surfaces last longer but...

All of this is why the surface finish is probably one of the toughest decisions people face.

We had a small amount of quartz (Diamond Brite) added which was only to provide color. For what is in our finish, yes you do have to look closely to see the sparkle.
 
Re: Oklahoma City area PB recs and can this even be done?

For me, it is one of the most important and critical decisions to be made. I'm not trying to give plaster a bad wrap, I just want to put in the very best that I can possibly afford. They say ten years for plaster, but we have all seen it in many pools for much longer even though it is usually not dong so well. That said, it is not uncommon for pools in good quartz or pebble to go 20+ years and still be in excellent shape. Also, they tend to stay much truer to their original color over the long haul.
 
Re: Oklahoma City area PB recs and can this even be done?

After looking into it, I am still leaning towards regular colored plaster. I understand that it may not last as long as our existing plaster (no asbestos in the newer mixes) but I don't want to chance the roughness that could develop with the longevity of the quartz particles versus the plaster in which they are embedded. Subject to change, of course, but that is the way the wind is blowing right now!

I'm working up a list of very specific items for the PB to add to his contract before we sign so there are no surprises down the road, including detailed measurements, new fittings, upgraded skimmer lids, etc. Question for the group - I'd discussed with PB re-activating what appears to have been the line for a pool sweep. It acts like a dead return at the moment, but is placed weirdly close to a live return (in comparison with the other returns in the pool) so we are supposing it once belonged to a pool sweep. Since we are decommissioning the hot tub, do you think one of those pumps could be repurposed to run a pool sweep if needed? We have a Polaris 9300 robot now, but last summer when it went into the shop for a month due to a broken wheel it would have been really nice to have a backup. We're talking about craigslisting the two pumps, heater and sand filter that run the hottub but think maybe one could work for a sweep instead? I don't know if this would be considered a pressure side or suction side cleaner until we figure out what the line goes to or how it could be retrofitted.
 
Re: Oklahoma City area PB recs and can this even be done?

We have signed on the dotted line and put our deposit of a third down! Whoohoo! Work is supposed to start Mon 11/25 and within about 8 weeks. Complete overhaul is scheduled, including 1400 sf stamped concrete deck, pour in place coping, extended retaining wall faced and capped with NY bluestone (partially seating height, partially stepped down to grade), new plaster, tile, skimmers, lights. Can't wait!
 
Re: Oklahoma City area PB recs and can this even be done?

That's great! Thanks for having a winter project to occupy us!
 
Re: Oklahoma City area PB recs and can this even be done?

bmoreswim, exactly, and I thought this way we would have full use of the backyard again by next swim season! Also, we can keep busy with our indoor projects without the siren song of the pool calling to us like it will be in the summertime. A win-win for productivity! (We've been DIYing 1500 sf of hardwood floors every weekend for the last month and have just passed the 67% mark. Cannot wait for that to wrap up!) And since we will vacation in our backyard for at least the next ten years, we better enjoy it as much as possible.

Patrick, absolutely, but I warn you, I've found an upper window that gives a great vantage point and I'm hoping to do a photo each day from the same spot to track the progress. Photo bonanza! I forgot to update on the price of the finalized estimate, which was just under $35K total. Not the cheapest, not the most expensive. We got a final 10% discount since the PB was entering into a slow season with several projects lined up for post-Jan 1 but not a lot in the holiday season. Some splurges we decided on were upgraded tile, colored/stamped concrete with rebar, LED bulb lights, and upgrading the facing and cap on the retaining wall to NY Blue rather than the locally available gray stone (that was an $350 upgrade and felt like a small splurge that gave me one of my favorite elements from my ideabook). Some other items that are just a little bit special to us will be tons of umbrella sleeves in the deck (I'm pale, and I burn really easily but love to be outdoors), auto-fill and pour-a-lid skimmer lids. Some of the standard things we kept to stay within a budget included colored plaster instead of a different finish, pour in place coping (stamped in deck pattern), sticking with the disabled main drain rather than excavating to try to revive it. We are checking on reviving a line that we think was used for a cleaner at one time, and hope to repurpose our 3/4HP hot tub motors perhaps to run a pressure cleaner in the future. This will be a backup/alternate to our robot, which we love, but was a PITA when it was in the shop several weeks this summer to have to manual vac. I think having a backup (especially in leaf season, like now) will be awesome.

We will also have the PB set some posts for an arbor/pergola when they pour the deck, and we plan to build out the top of the pergola ourselves. This will help define the pool area as separate from the rear-load garage's driveway area (we will keep the wrought iron fence, though it will be removed during construction). We built a pergola at our old house so feel confident we can do that part, but due to the timing of the PBs progress around our full work schedules, having the posts set will give us a good start and not slow down the PB. Due to space constraints, instead of a four-post pergola, we want to do a slimmer profile, possibly cantilevered. The idea was that we could put some outdoor curtains on it to use to shade the deck (where the diving board currently resides) from the western sun, rather than shaded from above, but that is all TBD. The design might be similar to this.


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OKC renovation to start next week

Patrick, not exactly. We have the idea that we will do medium gray plaster, but are open to going darker, too. We love a warm water pool! I think PB has some plaster samples he will show us eventually so we can choose tile to go with it.
 

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Re: OKC renovation to start next week

We decided we will likely install a child safety fence when the time comes. We do not have kids yet, so the issue isn't pressing (the backyard is already completely fenced so it is safe for the "public"). My husband really wanted the cover more for the leaf protection than the child protection, so we may end up with a safety fence and a winter cover or some combination thereof. Our pie-shaped lot is interestingly partitioned to accommodate a rear-load garage, so about 40% of our backyard is fenced off away from the pool area, and we may end up making that remaining 40% more "playable" (i.e., level and with grass) to accommodate a kid play area separate from the pool area, too.
 
Re: OKC renovation to start next week

You can easily install the child fence afterwards. We put one in with our pool build but the reality was it was done last after everything else was done. We love ours - we have it enclosing the a covered patio and it is just fantastic.

Congrats on moving forward with your project! Look forward to seeing updates!
 
Re: OKC renovation to start next week

Thanks, cbink! I've followed your build with interest and the pic of the play area under your covered patio with the adult area outside was one of the ones I showed my husband as an alternative to a complete pool fence - he really loved it! I'll have to post a pic of our covered patio. It's got a step up that makes the potential fenced in area only 4x9, but the overhang is actually bigger. We might play with the elevation to see if we can create a differently used space there.
 
Re: OKC renovation to start next week

It has begun! The PB came by this morning to drop a sump pump in the pool to drain it. It's probably down about six inches in the last hour, so who knows when it will finish. Tomorrow they will come and cut down the wrought iron fence and begin busting out the concrete deck, and punch holes in the pool shell and hot tub shell to keep it from floating during our reno. I took some benchmark "before" pics to fully document the decrepitude of our pool, they are in my flickr set at http://flic.kr/s/aHsjLYRsvF, but here is where I will try to document a photo from the same vantage through the process. Dang pool is so big I cannot get it in one photo.
Looking right:

Looking left:

Deck level:


The overview of the full problem:


And one from this summer when it wasn't a green monster, so we have some context that it hasn't been all terrible. But a good green before and after will be even more dramatic!
 
Re: OKC renovation to start next week

We're empty! Small snafu, sometime overnight the pool pump must have turned on (I'm guessing due to freeze guard timer) so ran dry for some unknown time until I flipped the breaker on it this morning. Bummer. Hope it's not burned up, although it didn't sound seized, just dry when I went out to check on the state of emptying this morning.



 

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