- Jan 21, 2014
- 1,069
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
East Texas pool build in progress
- Thread starter Ryno98
- Start date
They finished the rock staining:
Somewhat frustratingly, only a few piddly things got done on the project over the past week and a half, despite fairly decent weather for most of it. My PB insists "water in the pool within 4 weeks". I hope so! This warm weather is killing me right now! Part of the hold up is waiting for these new Hayward LED accent lights to actually make it into production. Currently listed as "Spring 2014"... The Hayward people have been out and done fit tests; everything looks good, so as soon as we have the lights we should be rolling on that part, at least. 10 accent lights are going into the rock feature and will coordinate with the regular Hayward LED pool lights color-wise.
Somewhat frustratingly, only a few piddly things got done on the project over the past week and a half, despite fairly decent weather for most of it. My PB insists "water in the pool within 4 weeks". I hope so! This warm weather is killing me right now! Part of the hold up is waiting for these new Hayward LED accent lights to actually make it into production. Currently listed as "Spring 2014"... The Hayward people have been out and done fit tests; everything looks good, so as soon as we have the lights we should be rolling on that part, at least. 10 accent lights are going into the rock feature and will coordinate with the regular Hayward LED pool lights color-wise.
cbink
0
Looks great!
I'm really curious about the new Hayward lights. I would have liked more choice on waterfall lighting but was somewhat limited on my choices at the time. Although I have LEDs in the pool and spa the light I have in the waterfall is just a regular light with colored lenses.
As for the slide - I think you're going to love it. I know quite a few people end up dropping slides from their builds due to the expense and the perception they might not use them that much but I can tell you that ours has had a ton of use by adults and children alike. My son has been down it 50+ times this weekend. I stopped counting after that but he spent 3 hours today going down the slide, getting out going down the slide, getting out going down the slide ad nauseam.
I'm really curious about the new Hayward lights. I would have liked more choice on waterfall lighting but was somewhat limited on my choices at the time. Although I have LEDs in the pool and spa the light I have in the waterfall is just a regular light with colored lenses.
As for the slide - I think you're going to love it. I know quite a few people end up dropping slides from their builds due to the expense and the perception they might not use them that much but I can tell you that ours has had a ton of use by adults and children alike. My son has been down it 50+ times this weekend. I stopped counting after that but he spent 3 hours today going down the slide, getting out going down the slide, getting out going down the slide ad nauseam.
Good to hear about the slide. It looks a little intimidating from the top right now, but I think once the pool is full of water it won't seem so high up. We were initially planning to have fiber optic lights but shortly into our build Hayward announced the new LED lights at the trade shows. We were very excited to switch to the LEDs as the fiber optic setup seems to have a lot of issues with reliability, expensive bulbs to replace, etc.
I'm excited to report that the workers are currently doing what should hopefully be the last of the digging for this project. Seems a little weird given how far the rest of the build has progressed to have digging this late in the game, but it will finally fix the drainage issues and bring water from the water main in front of the house. So ready to start healing my yard after all this and get rid of the construction scars!
They also framed out the outdoor kitchen yesterday and have the appliances on site. Now waiting on the stone guys to finish it out.
I'm excited to report that the workers are currently doing what should hopefully be the last of the digging for this project. Seems a little weird given how far the rest of the build has progressed to have digging this late in the game, but it will finally fix the drainage issues and bring water from the water main in front of the house. So ready to start healing my yard after all this and get rid of the construction scars!
They also framed out the outdoor kitchen yesterday and have the appliances on site. Now waiting on the stone guys to finish it out.
cbink
0
Yes, I remember thinking similar things about the slide during construction (and mine is smaller than yours) but now it's all finished it's great!
It really is an epic waterfall/slide you've got going on there! Can't wait to see finished pictures!
And don't worry, the yard will improve! I was warned but it was still a surprise to me how much devastation a little hole in the ground with water in it can create!
It really is an epic waterfall/slide you've got going on there! Can't wait to see finished pictures!
And don't worry, the yard will improve! I was warned but it was still a surprise to me how much devastation a little hole in the ground with water in it can create!
