New Pool Build in Central Texas

Hey y'all! I have really enjoyed seeing everyone's projects. We started our build in February and are a little over halfway done(I think/hope). We really wanted our pool to mimic the natural limestone swimming holes found in the Texas hill country. I realize many of you will not know what I'm talking about so I will try to explain. This area is known for having a lot of rock, limestone in particular. While it is often a PITA and not always attractive to look at in every landscape, there are some raw and beautiful qualities when found as part of creeks and caverns and natural swimming holes. The Austin area has some great examples of this. So with this in mind we set out to find a PB who could design us a pool to resemble a natural limestone, spring fed swimming hole while also incorporating lots of fun features for the kids. We think we are achieving that and will have a one of a kind pool when all is said and done. I just wanted to share. It is somewhat unconventional so please let me know your thoughts!

Freeform ~41 x 20 ft IG gunite, beach entry(to be flagstone), depth 3-9 ft, est. gallons 33,500, perimeter 120ft

Spa bid at 8x9 ft freeform shape but I think it ended up a little bigger

22ft BYOS2 waterslide in pebble color

From the rock structure PB is constructing for the slide to set in there will be a waterfall that flows over the rock into the spa and a waterfall spilling out from the spa. The main waterfall will have a separate water line for when we are in spa mode so we don't have to turn waterfall off. Large limestone boulders and ledges sit under the spa in the pool creating what I call a pseudo-grotto but regardless will be a fun place for the kids(and adults) to hang out. I will post pictures of what has been done so far, though it is not finished.

There is a jumping rock on the side near the slide exit and there will also be a dive rock at the deep end.

Equipment in bid(subject to change)
1 Pentair var speed for pool and spa
1 Pentair whisper flow for waterfall above spa and slide
Clean and clear plus cartridge filter(don't have model name or size)
Rainbow 320 erosion feeder chlorinator(thinking of adding a stenner liquid chlorinator with timer after reading through this forum)
Del Ozone(subject to dropping)
Outdoor Pentair Intellitouch panel
Wireless remote
Spa side remote
Autofill for water elevation control
2 LED lights for pool and 1 for spa
Pentair 400 BTU Heater
Pool maintenence kit

Coping is 2 1/4" leuders cut in long slabs and for skimmer covers
Crystal Stones Smooth pebble finish in ST. CROIX(If I don't change my mind again!) :)

Decking will be a salt finish concrete because we had to sacrifice something in order to pay for this pool. Ha. Though I like this finish and it will fit the rustic theme we have going on. Flagstone was our first choice but it added 21k to the price! :-o

Whew. Is that everything? Now to see if I can post some pictures....
Tile was started today but I did not get pictures. Maybe tomorrow.
Digging
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steel
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Gunite
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Starting to lay big slabs
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Waterfall/pseudo-grotto not quite finished
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They will fill all holes and cracks with mortar for safety for those who are concerned.
Caught one rugrat already playing under the waterfall ledge. It is still such a mess here...
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Unfinished waterfall into spa, slide will be above and behind it
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Jumping rock. Slide will exit somewhere on other side of it.
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Rock work has halted until the slide is delivered and placed. I will hopefully get pictures of finished tile and whatever they get done on coping tomorrow. Hope these pictures will post. Have a good night!

Andrea

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Thanks. We love the idea of the jumping rock too. The kids have a diving board at their Gramsy's and love it but we wanted it to blend in with the rest of the pool. Down the road from us is Inks Lake State Park where they have a "cliff" you can jump from. My kids are daredevils so we wanted to give them some of that "extreme adventure" in their own backyard.

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I know! I'm excited about it. I'm getting impatient though. It should have been here by now. It is delaying progress and we were rolling along. But it could be worse. I've read much worse stories so I'm counting my blessings so far. Thanks for the kind words. :)

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I know! I'm excited about it. I'm getting impatient though. It should have been here by now. It is delaying progress and we were rolling along. But it could be worse. I've read much worse stories so I'm counting my blessings so far. Thanks for the kind words. :)

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I just chant "It's going to be worth it" over and over when my project stalls. So far it has held back any homicidal tendencies.

