New inground shotcrete build in Senoia, GA

[BigDag]

Greetings:

I've been lurking for a while and love the site! I've learned a lot by reading posts, with a lot more to absorb as we go. My wife and I pulled the trigger on a pool yesterday after a few bids and several weeks of tweaking. We're in Senoia, GA, home of Woodbury the fictional Walking Dead town.

The pool is part of a larger backyard design which will eventually include a 1300 sq. ft. patio courtyard rimmed with seating walls/columns, pergola, fire pit, outdoor kitchen, and (eventually) free standing hot tub. I'm subbing out the masonry, patio, and fire pit, and DIY'ing the pergola and kitchen.

The pool specs:

• 16 x 32 free form shotcrete, 4’ to 6' deep
• Surface area: 412 sq. ft., Perimeter: 82 ft.
• 4 ton waterfall
• 26’ x 18” raised beam with 24” end columns, stacked stone facing capped with flagstone
• 6 x 6 water line tile and flagstone coping
• Pebble Sheen interior (aqua blue)
• Sun deck, walk-in steps, deep end swim out
• 2 main drains, 2 skimmers, 3 returns
• Jandy Never Lube valves
• Standard Pool kit including start-up chemicals
• Pentair Intelliflow VS Pump
• Pentair Sta-Rite System 3 Modular Media Cartridge Filter 450 sq. ft.
• Pentair IntelliChlor IC40 SW Cell
• Pentair Kreepy Krauly Legend II cleaner
• 2 Pentair Intellibrite 5G LED pool lights
• 1 Pentair Intellibrite 5G LED spa light (waterfall)
• 2 Pentair ColorCascade LED lights/bubblers (sun deck)
• Pentair Easy Touch 8PCS with actuators
• Pentair ScreenLogic2 & Wireless Kit
• 500 sq. ft. Kool deck

We went with a light show heavy design and eventually will add some Pentair landscape lights to the Easy Touch system.

Trying to decide on Auto-Fill. Any thoughts on that or anything else in the specs?

We are in the permitting process now. PB estimates 2-3 weeks for that, then 1-2 weeks to schedule excavation. They're estimating we'll be swimming in mid-August. Going to need it in the Georgia summer heat!

I'll post pictures throughout the build. Here's the quick rendering the PB left with us yesterday:



- Mark

 

[JasonLion]

I've heard some mild negatives about the Pentair Sta-Rite System 3 filters. People seem to be much happier with the Pentair Clean and Clear Plus series.

Everything else looks fine, and even the filter issue is minor.

 

[BigDag]

Thanks for the feedback Jason.

I originally asked about the Clean and Clear Plus and the PB recommended we go with the Sta-Rite. I'll have to dig a little deeper with him.

I also asked about an Auto-Fill and he recommended not to do it because he's seen some trouble with them over the years. Said that since they're in the decking it'd be a hassle to deal with a failure. And he also mentioned winterizing concerns, since we're not heating the pool. He recommended to get the water hose out once a week. Thought to myself I'd have to do that anyways if the Auto-Fill failed.

- Mark

 

[bmoreswim]

If you nix the auto-fill, have a line installed from the pad (or where your hose is) right into the pool to be able to drop the hose in to fill. That's what I hope to do with an extra line that comes from our main drain that is plugged and not currently being used. They put it in as a backup to the primary main drain line in case something was damaged during construction since its in the shell. That way you won't have hose draped over the deck when filling. If it slops downward no water will sit in it. You will just put a plug in both ends when/if you close.

 

[duraleigh]

I have never owned an autofill but have read reports on the forum of them being troublesome from time to time.

Of all the time-saving, convenience items on a pool, that one has always seemed quite unimportant to me. I sorta' enjoy adding some fill water....it's a time to look over your pool for other issues.