Blank slate/Pool build in Maryland

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here is what i mean. you can see i put conduit only under areas that would be concrete or solid decking. then i can run wire or more conduit however i want in landscape areas or planters. no worry about guys working. i go in after all is done and dig out my conduits that are buried under gravel for sidewalks pavers whatever.

also see how u get 2 zones of stereo sound so no matter where in pool you ae covered by lighting up the one side right across vs opposite sides of pool and then sound gets wonk.

jim
 
Captchaos said:
By the way, your builder told us we absolutely had to have a retaining wall and gave us a higher quote without one.

I'm looking at your pictures again and it is easy to miss that your yard was not level. It looks very similar to mine. This makes me feel a lot better about the construction.
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Good you didn't go with them. Their sale ends as soon as they get your money and once ground is broken you will NEVER see them again. They did not pay a single visit to the site to check progress not even once.

One of my quotes was going to lower the house side of the pool about a foot so that back corner didn't have to be raised as much. Not sure how that would have worked out we are actually pretty happy with the elevation. But it would have been a LOT easier to get that back part landscaped properly. We are thinking of putting a retaining wall around that corner to even out the tree that is over there. It just looks like it needs a retaining wall. I think structurally it is ok as-is though.
 
jimim said:
i can't see pic?

but i will say i really think you only need to get conduit under the patio space for now cause u are going to want ur speakers outside ur decking anyway so you can go around the decking i assume. might be longer but just use heavier gauge. but try to get that pic up so i can see it and i'll look.
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Sorry about the picture issue. I’m not sure what happened. Hopefully this works better. The problem is the yard isn’t level and needs to be graded. Any conduit I put in now will certainly be under a lot of dirt and then a concrete patio.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KmaTh440OjotTJwD2

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I like the idea of speakers across the back, that will be easier. I do want to make sure I have enough speakers so that I don’t have to blast it for everyone to hear it.
 
Captchaos said:
Sorry about the picture issue. I’m not sure what happened. Hopefully this works better. The problem is the yard isn’t level and needs to be graded. Any conduit I put in now will certainly be under a lot of dirt and then a concrete patio.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KmaTh440OjotTJwD2

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I like the idea of speakers across the back, that will be easier. I do want to make sure I have enough speakers so that I don’t have to blast it for everyone to hear it.
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thats why I would just put conduit under concrete where u need to before they pour and take it from there. Then they won’t be deep and able to get to. I wouldn’t do anything till grades r done. U don’t want those conduits down far. I would just wait a bit.

U have speakers on the back patio already.

I would jist light light up the back side of the pool like I said and u will be good for just the pool. If u have any other areas then I would make them their own zone so u can control volumes.

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Oh also I’ll just throw this out there. Ur decking. A lot of it is 5 and 6 feet. That isn’t enough room for lounge chairs. U need at least 9 to 10 feet. I only saw that one area that was deeper. I was just saying Incase u thought u needed more area.
 
Thanks. Am I understanding correctly that you are using a single speaker feed from the house and then daisy chaining speakers together? You mentioned lower resistances so I am assuming so. I have a decent older Denon receiver I might use or a newer one connected to my home theater I could also use--I would rather keep them separate but the newer Denon supports AirPlay, wifi, app control, etc. so that would make things a lot easier from a mobile device.

I agree with you on the decking. We want more but up until recently we were very undecided on larger patio versus larger deck. I think we're going small deck/nice steps down from the house and bigger patio. We may end up changing the decking but we don't really want to blow the budget. :)
 
Captchaos said:
Thanks. Am I understanding correctly that you are using a single speaker feed from the house and then daisy chaining speakers together? You mentioned lower resistances so I am assuming so. I have a decent older Denon receiver I might use or a newer one connected to my home theater I could also use--I would rather keep them separate but the newer Denon supports AirPlay, wifi, app control, etc. so that would make things a lot easier from a mobile device.

