Finished...for now

[cmc#5]

I havent taken the time to come in here and post anything; the last few months have been a whirlwind. In the middle of the biggest downturn in the oil industry (which I work in...) we decide to build a pool. Not only that, but we decided to play General Contractor, albeit with the help of our good friend and neighbor. Without his help and without being able to speak Spanish I think this would've been a disaster. Instead it just turned into a time sink of tremendous proportions.

Overall I'd say the quality of labor we hired was good. The depth of their knowledge wasnt, however, so we really had to be on our toes about everything. We had to decide what, where, when, how. Once we articulated that, the crews were good. Several times we wondered if we shouldve hired a real pool builder...but now that its done, I think we did the right thing.

Ok, enough of my boring ranting...how about some pictures?



Here's a big hole in the ground, three feet or so off of our existing concrete slab patio. The rebar is in, and some of the early plumbing. The spa ended up being bigger than originally planned. See, I sprayed the outline of the pool on the grass with paint for the guys coming to dig the hole. Only, for the pool I drew a line that was 6" beyond the INside of the pool and on the spa for some reason I drew the line 6" beyond the OUTside of the spa. So, the spa is roughly two feet bigger in diameter than originally intended. Once the hole was dug and we realized what had happened all the neighbors pressured us into keeping the party sized hot tub

 

[cmc#5]

hmmm...need to figure out how to add more pictures. Ran into this 250k limit for everything lol

 

[April]

Donate to TFP and get more photo space or photobucket works.

We love pictures!::

 

[f3justusc]

A party sized hot tub sounds like a winner! I can't wait to see more pictures. Become a member or use Photobucket, which is very simple.

 

[SuzfromTexas]

I'm excited to see more pictures!

Everyone gets a limited amount of space to post pictures. There are 2 options once that's depleted. You can become a member for a small fee, or use a photo site - photo bucket is the one I use. I believe others work as well. Copy and move pictures to your post via the IMG button once you enlarge the photo.

I am a member, but sometimes it's easier to use photo bucket. I hope this helps. Take care! Suz.

 

[cmc#5]

Ok ok photobucket...didnt even remember I had a photobucket account lol

Anyway, here's one of the crews spraying gunite in the giant hole in the ground that is soon to hold all of my savings. I've worked with concrete before, but never concrete that comes out of a high pressure hose, sticks to the walls, and allows you to walk on it within minutes. Cool stuff.

 

[SuzfromTexas]

Ha! I love your metaphor!! I always told people I wanted to bury my money in the backyard. Now I am! (as well as most of us on this forum!!)

Great pictures! You're going to have an awesome pool! Suz.

 

[cmc#5]

Here's the fully gunited pool.




Note the pipe coming up out of the sun pad. Thats supposed to be a bubbler with a light. The plumber had never seen such a thing so he ended up not plumbing it in right. Luckily we figured it out and were able to dig it out and fix it without too much drama. Funnier is the fact that there is no second hole/pipe in that sun pad. I wanted to be able to put an umbrella on the sun pad and had this insert to put in, only I forgot all about it! So, the day after I realized this and there I am with a hammer drill and a chisel making holes in the bottom of my newly gunited pool-to-be.

- - - Updated - - -

And here it is a few weeks later lol


The iphones pano pictures are pretty cool but do give things a curvy distortion. That line between the old concrete patio and the new spraydeck is actually quite straight!

 

[cmc#5]

Here it is from the upstairs window.


And another one at night testing out the LED colors.


Last but not least for now, here is another nicely distorting pano pic where things look a little more lived in

 

[April]

Great job! Beautiful!

 

[ozdiver]

Nice job!
Are those tile/glass inlays on the Spa seat and sundeck edge?

You needn't have worried about the umbrella hole in your sundeck.
The Plaster crew routinely chip out holes for them during the time they are plugging the weep holes and preping the returns.
We had on set in our sundeck this way.

How did the bubbler turn out? It's not running in your pics. Hint, hint, more pics please.

 

[cmc#5]

Where were you when I was panicking! hahaha

The sundeck, spa seat, and two deep end steps all have pieces of tile to dress them up a bit. We used the same tiles that line the pool/spa, just cut into four pieces and set into the plaster. The guy that set them was pretty amazing just eyeballing where they should go. I teased him they wouldnt be even lol and he teased me saying he's done this once or twice before. We had a good laugh and he was right.

The bubbler is cool except for the fact that it doesnt appear to be truly Hayward compatible. Its a Savi unit and supposed to be hayward light compatible but I've not been able to get it to be on the same color or color show as the other three lights. More experimentation is needed tough.

 

[SuzfromTexas]

Who set the tiles to dress up the steps, sun deck, spa, etc? Was it the guy who did the tile or the plaster guy? I'm a little confused on that part. Thanks! Suz.

 

[cmc#5]

The plaster contractor set the pieces of tile on the steps etc. The tile line and coping was already finished and that was done by a different contractor. Plaster contractor guy had a machine that allowed him to scribe and snap the tiles cleanly. It only took a few minutes for him to cut 6x6 tiles into four 3x3 tiles. As they were spreading the plaster one of the crew would push the pieces into the plaster and smooth around them.

 

[SuzfromTexas]

Thanks so much for explaining! My next stage will be plaster. But the tile guys will be back for a day this week. I don't want to miss getting the accent pieces added. Take care! Suz.