Belldiver's Pool Build

Jump to latest Follow Reply
I finished up the plumbing to the (future) pad and pressure tested everything to 50 psi today. All holding pressure as they should.

You can see the form up for the brick fence bases in the background. We should finish them up and be done on Saturday.

Tile and coping scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Possibly brushed concrete decking next week if the moon and the stars align...

Here are some pics of the plumbing...

Plumb2.jpg


Plumb1.jpg


Plumb3.jpg


Plumb4.jpg


Enjoy!
 
Got any new pics?

Hi there. I am thinking of owner/building my pool as well. Have had 3 pb's out and the price to build here in Mississippi is rediculous. There are not a lot of pools here for some reason, and I am afraid I will have problems finding subs that will work for an independant? What are your thoughts on this? Where are you located and how did you located your subs? I don't live in an area like Arazona where folks do this all the time and it is easy to find subs. But I don't work outside the home and consider myself of above average intelligance :roll: so I think I can pull it off. I certainly have the time for it, and I am good at finding info and products on the internet. What you have done so far looks great. Do you have any additional pics you could send? Is your pool finished yet? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
 
cword,

I'll be glad to pass on any tips I pick up along the way. The pool is not complete yet, right now it's as you see in the pics up to this point. My concrete guys have been slowing me down a little this last week. I do have plenty more pics I can send to you if you're interested. Just send me a PM with an email address and I'll get some together in the next day or two. There's also a really good link from the homepage called howibuiltmyownpool.
http://www.howibuiltmyownpool.com/
I actually read up quite a bit fom that site and then just scoured the internet and this TFP community really filled in alot of the blanks. I'm still asking questions as this build progresses.

As far as finding subs, I seriously doubt any of the PB's will give you their little black book. I ended up finding one of the local landscaping sand/gravel yards that does excavating work for most of the PB's in town. I spoke with them directly and they had a line on the rebar/gunite crews...and those guys know the good tile/coping guys...and those guys know the good plaster guys...and so on...

Most of those subcontractor crews already know what and how to do their jobs. You just have to know your basic pool construction and be very specific with them about how you want things done...and run around with a tape measure and 6" level in your pocket...and maybe nudge them along a little. Otherwise they'll just do it however is easiest. My gunite guys actually caught me on a couple mistakes I was making and pointed me in the right direction.
Sometimes communication can be a problem as most of the subs are hispanics, but there is usually at least one on the jobsite that speaks fair english. Just make sure you are getting your point across, even if it gets down to drawing pictures.

If I didn't have to head back offshore again for the month of April, I'm sure I'd be completed by May 1st, but as I'm working around my work schedule and insisting I am present during all phases of construction, I'm hoping for June right now.

Let me know if I can help you out!

Jim
 
Where did you get your plans?

Hi there. I am very impressed with the job so far. Any new pics? I am in the early stages of owner/build. Can you tell me how you got your plans together for your subs? I see you drew it out on google, but how did you put all the stuff in there such that the subs need to know like the excavator, rebar subs. etc. I am stuck because I don't have access to pool plans and am wondering if I need to call out a landscape architect. Any ideas? thanks
 
cword,

Where are you located?

Here in the Sacramento, Ca. area we have a company that design your pool and help with all the step of doing an owner builder.

Until recently I was planning to go owner builder but then decided that I just don't have the time to be there like I would want.

Good luck to you.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Jim,

Lookin grrrreat!!

This is the first chance that I've had to log onto this site in months, and I'm glad to see that you've been able to progress right along (without me.)

Best of all, without the middlemen, who would only slow you down, cost you money, and allow more screw-ups.

Best of luck on the rest of the build... you're doing fantastic!!

Steve
 
Thanks Steve,

Progress has been a little slow lately, mostly due to my work schedule. I'm trying to get the pool deck poured this week or next. I'll update with a couple pics later tonight. Also trying to find some masons to build the brick fence columns. I may end up learning how to do it myself...

Jim
 
OK OK I know I'm long overdue for an update. It's just been a busy past few weeks...

I decided to upgrade from a standard brush finish concrete decking to stamped/stained like I really wanted. I did some more calling around and finally found some guys to do the work. We formed up over the last couple weeks and poured/stamped last Thursday. A whole lot of prep work involved in this operation, but I'm glad I did it. The stamping is called Grand Ashlar. The base color is Adobe Buff and the release was Philly Blue. It looks a little plain right now, but will darken and gloss up when we get it detailed and sealed. Kinda like a seashell looks great when wet, but kinda plain when dry. I saw cut the control joints on Saturday and hope to get the detailing done on Wednesday or Thursday. I'll post another couple pics of the finished product when it's all done. The price compared to brushed concrete did jump significantly here though. I'll tally that up later...

I also got the bases built/poured for the brick columns. You can see a few of them in these pics too, but the masons are working on them right now. I'll get some updated pics of those when finished too. Enjoy!

Grand Ashlar stamping, Adobe Buff base with Philly Blue release agent. 3" channel drains, 1" deep sawcut control joints.
Stamped3.jpg

Stamped2.jpg

You can also see the raised planter here. I still need to finish grouting the tile on the backside.
Stamped4.jpg

Stamped5.jpg

Stamped1.jpg
 
That stamped concrete looks awesome, but you need to stop giving me ideas that keep costing me more $ :lol: :lol: It is all coming together very nicely, it flows so well witht he back of your house. I'm jealous :-D
 
Another overdue update...

Things are coming along fairly well considering my work schedule and doing everything largely by myself. I finally got the stamped concrete detailed and sealed. It really makes the original colors pop out. The sealer gives it a nice wet look. I added Rhino grip to the sealer mix to give it some non-skid. It really works well. Not slippery and not too abrasive...and I'm a tenderfoot. You can definately tell how slick the sealer is though in the few areas that did not get much in the mix. I would definately recommend adding some non-skid product to any of this sealer. Here are a couple pics of the finished stamping.

A close up sample...
Example1.jpg


And a couple more of the finished colors. The non-skid is not visible in the final product.
Sealed1.jpg


Sealed2.jpg


I also got the brick fence columns completed and filled with concrete and the shadowbox fence started. I'll get some more pics up as I get them uploaded. The plumbing is 90% complete and I trenched the new electric conduit lines to the shop and back to the plumbing pad. New wire pulled and hooked to the new sub-panel in my shop. The electrician is bringing power to the Intermatic sub-panel at the pool pad today. Wow, copper is expensive now...had to buy 580 ft of #2 and 180 ft of #8. Ouch...

More to come...
 
Here's my 90% completed plumbing pad. I'm trying to keep things neat and orderly. Suction side on the left and pressure side on the right. Still need to install the Pool Pilot cell on the lower horizontal run and there's a Tee to run the Polaris robot either upstream or downstream of the SWCG. Also installed the Jandy Valves for an automation system to be added at a later time. There are individual control valves for the three shear descents and deck jets that can be controlled as a group by the NeverLube valves. There should be plenty of room for a heater at a later time too. The acid pump will have to go somewhere else at that time.

P1010048.jpg
 
What beautiful and neat plumbing! Mine looks absolutely NOTHING like that! LOL. I love your stamped concrete. It gives the whole project such a designer look. Good choice of upgrade on that one. I'm swimming!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply