Buying a used AGP

[Kias]

The official death count has been decreased by two. So 5 people total. The worse story has to be the father that died. His daughter was the valedictorian of Lake High School. They were going to graduate the next day, but the High School got hit by a tornado also and pretty much leveled it. So they're going to graduate tomorrow at a local college.

It was a bad weekend for the US in the midwest. 50 tornadoes, 15 dead.

Yes, there's a warning system in place here. We have a relatively new siren, as the old one was taken out by a tornado several years ago, along with the entire neigborhood.

I snapped this picture coming home from work today. This is 2 days after the storm came through.

I'm hearing they were F3 tornadoes, so not the strongest. Big tornadoes are about a mile wide, those leave a serious path!

 

[Kias]

So, as you know, my TF100 kit is on the way! I have to give props to Duraleigh! I ordered it at 7:46am and at 10:50am, I had a tracking number for the shipment. That is completely awesome service!

I was going to do some more rust conversion today, and start painting, but it's suppose to rain tonight, and I'm temporarily out of room in the barn...

 

[Kias]

Oh, and here's your closeup of the countertop. That's a hard picture to take, as it's very shiny. I ground the cement down to 800 grit exposing the aggregate. Not wanting to polish the cement so it would take the sealer better, I stopped there. The epoxy topcoat is a 2:1 epoxy with 100% solids. The smell was almost non-existant.

I used Enpoxy countertop epoxy. While I am schooled in the use of epoxy and handful of different types (Mostly for aircraft) I'm no expert in epoxy itself. So I decided to get something that was used by some of the pros. Probably could've found it cheaper if I knew exactly what I was looking for, but I wasn't too worried about the money, as we saved a bunch just by doing it ourselves.

I was actually shocked that there wasn't your typical epoxy smell to it. It was also thinner than the epoxy I'm used to working with. So it self leveled a lot easier then I thought it was going to.

 

[Kias]

Well, I think my wife is ready for a pool. So we went out, made some room in the barn for storage tonight, and started painting and rust conversion.

Before and After

Go ahead, take a guess where we ran out of paint.

I'll be making a stop after work tomorrow.

I didn't take any pictures of the rust conversion, as I covered that last year, and it's the same 'ole boring thing.

Stuff is suppose to start being delivered tomorrow!

 

[crek31]

Other than the sad news of the tornado victims, what a fun thread to get to read. Thanks for the play-by-play and pix -- very interesting!

 

[Cherie]

WOW, that's scary, Rob! We're grateful that you and your family are ok. :-D

 

[dpool]

Loving this thread!

Heard about the storms on the news but it's different to know I now 'know' somebody right there! So sad and scary. Glad you and yours are okay.

As for your little 'project' more power to ya! Must be nice to have the right tools to do the job. The number of times I've just used a hammer and a then bigger hammer ... .

I'm sure those following along can't wait to see it all put together.

By the way, that pic of your old pool, has got to be the CLEANEST ring float pool I've EVER seen. Looks like once you get this pool up and going we're never going to see any of those "my pools a swamp, frogs and all!" pics from you. HA!

dpool

 

[Kias]

By the way, that pic of your old pool, has got to be the CLEANEST ring float pool I've EVER seen. Looks like once you get this pool up and going we're never going to see any of those "my pools a swamp, frogs and all!" pics from you. HA!

dpool

Last night, we put that ring float pool in the back of my wife's Expedition, and we're giving it to my sister-in-law and their little rugrats. Not that they won't be at our house all the time swimming... but eh...

I bought it last year to see if I could take care of the water, since all I've ever heard was nightmares about pools. Started off doing what the brochures and directions said to do. Got about a week into it, and realized those chemicals were going to cost a fortune! Figured there had to be a better way, that's when I found this place. Used up most of the chemicals I had. Used the HTH 6way kit all year, and some strips the previous owner gave me. Figured it was close enough for a thousand gallons of water that I was just going to dump in a couple months anyway. Worked out just fine.

So anyway, got thinkin' about the uprights I ordered, but never got. I've decided I'm just going to patch them up with fiberglass. I have the stuff for a project I did a few years ago, so I might as well use it. However, I'm forewarning everyone, I'm not going to go for looks on this repair job. I'm only going for structural strength. So it's gonna be ugly! I'm going to put 'em on the backside of the pool where only the occasional deer who crashes through our fence will see it! Outta sight, outta mind... or something like that.

You might get to see some pictures of frogs, however, seems they're all over the place. But hopefully you'll never see the swamp pics! Did lots of pool school last year with a test pool! It seems I go into some zen like state while I'm skimming and vacuuming, etc. So I enjoy it.

