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Gooseafcrna

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Apr 11, 2015
29
La Vernia, Tx
image.jpgView attachment 37269

Well, we think that the Air Force is going to leave us in place for my last 4.5 yrs. With my wife now working as a school nurse and having the summers off with the kids, I have reluctantly decided to put in a pool. The color pic was the original designers pitch. We had him alter it to put a small amount of decking to connect the deep end to the patio. The main pool deck off of our house is going to replace our current flagstone patio that is set in gravel. We all felt like the gravel would be tracked into the pool, so we will use this flagstone for the areas around the pool. We have lots of landscaping and plants already, so the planter areas in the design will actually be rock beds that we can place planters in if we choose to do so. We hope that they can get started next week.

It will be 90.5 linear feet with a small sun shelf, bench in the deep end, flagstone coping, kool decking, 2 color LED lights, color LED bubbler light on sun shelf, Wet Edge Satin Matrix (not sure of color yet), traditional chlorine pool. I'll post before pictures of the backyard shortly to give you an idea of what it looks like now. I am open to any and all suggestion. We are pretty close to the top of what we wanted to spend and neither me or my wife wanted a spa. Our kids are 12 and 14 and really looking forward to the pool.

Eric
 
Looks like a nice design. Only suggestion (and it applies to anyone building a new pool) is to get either a 2-speed or variable-speed (VS) pump. No point in getting a single-speed pump these days with lots more 2-speeds and VS on the market at much more attractive price points than even a couple of years ago. Two-speeds cost just slightly more than an equivalent single-speed and the difference will be paid back in less than a year in the forms of electric savings. From then on, it's all gravy. If your electric rate is greater than $0.20 per kWh, then I would spring for a variable-speed. Otherwise, a 2-speed is your best bet.
 
I like it. +1 on the VS pump, love mine. We have 3 benches loved by kids and adults, wish we had 4. We skipped the built in spa and are glad we did. We added one later on the covered patio and love it, use it almost every day. It is more comfortable, more efficient and cheaper to have a standalone hot tub.

I'm not a fan of spray on decking products, they usually have to be redone in a few years. We have rock salt colored concrete and it is great after 3 years, maintenance free. Pics in my build in my sig.
 
First of all, thank you for your service!!
Second, welcome to TFP!
And third, lovely pool design and gorgeous landscaping!

It looks like you have a large backyard, and I'm so jealous! I love having a lot of space to play with and design, but sighhhhhh, I have a smallish yard.

I'm a little unclear about your existing plants. I've had to learn the hard way how much of the yard is destroyed when building a pool. We dug up as many plants as we could, but we've still lost more than I expected. It's ok, and I understand. I just wanted to give you a heads up in case you're attached to particular plants. Make sure the crews know to be careful.

I can't wait to see more pictures - especially those before and after ones you mentioned. It's going to be fun to follow your build! All the best! Suz.
 
Thanks for the replies and advice. The plan calls for a 3hp variable speed pump and a Legend cleaner with booster pump. I looked in to a robot, but we get a ton of leaves and the PB thinks that the cleaner w/booster pump will work better. If anyone thinks differently, please let me know.

Pooldv: I'm not a big fan of the Kool decking either, but honestly it is what we can afford. So far,we are a little under our max budget, but I'm sure little things will pop up. Is the salt concrete generally more expensive that the kool decking? We will have about 605 sq ft of decking.

Suz: we have a little over an acre lot evenly split between the front and back yards. We'd love to go bigger with the pool since we have room, but we want to pay cash and not take out a loan, so we are a little constrained. The yard is a big issue for me as I love our backyard. We have a street directly on back of us, so the equipment will come through the back fence and take out 2 smaller non-hardwood trees, but our plantings mostly surround the grass in the yard, so they will be safe. I don't want a lot of plants right around the pool mainly because it's already expensive enough to water during the summer here, but I also just don't think that they are needed with what we already have around the yard. Although it just looks green now, lots of flowering shrubs, roses, etc.

I will post a few pics of the house and yard to give you an idea. BTW, how do I delete the photos that I have used so that I can add more?
image.jpgimage.jpg
 
Oh, how beautiful! So lovely and peaceful! You'll love the pool. The yard and pool will enhance each other. I love the back of the house, too. There's nothing like windows across the back to make the most of a pool in a fabulous yard. Thanks for posting the pics!
 
Dang budgets! Rocksalt concrete was the cheapest option for us and we love it. Win! We didn't price kooldeck, but I would think it would be cheaper. All my deck guys did was wheelbarrow in the concrete, smooth it, float it, throw the color hardener on, throw rock salt on, press it into the concrete and cover it with plastic for a couple of days.