Update (without pics for now due to crazy weather): Stone guys finished their work on the kitchen and the granite guy came and installed granite countertops for the bathroom and the outdoor kitchen. Kitchen granite is only "set" in place for now until all appliances are installed to make sure everything fits right. The counters look very nice so far. A crew also tied in the water lines. We had a bit of a decision to make with this and ended up tying on to a hose bib on the back of the house. The alternative was to come off the water main which would require tunneling under my circle drive and running PVC for 80 yards or so... Now waiting for gas hookup, equipment/electrical, lights (pool and low voltage), kitchen appliances, deck sealing, plaster, fence, yard rehab/landscaping. I know I'm getting close but it seems as though this project will never end!! We had a major/epic rain with lots of flooding several days ago, to the point that my french drain was completely overcome. I honestly can't expect anything to keep up with rain that overwhelms even the city storm drains (4-5 inches in about 6 hours). My concern was something that I had seen happening before the completion of the drainage project (which occurred again with the heavy rain): the rain water seeps into the ground and follows the pool plumbing, leaking into the pool from just under the returns. I know that gunite is not necessarily waterproof, as evidenced by water rising from the bottom of the pool independent of the rain situation, but does this seem normal? My worry is that if this occurs after plaster, my pretty Midnight Blue will be stained by this drainage as my soil is red dirt with super high iron content. There are already nice orange streaks under the returns on one end of the pool from this happening.
- Jul 1, 2013
- 220
Ok, long overdue update with plenty of pics to make up for it. Now we are waiting for: electrician to get everything wired up, additional pump installation/plumbing for waterfall (behind rock feature, not with other equipment), light installation including low voltage lighting, sprinkler system re-route (this one is killing me since now it is warming up and apparently never going to rain again), outdoor kitchen appliance installation, clean up, plaster, and a bunch of finishing touch type stuff.
Outdoor kitchen as it sits now. They are going to have to slide the top counter back about 1/2" because it interferes with the grill top opening.
Inside the pool shell. You can see the white streaks from epic storm rain water washing cement "dust" from behind the rock structure around the light niche. Hope this cleans off. Water doesn't just rinse it off, though... Also not sure what the 4 potholes in the gunite (foreground) are for.
Overview:
"Outdoor" bathroom exterior:
Interior:
Outdoor shower:
Equipment:
Overview (equipment side):
Panorama (back side):
Panorama (from top of slide):
Finally, many people have asked me what I'm doing about kid safety (I have 3 small kids). A fence will enclose the backyard with appropriate latches. The only other access is from the house. Every door leading out to the backyard has this device to keep little kids from getting out. I just didn't see the point in my scenario for adding an extra child safety fence on my patio just so I have 250 sq ft of "safe" outdoor area. My kids will just have to accept that they cannot be outside without an adult until they are older.
I am now to the point of getting EXTREMELY impatient with our project with being so close to finishing, warm weather, and the original estimate of "8 weeks" (Ha!). We started the project on 12/1/13, so it has been frustrating seeing the same company finish other peoples' pools (admittedly smaller projects) during the past few weeks. At this point my plans for a Memorial Day pool party seem in jeopardy, which I would have never dreamed of being a problem back in December. I want the pool builder on my side since there is still a lot of work to be done, and I'm still overall happy, but it is becoming difficult to bite my tongue when beautiful days like today go by without a single worker to be seen.
Outdoor kitchen as it sits now. They are going to have to slide the top counter back about 1/2" because it interferes with the grill top opening.
Inside the pool shell. You can see the white streaks from epic storm rain water washing cement "dust" from behind the rock structure around the light niche. Hope this cleans off. Water doesn't just rinse it off, though... Also not sure what the 4 potholes in the gunite (foreground) are for.
Overview:
"Outdoor" bathroom exterior:
Interior:
Outdoor shower:
Equipment:
Overview (equipment side):
Panorama (back side):
Panorama (from top of slide):
Finally, many people have asked me what I'm doing about kid safety (I have 3 small kids). A fence will enclose the backyard with appropriate latches. The only other access is from the house. Every door leading out to the backyard has this device to keep little kids from getting out. I just didn't see the point in my scenario for adding an extra child safety fence on my patio just so I have 250 sq ft of "safe" outdoor area. My kids will just have to accept that they cannot be outside without an adult until they are older.