 

[1zuggy]

Enjoying this thread very much. It's funny because we live in Michigan, very close to the tornadoes that hit in Dundee, MI, and it seems that our area NEVER experiences extreme weather. We hear about flooding, fires, tornadoes, high snow totals, etc., and I think we take for granted the fact that we just happen to mostly escape these tragedies. Thank goodness your family is safe, and less importantly, that you didn't have your pool up already.

 

[Kias]

I'm thankful my family is ok, but I was trying to have fun with them during the storms! I was in walmart near the fitting rooms in the middle, so I was sending pictures of spiderman underwear to my wife asking her if that was sexy enough for her. My daughter called my wife asking what she should do, she told her to stay put... They were at a friends house in the basement. So I was texting my daughter asking her if she was still in Kansas with Toto. She said she was, thank God. The wizard of Oz clichés then insued for half an hour. My little one collected all that was near and dear to him in his life to bring down stairs. So, he had his Bakugon's and Pokemon's with him. The whole storm blew over in about 40 minutes.

Officially, there were EF3 and EF4 Tornadoes. 130 mph to 200mph winds! (219-322 km/h)
The one by me was an upper EF3 of 160mph. Enough to knock a train over.

 

[Cherie]

LOL, well Rob, the Spiderman underwear? ONLY if you hang upside down to kiss your wife!!

 

[Kias]

I would SO hang upside down to kiss my wife!

 

[1zuggy]

Be sure to post pictures of that, too

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

OMG Rob that is soo sad... just made me absolutely cry. I feel so bad (and guilty about complaining about the little stuff) when people have to go thru something like that...

 

[Suziqzer]

I'd like to know more about how you did the countertops!! I've looked into doing concrete countertops, but can't get DH to try it with me. If I had more details, I might be able to get him to try at least a small piece as a sample to see if it would be something I can get him to help me with. I don't really want laminate, but I think that's where I'm headed with it right now due to the cost of much of anything else.

 

[Kias]

The coping, cove, and skimmer/return showed up yesterday. I was in a slight panic, as the floor pad was suppose to be with it, but after analyzing the pick list, I realized it's been dropped shipped. So that should hopefully be showing up soon. Perhaps the liner will ship today too!

 

[Kias]

We had a semi productive afternoon! I got home from work, and the Fedex guy was on my tail. The test kit, and floor padding came today! The TF100 kit came so fast, I want to order another one, not that I need it, I just like the feeling of getting good service from a company for once!!!

Yesterday, the cove showed up...

...and the coping

...and the widemouth skimmer

I did some fiberglass work today. Here's what I started with.

Another piece.

Supplies include epoxy, paper cups, microfiber, a roll of fiberglass, I couldn't find my fiberglass squeegee, so I improvised with that red plastic thing, tongue depressors, scissors (which didn't quite make the picture), and purple gloves! Gotta love the purple gloves...

A hole.

dry fitting a piece of fiberglass

Stirrin' up a bit of epoxy

No more hole! I put a layer on the inside, and a layer on the outside. I thought for a mere instance that I would vacuum bag it, but... nahhh...

Almost done..

Done!

BREAK TIME!!!

Rust conversion on the remaining parts. (I ordered ground sterilizer for the pool area, and enough to do this driveway too!)

Close up of the fiberglass. There's a couple bubbles. (Shame on me!) But it'll work!

Well... Things are gettin' closer! Final paint this weekend, hopefully... The dw is gonna call around to see how much masonry sand is going to cost tomorrow.

 

[Kias]

I'd like to know more about how you did the countertops!!

I'd highly recommend starting with this book

I checked it out from the library, then I went and bought it. He doesn't like the pour in place process, so he doesn't talk much about it, but there is a chapter about it. That's what I eventually did, after much research. There's a whole lot of information in that book!

It's a TON of work. (Literally!) But it turned out good... I think anyway...

I did 5 or 6 test pieces before I got it right though. Either way, if you like heavy work, you'll enjoy it! (and it's cheap if you do it yourself! Shhh... don't tell anyone!)

 

[NWMNMom]

Dang you are a productive person! How do I get some of what your drinking in the morning??

 

[Kias]

Let's talk electrical for a moment, shall we? I plan on running 2 fifteen (maybe twenty) amp circuits with gfi circuit breakers. One for the pump, and one for convenience outlets, etc...

It's the bonding I have questions about. #8 solid copper. Intervals of not more than 12 feet? There will be no inspections, there's no permits I need. We live out in the middle of nowhere, so it's not like the vast majority of people who would normally have a buttload of inspections. That's not the point. I want to do it right. I noticed when I tore the pool down, it wasn't bonded, and I know that's a big no-no.

I play, on a daily basis, with 115v 400hz, 500 to 700 amps. Enough to kill you dead several hundred times over AND do it 7 times faster than a wall plug. ha!

Yes, I'm absolutely crazy. However, stupid I am not. My pool will be bonded.