I agree with you on the decking. We want more but up until recently we were very undecided on larger patio versus larger deck. I think we're going small deck/nice steps down from the house and bigger patio. We may end up changing the decking but we don't really want to blow the budget. :)
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i don’t daisy chain.

Each speaker is is its own gauge/2 run. If I use gauge/4 I do 1 run per pair that I break out the other 2 wires ford the other speaker in the pair. Saves on speaker wire. I then tie the home runs together if there r more than 1 pair on a zone.

The only time we daisy chair is arrays cause that is the proper way to install them. But again there is still a traditional right left channel in the array. If u have 4 speakers then 2 are on right channel and 2 are on left but daisy chained. The sun is tied into there also on both channels so the proper bass gets dumped to the sun on each channel since u don’t have a dedicated sub channel like in ur home theatre setup.

But the the above is only for arrays.

You have it right the easiest thing is to use a cheaper receiver that has 2 zones if you are only 2 zones. If more than 2 zones then u are in a whole house audio camp with whatever company or school of thought u are in.
 
Got it, so I have a plan then, thanks for the help. I'll wait until it's graded and throw some conduit under the concrete.

By the way, we're changing the decking and adding 10'ish around the house side. Might as well do it now. It's only money right?
 
Captchaos said:
Got it, so I have a plan then, thanks for the help. I'll wait until it's graded and throw some conduit under the concrete.

By the way, we're changing the decking and adding 10'ish around the house side. Might as well do it now. It's only money right?
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What size conduit are you using? It is extremely hard to pull wire through small conduit.
 
how many runs? what size wire?

i can run 4 runs of 12/2 speaker wire in 1.5 inch with ease.

i ran 3 inch from my house to the pool house cause i have 18 home runs of low volt stuff. i put down another 3 inch for overflow and future.

i only use 1.5 if i have 2 or less runs. i never g smaller than 1.5 for ease unless it's 1 run and i know there is no future runs. plus 1.5 gives u room for curves for ease.

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yes once final grade for patios and hardscape is finalized you run ur conduit in the gravel or right below gravel whatever u want. then after those guys mess the yard up again you come in and put down the rest unless u are really sure grades are good to go and u want to do it in one shot but you don't have to go down deep. just like landscape wire. work smarter not harder. lol

jim

Captchaos said:
Got it, so I have a plan then, thanks for the help. I'll wait until it's graded and throw some conduit under the concrete.

By the way, we're changing the decking and adding 10'ish around the house side. Might as well do it now. It's only money right?
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ok so what speakers u thinking? just wondering. . . so many good choices. the proficient rocks are great. you can push those easy with not much power.
 

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I was thinking two 14/4 runs. I was thinking landscape lighting in these conduits at first too but regulations require the builder to install an outlet between 10 and 20’ from the pool. I don’t think I’ll want any lighting inside of the concrete so I should be good there. I’ll just install a transformer at the outlet and run the wire from there.

I haven’t really decided on speakers yet. I’m not much of an audiophile (video is my thing) so anything decent will fit the bill. Someone here posted a thread about TIC GS4 8” speakers. I liked them because they were dual voice coil. However, we saw some at a hotel a couple months ago and pointed them out to my wife and she said, “Oh, I thought we were going to get the rock ones...”. I’ve been married long enough to know that means she didn’t like them. I’m going back and forth on outdoor subs. I haven’t decided on that yet.

I will look into the proficient rocks, thanks.

One final thing. I am also going back and forth on running cat6 out there. I am wondering if I’ll want another POE access point or surveillance camera at some point. It seems like a stretch when I really think about the practicality of it though.
 
Captchaos said:
I was thinking two 14/4 runs. I was thinking landscape lighting in these conduits at first too but regulations require the builder to install an outlet between 10 and 20’ from the pool. I don’t think I’ll want any lighting inside of the concrete so I should be good there. I’ll just install a transformer at the outlet and run the wire from there.