Definitely get the VSpump. We have lots of trees too that dump tons of stuff in our pool spring and fall. We run our pump on 1100rpm 24x7 during high season to constantly skim leaves and stuff so it doesn't sink to the bottom. Pump only draws 150 watts and 1100 rpm gives me good skimming action and enough flow for my SWCG (saltwater chlorine generator). Also, get the biggest filter you can.

Nice backyard, it's going to be awesome!

- - - Updated - - -

My bro is wrapping up his AF gig at Hurlburt, 23 years or so.
 
Well, the PB delivered a Kubota excavator this evening. We are going to do some sprinkler work on Tomorrow and Monday, and digging is scheduled on Tuesday. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to erase the pics I've posted so that I can post more? The 3 I've posted have used up all the space for attachments and I can't figure out how to delete them. Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words about my military service.

Eric
 

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Thanks ozdiver. Here are few more before pics of the yard. I think that once you click on the picture you will be taken to my photobucket album. It's killing me to have it torn up, but there's no way around it. I will take down a portion of the back fence today so the equipment can get in to the yard. The PB told me yesterday that he feels that he can finish it before I leave for training, which made my wife very happy to hear.


Eric
 
I like the mature Oaks. Makes it cozy. My backyard is completely open, but hey, at least here in Texas we can get some pretty good-sized backyards. :) By the way, I work at Randolph, so when you get up & running or have any questions, shoot me a message. Welcome! :)
 
Thanks Tx splash. I'm sure I will hit you is for advice once the pool is finished. They formed the pool and completed the dig today. The goal is to have rebar and plumbing completed by EOD Monday and the gunite by the end of next week. We had some sprinkler lines capped off yesterday and they will be re-routed after the pool is complete. I think we will be pretty happy with the location of the pool in the yard, but it's too bad we couldn't afford it to be a little bigger. My wife did decide on Wet Edge Antigua for the pebble. I'll try and attach a few pics.


 
Rebar got finished today and the plumber is still working at 8pm. He said he will be finished by noon tomorrow. We are supposed to get gunite next week, but are forecasted for rain for 4 days in a row. I knew the yard would be trashed, but it's still hard to see it as it's happening!

They also dismantled our flagstone patio. The flagstones are just set in crushed gravel, which I liked but the designer and builder both felt like that cause us to track gravel into the pool. The concrete decking will be poured in the same place as the flagstone and they will use the flagstone for our walkways.

 
Wow, great progress! It looks like a relatively tidy dig, and the rebar looks good, too. But I'm not an expert, so don't take my word for it.

We also have rain in the forecast for the next 7 days. I'm hoping this round of rain will be more of the summer pattern, where it's often hit or miss. All spring it seemed like when rain was forecasted, it DID! We used to laugh around here and say the higher the rain chance, the less likely it would rain (unless it was a tropical storm or such). So maybe this coming week will be spotty for us and you guys as well! Keeping fingers crossed your build is finished before you leave. Take care. Suz.
 
Thanks Suz. The plumber was here working at 0600 this morning and the PB stopped by at 0900 to tell me that the gunite crew had a cancellation in Austin, so they would be doing my gunite today! They showed up shortly after noon and finished up around 6:15. Overall it looks pretty good, but I've never been around a pool build so I honestly don't know. I'll start watering it tomorrow morning and hopefully they can get some more work done next week. Dumb question, but when is it safe to walk on? Can I stand in the pool to water it down tomorrow? The dogs will be really happy when they can have their backyard back. Thanks.



 
It looks great! I'm not an expert either, but it looks better than mine. What I've learned through my build is that as long as the gunite is good structurally, you should be ok. I was concerned since I didn't get 'the best' gunite company due to all the rain back-ups. For mine, it seems the crews that follow can fix sloppy or uneven areas. Of course, that's not fair to the tile and plaster guys. I still have quite a few sloppy areas that the plaster guys will have to shave off with a shovel or whatever. Then they have places that are not level. I guess they will fix that too.

Maybe this is normal, but my PB and the tile foreman were taking photos of a couple of places on the gunite. They seemed very unhappy about those places. My point is that the aesthetics can be fixed.

I was told I could step on the gunite about 6 hours later, but I waited until the next morning.

Love the military 24 hour times! Brings my son (retired Marine) a little closer in feeling. Great build progress! Suz.
 
Re: Getting started-update

The PB came through and finished the pool in time for me to enjoy it for a couple of days before I left on my training and deployment. We ended up going with Wet Edge Antigua for the plaster. We still have to get the sprinkler system hooked up and re-routed, and complete the landscaping around the pool, but that should be done in the next 2 weeks. Unfortunately, my wife is now having to handle all of that on her own and learn how to take care of the pool, but she and the kids are enjoying the pool.




 

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