Almost time!

[greatsamfirst]

hi all my first time on here and im so grateful for finding such a great forum for all things pool!... we are in contract about to close on our loan next week and dig will start mon after (fingers crossed). We live in katy, a houston suburb and hopefully we’ll be done by summer... PB has given us a 12 week build time provided all goes as planned...Must say building a pool definitely gave us a sticker shock... so my design is costing us $78K ? we have a current 20x30 patio that we’ll be taking out and replacing with 12x20 covered patio with stone facade in base and approximately 12x10 (uncovered) plus decking in cool deck total close to 650 sq feet cool deck... coping in travertine...raised spa 7x8 ft... 36x18 ft pool water lines...6ft deep to 3.5ft shallow end...glass tile inside spa and around pool water lines...hayward equipment... and swim jet for exercise...6x14 ft tanning ledge... stonescape mini pebble plaster...3 sheer fountains a little different than his drawings im going to post basically one sheer on each part of the stone facades wall... with bench on half of it...we are still far from selecting tiles and other design details... just wanted to get this thread started since we are super excited to have this done for our texas summers... have a 7 yr old and an 18 month old... so definitely removable fence coming in soon after completion... im attaching our drawings... would love all your input incase we may have overlooked any details... our PB will replace sod and fence plus add a safety gate to the outside yard entrance. We got a total of 4 bids and this particular PB was very knowledgeable and quick to respond... we’ve visited 2 of his pools and the work is beautiful...i hope ours comes out just as great and we can make lifetime of memories... please do post comments and suggestions it’ll really help us along the way... fyi we’re leaning towards aqua blue mini pebble.
Thanks
Sam

 

[zea3]

Hi Sam, welcome to TFP! Do you know more specifics about the pump and filter? If you want to upload a spec sheet from your PB we can advise you a little better. Best wishes for a successful build!

 

[greatsamfirst]

Sorry that would surely help... here are the specs

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!

How do you plan to chlorinate your pool? The list shows only a tablet feeder. The use of solid chlorine products is not a sustainable way to chlorinate your pool.

Consider reading Chlorinating your pool.

 

[greatsamfirst]

Welcome to the forum!

How do you plan to chlorinate your pool? The list shows only a tablet feeder. The use of solid chlorine products is not a sustainable way to chlorinate your pool.

Consider reading Chlorinating your pool.

I think my pictures might be showing a little cut off on the bottom... it has an ozonator and an ultra uv sanitizer... would that be sufficient or would i still be missing something?

 

[mknauss]

UV and ozone are not sanitizers. Actually, they are pretty much ineffective for an outdoor pool. I assume this pool is outdoors?

Read Alternative Sanitizers - The Truth

You need to either plan to add liquid chlorine daily or install a Saltwater Chlorine Generator.

 

[greatsamfirst]

UV and ozone are not sanitizers. Actually, they are pretty much ineffective for an outdoor pool. I assume this pool is outdoors?

Read Alternative Sanitizers - The Truth

You need to either plan to add liquid chlorine daily or install a Saltwater Chlorine Generator.

so we were initially wanting to go with a salt water pool but were discouraged by 3 out of 4 pool builders... this particular PB suggested we go with an ozonator w/ a uv sanitizer which would require minimum chlorine necessary to keep all algae and bacteria from growing... what would you suggest we ask this PB to add on top of all this? we are very new to all this hence not so familiar with the products out there

 

[mknauss]

Read the two articles I linked to.

TFP would recommend eliminating the UV and Ozone items. Then you decide if you want a SWCG or you want to add liquid chlorine every day.

Most Texas builders do not like SWCG. A regional thing. Lots of our Texas forum members have SWCG's.

 

[greatsamfirst]

Read the two articles I linked to.

TFP would recommend eliminating the UV and Ozone items. Then you decide if you want a SWCG or you want to add liquid chlorine every day.

Most Texas builders do not like SWCG. A regional thing. Lots of our Texas forum members have SWCG's.

Thank you i’ll definitely look into it!

 

[MUPPPP]

Looks like an awesome build, btw.

 

[mknauss]

Read the articles I linked to above.

The sun provides vastly more UV to an outdoor pool than any little lamp can.

 

[kimkats]

I love, love, love your design! You did everything I would have told you to do with it! Well done!

-heater-It says "universal"....is that the brand or does it mean what he has on hand? I will tell you Raypak heaters have a very good name here.

For the 7 yr old do this to help him know when the pool will be done. Instead of a calendar post the events on the fridge and let him check them off as they get done.
-take out old patio
-Mark yard for pool with paint
-dig the hole aka start making mud LOL
-put in steel/rebar
-put in pipe for plumbing and electric
-pour shell
-put in equipment (make sure there is a light over the equipment pad. You will thank me the first time you have to go out there at night)
-decking
-tile in pool
-coping around pool
-plaster
-water balanced=SWIMMING!

Now some of this might not be in the order your PB does it. They each have their way of doing things so go with the flow. I don't want you to use a calendar as there are many things that can slow down a build and we sure don't want anyone to point at the calendar and say "why isn't my pool done?" and be sad

I would love to see a pic of the real yard so we really know what you are working with.