I am now to the point of getting EXTREMELY impatient with our project with being so close to finishing, warm weather, and the original estimate of "8 weeks" (Ha!). We started the project on 12/1/13, so it has been frustrating seeing the same company finish other peoples' pools (admittedly smaller projects) during the past few weeks. At this point my plans for a Memorial Day pool party seem in jeopardy, which I would have never dreamed of being a problem back in December. I want the pool builder on my side since there is still a lot of work to be done, and I'm still overall happy, but it is becoming difficult to bite my tongue when beautiful days like today go by without a single worker to be seen.
That is spectacular! But I'm dizzy from the view at the top of the slide - holy mackerel, that's high! I betting every kid in the neighborhood will be your best friend (and their dad's too!) lol
Looks good!
The latch that you have on your door, where did you get it from? I have been looking for something to better secure the door that we have going into our pool area.
The latch that you have on your door, where did you get it from? I have been looking for something to better secure the door that we have going into our pool area.
Those holes you were asking about in the gunite on the floor are to let ground water weep up until they put the plaster down, I think.
UNbelievable pool.....unreal.
UNbelievable pool.....unreal.
cbink
0
Every time I see photos of your build I'm blown away - it's EPIC! Can't wait to see it finished - you and your family are going to have some amazing memories of this backyard paradise!
It's made by a company called Emtek. We got it at a local home furnishings store. It could potentially be a DIY install, but we got a handyman/carpenter to do it for $50 as drilling into the metal door and chipping out a section of the wooden door facing to house the metal catch for the latch was not in my skill set... We saw them at a neighbor's house a few months ago. They actually fit in pretty nicely. The only potential problem I see is a kid unlocking the door and then pulling so hard they crack the wooden door facing above the door since the latch is out of a kid's reach. Still better than the kid getting outside and falling into the pool, though.
One of my recent frustrations has been the inability to use my entire sprinkler system during this build. This was not an issue in the winter months, but with warmer weather and the sudden disappearance of rain from the forecast this has moved into the forefront of my concerns. We have a well for irrigation. The problem is that even if I use the non-disturbed sprinkler zones, due to a leak from dirt fouling a valve (related to a break in a line while running french drains) one of the broken zones leaks water everywhere when the well is turned on and creates a mud wrestling pit around the pool. In response to this the PB came out today and ran new PVC to restore the broken zones around the pool.............Except they forgot to fix the valve leak. So I STILL can't use my sprinker system without creating a mud pit. I was able to have a good talk with the PB this morning, though, to clarify some of the ongoing issues and plans. Plaster is planned for next week. Based on how this project has been going, I'm sure some kind of tropical storm or something will come in next week and delay us a month or two... So ready to be done!
Ours was out of commission for quite a while, luckily it was winter but once they put the new sod in and supposedly redid the sprinklers we had a leak out there. Argh! So we couldn't run them and were at their mercy to send someone out - I was out there with a hose and nozzle watering the new sod on a third of an acre everyday for several weeks!
The crew worked SUPER hard on Friday and got a lot done especially with finishing most of the dirt movement, and doing most of the wiring, control panel install, etc. Looks like they still have some electrical work to do. They are still planning for plaster next week. They are still vexed by the sprinklers, however. They ultimately decided to just temporarily cap the pipe of the leaking zone so at least I could water my front yard. A few hours later, I noticed a wet spot forming in a new spot several feet away from the deck off the corner of the house. I got out my shovel and started to dig..... and found a SPRINKLER VALVE BOX!! This thing had long been covered by my jungle bermuda grass, then had dirt piled on top of that from the pool build and was about 4 inches below grade. The leak rate was lower than when it was coming out of the pipe, so I went ahead and watered last night (for the first time in months!) before I cut the well off this morning. Unfortunately, now the soil around the box is saturated and getting the water out of the valve box has been a losing battle for most of today, but it's finally getting better as the soil dries. Hopefully I can fix this tomorrow with some sprinkler valve parts from Home Depot and spare myself the agony of the pool workers trying to figure this thing out!