I'm nearing the 3 month mark on my project, mainly due to concrete delays. Current wait time is 6wks for concrete. It was 3-4 when my shotcrete was done.
 

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What a unique design! I love the natural limestone pools that are in the Austin area. Have you been to Hamilton Pool yet? Is this the look your trying to mimic or close to it? This is going to be awesome if your PB does it right. Congrats on getting started.
 
Thanks and yes HP and others is what we had in mind. We made it harder for him by wanting a slide but we didn't just want it to be cool to look at we wanted it to be fun for the kids. I guess we will see how it turns out. I think he has done a great job of selecting interesting and unique rock to work with.

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Exciting day here! Slide is being installed. Then more rock work(and landscape) built up around it. It's bigger than I expected. Won't need to pay to go to Schliterbahn this year! ;-)

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We didn't like the leuders coping for our pool so we switched to a light Oklahoma flagstone. It won't be delivered until Monday or Tuesday.

Flagstone on beach is set for today as well.

Fun times ahead!





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Won't need to pay to go to Schliterbahn this year! ;-)

Or you could just charge an admission fee to the neighborhood kids for your "mini-Schliterbahn" and recoup some of the pool cost ;)

Build is coming out really nice, impressive rock work and really nice selection of stone. When I saw your first pic that you posted it reminded me of HP. How deep is it going to be? Our family loves to go cliff diving in Lake Travis. It's awesome that you will have a mini cliff too, kids will love it.

Look forward to more pics. And hang in there it will be worth it in the end even with the bumps along the way.

- - - Updated - - -

Won't need to pay to go to Schliterbahn this year! ;-)

Or you could just charge an admission fee to the neighborhood kids for your "mini-Schliterbahn" and recoup some of the pool cost ;)

Build is coming out really nice, impressive rock work and really nice selection of stone. When I saw your first pic that you posted it reminded me of HP. Our family loves to go cliff diving in Lake Travis. It's awesome that you will have a mini cliff too, kids will love it.

Look forward to more pics. And hang in there it will be worth it in the end even with the bumps along the way.
 
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Yes I will need to charge admission! Now my husband is asking builder about changing to flagstone decking. :-o

Deep end is 9 ft so we couldn't have too tall of a "cliff". We just wanted to have lots of places the kids could interact with in the pool. We love our builder! We have no complaints. He is really good at what he does. We haven't had any real hiccups until we saw the leuders partially installed. We told the builder and he made the quick change. I think everything should progress from here fairly quick. *fingers crossed*

Thanks!

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I love how those rocks go down to the pool floor. I don't think I've ever seen it done like that. Keep posting pics!!!
 
Well...a busy week. We got some tile and coping done. The flagstone coping is so much better than the leuders and we really like the large slabs they cut. I'm not sure how I like the different thickness from slab to slab but I know it is a natural stone and there will be irregularities so I'm trying to get my perfectionist brain to stop obsessing over it. Would love to hear everyone's opinion about this. They will finish up spa coping and stone veneer on Monday. Everything still just looks so dirty amd unfinished. I will be happy when they get all the little pieces of rock and debris cleaned up. They continued adding rock and steps around the slide but ran out of rocks and had to go select more. I believe they need 2 more steps to get to the slide landing and then they will fill in around the slide with smaller rocks and planters. Then they will start terracing the backslide of slide and start work on decking. We decided that the flagstone decking was worth the added expense and will just delay the build of the pool house. The decking can't be changed(easily) and the pool house is an easier add on later. They finished the spa waterfall and grouted the flagstone on the beach entry. Here are this week's pictures:

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My Maggie posing on the diving rock with the Bluebonnet field in the background.

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Close up of tile and coping

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Maggie posing again on the steps going to slide and landing for spa

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Side view of waterfall/grotto feature

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Waterfall coming into spa

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View of spa and beach entry from the slide entry. Still have spa coping to do.

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Weeeeeee! View on the way down.

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Long coping slab and another view of deep end

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View walking from house


Thanks for looking. Cheers to a great weekend!



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