Kim
-decking

 

[greatsamfirst]

I love, love, love your design! You did everything I would have told you to do with it! Well done!

-heater-It says "universal"....is that the brand or does it mean what he has on hand? I will tell you Raypak heaters have a very good name here.

For the 7 yr old do this to help him know when the pool will be done. Instead of a calendar post the events on the fridge and let him check them off as they get done.
-take out old patio
-Mark yard for pool with paint
-dig the hole aka start making mud LOL
-put in steel/rebar
-put in pipe for plumbing and electric
-pour shell
-put in equipment (make sure there is a light over the equipment pad. You will thank me the first time you have to go out there at night)
-decking
-tile in pool
-coping around pool
-plaster
-water balanced=SWIMMING!

Now some of this might not be in the order your PB does it. They each have their way of doing things so go with the flow. I don't want you to use a calendar as there are many things that can slow down a build and we sure don't want anyone to point at the calendar and say "why isn't my pool done?" and be sad

I would love to see a pic of the real yard so we really know what you are working with.

Kim
-decking

Thank you...?.... the 7 yr old is definitely beyond excited this is a great idea to check off milestones.... as for the heater im not quite sure what universal is ... ill be more than happy to confirm with the PB... he had initially quoted 250 btu but my husband got it changed to 400 btu ...i will get the picture of the actual yard sometime today and post it??...looks like i have a chlorination issue to settle w the PB first?...

 

[Phx_Jay]

Sounds like a great pool! Almost all of our PB bids discouraged saltwater and wanted to use Ozone and UV as well. Neither has been proven to be effective the way chlorine is. The SWG is just a good way to provide that chlorine to your pool. I cant wait to see the pics!

 

[greatsamfirst]

Sounds like a great pool! Almost all of our PB bids discouraged saltwater and wanted to use Ozone and UV as well. Neither has been proven to be effective the way chlorine is. The SWG is just a good way to provide that chlorine to your pool. I cant wait to see the pics![/QUOTE

thank you.... so what system did you end up w?

 

[mknauss]

Take a look at the signature of members to see what their pool and equipment spec. We encourage all members to fill out a signature.

Phx_Jay shows a Pentair IC40 SWCG in their signature.

 

[Demegrad9]

Design looks great!

Just to emphasize, don't let a PB con you into buying worthless junk like an ozonator, UV, and chlorine tab feeder. The funniest one is the UV system, you live in Houston and the pool is outside, how much UV could you possibly get?

Losing those item should free up enough money in the budget to go SWCG. Or another good option is using liquid chlorine to chlorinate and automate it with a Stenner Pump.

 

[bmoreswim]

Great advice above. I encourage you to take a leadership role in your build by deciding what you want, somewhat independent of the PB, and then having educated discussions with him/her. I see some appreciating that they should follow our advice, but then get somewhat overruled by their PB's.

What I'm really getting at is you should decide on equipment and tell him. I know it's a bit of a tough concept to get at first, since homeowners naturally think of the PB as the expert. But the true experts in pool care (and therefore pool equipment selection), are here.

Small thing but consider a robot cleaner vs. the suction cleaner specified in your build. I highly recommend the Dolphin line, especially the S series or their Dolphin clones. There is a link in my signature to a thread exploring them.

Last recommendation is to expect a longer time-frame than he mentions. The PB says 12 weeks if all goes well. It never ALL goes well. OK, once in a blue moon it does. But expect 16 weeks if he said 12. Expecting 12 is basically setting yourself up for disappointment. Also expect many days of great weather and no work getting done. And your yard to be totally trashed and then for it to make a miraculous comeback late in the game. All just part of the process.

Enjoy the aspects of the build process that you can and survive the rest.

 

[greatsamfirst]

Design looks great!

Just to emphasize, don't let a PB con you into buying worthless junk like an ozonator, UV, and chlorine tab feeder. The funniest one is the UV system, you live in Houston and the pool is outside, how much UV could you possibly get?

Losing those item should free up enough money in the budget to go SWCG. Or another good option is using liquid chlorine to chlorinate and automate it with a Stenner Pump.

Thank you great advice!

 

[greatsamfirst]

Great advice above. I encourage you to take a leadership role in your build by deciding what you want, somewhat independent of the PB, and then having educated discussions with him/her. I see some appreciating that they should follow our advice, but then get somewhat overruled by their PB's.

What I'm really getting at is you should decide on equipment and tell him. I know it's a bit of a tough concept to get at first, since homeowners naturally think of the PB as the expert. But the true experts in pool care (and therefore pool equipment selection), are here.

Small thing but consider a robot cleaner vs. the suction cleaner specified in your build. I highly recommend the Dolphin line, especially the S series or their Dolphin clones. There is a link in my signature to a thread exploring them.

Last recommendation is to expect a longer time-frame than he mentions. The PB says 12 weeks if all goes well. It never ALL goes well. OK, once in a blue moon it does. But expect 16 weeks if he said 12. Expecting 12 is basically setting yourself up for disappointment. Also expect many days of great weather and no work getting done. And your yard to be totally trashed and then for it to make a miraculous comeback late in the game. All just part of the process.

Enjoy the aspects of the build process that you can and survive the rest.

I think im prepared for the trashed yard im hoping n praying for minimal set backs though!