I haven’t really decided on speakers yet. I’m not much of an audiophile (video is my thing) so anything decent will fit the bill. Someone here posted a thread about TIC GS4 8” speakers. I liked them because they were dual voice coil. However, we saw some at a hotel a couple months ago and pointed them out to my wife and she said, “Oh, I thought we were going to get the rock ones...”. I’ve been married long enough to know that means she didn’t like them. I’m going back and forth on outdoor subs. I haven’t decided on that yet.

I will look into the proficient rocks, thanks.

One final thing. I am also going back and forth on running cat6 out there. I am wondering if I’ll want another POE access point or surveillance camera at some point. It seems like a stretch when I really think about the practicality of it though.
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whst length runs for speaker wire? From the look of ur yard size I am thinking u r going to need 12/2? Just throwing it out there.

If if not sure about internet ap or cameras add another conduit and pull in future.

thsts what we do. If u need 3 conduits u run 4. If u need 1 u run 2.

I am running 3 cat6a shielded 10g wire out to my pool house and adding a switch out there with drops all over the pool house. My 4 new cameras will be home run back to my basement rack to the Dvr that services my other cameras. I am using 1080p cameras. I have rg59 with power Siamese wire for my other cameras so I’m sticking to the same.

I would just add extra conduit but with again distance of pool from house I would think u would want an access point outside ur house or somewhere.

Jim
 
I think the distance is about 100’ to the furthest speaker if I just go across the back of the pool. The camera and access point would probably come with the pergola which is still a few years out.

I was also thinking that a directional access point could be mounted on the house too.

It seems like even with two 12/2 speaker wires and two cat6 cables, I should be able to get away with one 2” conduit but you’re right, now is the time to do it. It wouldn’t be terrible to run cat6 and speaker wire in separate conduits either. Shielded cable is pretty expensive based on the jobs I’ve signed off on at work over the years.
 
Not all shielded is created equal. A lot of companies use huge jacket with insulator pair that are as small as 5e. Those u run away from. I only use 1 kind. You can get it from infinity cable at least from what I have seen on the net. They only sell 1 type of shielded 6. It’s about 200 for 1000 feet. It’s true 10g tested when used with the proper ends. It’s awesome awesome wire. I have been using the one they carry for 3 years now.

monoprice has some cheap stuff but the insulated conductors are very very small for 10g applications if needed.
 
I finished my conduit on Friday night (in the dark!) just in time for a Saturday morning gunite shoot. It's a good thing I did, because the gunite crew and rain yesterday did a real number on the trenches. I would have had to redig a bunch of it by hand and that wouldn't have been fun at all.

Here is a rough timelapse of the gunite shoot. Sorry about the last third or so, the camera NVR setting was too low (10GB) so I had to pull another clip that wasn't set to timelapse and speed it up.
Gunite Shoot Day - YouTube
Next is the electrician, followed by trench inspection, followed by five [ten ton] truckloads of dirt coming in to begin the grading, followed by tile and coping. We still have a ways to go here but it's starting to look like a pool at least. The first day of watering the shell was interesting as the concrete sucked up the water in short order. This morning it was raining but I'll spray it down again tonight.

In a few days I'll send the drone up for more pictures. I have to say, it is still looking small to me as it has from the beginning.

It took the two sand/gunite trucks one return trip each for a total of 4 truckloads.
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lXAynVqJhtd5lqktJHh8gsaryBjXLp2JHGyiduLdts5erhMshSL5iugkNcuO7dRA-NrKOw7f6NRKdg=w1920-h974-rw


iHgOtVcFpayAYfN_fdxo0A6zbAVJWQsrnuP3GeA7h54RfQRq-Gz2IckHxBbdbjMuXWpF5E5pse5IQg=w1808-h947-rw


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Well that sure worked out for the best! Talk about cutting it close!

So it is time for YOUR set of links:

Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule

Pool School - Recommended Levels

Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

TFP also has a Pool Math App! Here is the link: Pool Math It is so neat and easy to use!

Make sure to ask any and all questions you might have no matter how small! We have all been where you are at one point.

Ask you PB what test kit he will be providing and share it is. That way we can fill in any holes it might have.

Kim:kim:
 

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