Puppy Pool Update - pic heavy
Sorry, I've either been too busy or too tired to get online, but there has been some pretty good progress!
The block work wasn't too hard, but very time consuming. Hauling all the block from the front yard to the back yard was probably worse than laying them. I had had a cement company pour the footings and bottom, because that was just too much cement to mix myself.
So, I finally came up with the skimmer installation solution. I don't know that it was the best way, but it should hold.
I'll just let the pictures explain what I did
Didn't take a picture of it, but I had a small bucket the exact size of the skimmer clean out hole that I duct taped over the top of that opening and it went into the form to make the semi-round shape in the concrete needed.
Can kinda be seen here:
The dug out area is to be the pad for the pump & filter. There is another pad at the other end for where I'm going to put fiberglass stairs. I'm going to get fiberglass steps because they are light enough to move away from the pool when we don't want the dogs getting in. Found a set on Craig's List that had been used for a mobile home.
You can also see that I put a couple coats of waterproofing on the outside of the block, something called DryLok. The concrete guys managed to pretty much mess that up today when filling the block, but the outside will have a stone work finish, so no biggie.
Here is a view of the skimmer from inside the pool.
Here's the step and ledge. I ended up adding another 2x2 ft step (6 inches high) against the wall where the outside steps will be. I have to download those pictures yet, so I'll add that later. The additional step is because we figured the ledge/shelf area was too far down from the top for the dogs to get out of their pool easily.
Just had the concrete guys back today to fill the block, pour the pads and add 3 inches to the bottom of the pool. The additional 3 inches not only will give me a much better seal between the bottom and the block, but make the depth exactly right (24 inches) so that no permit and all that is needed.
STILL haven't decided on how I'm going to finish the interior! I find something I think will be good and then read reviews about how that doesn't work or last very long or... *sigh* I just want something that will look good and I won't have to refinish every few years.
The weather forecast says rain for the next few days, so I'll finally have time to get back on the computer and do more research.
I will move on to plumbing next.
That $2000 dog proof pool that we had wanted to buy is sure looking like a good deal now! The dogs would have been swimming by now. As I'm seeing it, I've got another 10 days of work to do - not counting rain days. And, this stupid project will easily pass 5K and trash my back for the next month.
But... Happy Wife = Happy Life
More to come, just wanted to catch ya'll up on what's been going on around here. Gotta get back to work!