Thanks.arvven said:
I was really impressed by how much the electricians were able to get done in 1 day.
We're doing salt water.
They've got a whole bunch of bags of salt in our garage just waiting to be dumped into the pool.
Construction Has Started....Was: The Agony of the Wait
- Thread starter VinceL
- Start date
I was really impressed by how much the electricians were able to get done in 1 day.
We're doing salt water.
They've got a whole bunch of bags of salt in our garage just waiting to be dumped into the pool.
The PB didn't make too much progress last Friday and Saturday. Heavy rain came early Friday afternoon, and things were real muddy on Saturday.
But...............a lot of progress this week.
Monday: Pump is running and we've got 2 hoses running to get water in to the pool
Tuesday: Water level is rising
Wednesday: Equipment pad is about done. You can see the mud splatter and hay to try to keep the mud down
They did the monthly reading of our water meter yesterday. So, at least I can spread cost of the water across 2 months' bills.
By the end of this week, they should have the excavator back at our house to start cutting into the slope above the pool to make room for the elevated spa.
But...............a lot of progress this week.
Monday: Pump is running and we've got 2 hoses running to get water in to the pool
Tuesday: Water level is rising
Wednesday: Equipment pad is about done. You can see the mud splatter and hay to try to keep the mud down
They did the monthly reading of our water meter yesterday. So, at least I can spread cost of the water across 2 months' bills.
By the end of this week, they should have the excavator back at our house to start cutting into the slope above the pool to make room for the elevated spa.
Great progress yesterday (Thursday)
Positioned the waterslide so they know where to bring the plumbing up for it:
They started preparing the spa. The holes were cut for the jets, drains, and light:
They poured the footer for the wall and steps to the elevated decking. You can see the pipes coming up where the spa will be located. They added 5 or 6 bags of salt and started the Super Chlorinator cycle. Here's the pool after they left:
Today, my wife and I WENT FOR A SWIM
Ladies first, so here she is in the pool:
Positioned the waterslide so they know where to bring the plumbing up for it:
They started preparing the spa. The holes were cut for the jets, drains, and light:
They poured the footer for the wall and steps to the elevated decking. You can see the pipes coming up where the spa will be located. They added 5 or 6 bags of salt and started the Super Chlorinator cycle. Here's the pool after they left:
Today, my wife and I WENT FOR A SWIM
Ladies first, so here she is in the pool:
- Jun 13, 2012
- 166
The past few days have been dedicated to building the wall along the pool and the steps for the elevated decking.
Getting started:
Progress after first day:
Second day...getting near the end:
I was very unhappy with how these steps looked. Talked to the project manager about them:
Today: Steps corrected. Sealer applied to wall:
No work for a couple of days so the mortar and sealer can set. They will then backfill behind the wall and start positioning the spa.
I plan to vacuum the pool tonight to get all the dirt, mortar, etc. out so we can do some swimming this weekend.
Getting started:
Progress after first day:
Second day...getting near the end:
I was very unhappy with how these steps looked. Talked to the project manager about them:
Today: Steps corrected. Sealer applied to wall:
No work for a couple of days so the mortar and sealer can set. They will then backfill behind the wall and start positioning the spa.
I plan to vacuum the pool tonight to get all the dirt, mortar, etc. out so we can do some swimming this weekend.
Glock
0
Nice! I love new construction. I envy your red dirt too. Be glad you don't have black clay.
Glock said:
The red clay is bad enough....it's the one thing that my wife can't stand about living in NC.
It stains everything and is tough to wash out. But, black clay....I think my wife would demand that we move if we had black clay.
Another few days of steady progress.
We just had one guy working on the pool on Tues and Weds. He was busy moving the massive piles of dirt away from the pool area, doing some grading, and excavating and filling for the elevated decking where the spa will go.
You can see the opening in the elevated decking area where the spa will go.
With the varying degrees of slope in our backyard, we will have decking around the pool, elevated decking for the spa, and in this picture the excavator has started working on a higher level decking area.
Today they dug the trench for the pipe that will go to our auto-fill
I am OCD about documenting projects around the house. When our detached garage was built, I took hundreds of photos to document where things were located in the garage and underground around the garage. I told the guys that there would be a drainpipe and 2 conduits crossing the trench. Because I had photos from when the pipes were laid, I was able to let them know where they would find these pipes.
They got most of the plumbing of the spa done, and then they transported it to its permanent home.
The workers have gone home on Thurs. (after a very long day...they worked until about 7:00 pm). The spa is in place, partially filled with water, and the pump is circulating water. This will identify any leaks before they finalize the levelling and backfill around it.
For those who have been following this thread, you will notice in these pictures that the huge piles of dirt in earlier pictures are disappearing. The PB told me that our pool installation has generated more dirt than any other pool installation he has done (and he has been doing them for over 15 years). When everything is done, we will have a single dirt pile remaining. We have some future projects that will need some dirt, so we are justing hanging on to the dirt for now.
If anyone in the North Carolina area wants to buy some dirt cheap, let me know.
We just had one guy working on the pool on Tues and Weds. He was busy moving the massive piles of dirt away from the pool area, doing some grading, and excavating and filling for the elevated decking where the spa will go.
You can see the opening in the elevated decking area where the spa will go.
With the varying degrees of slope in our backyard, we will have decking around the pool, elevated decking for the spa, and in this picture the excavator has started working on a higher level decking area.
Today they dug the trench for the pipe that will go to our auto-fill
I am OCD about documenting projects around the house. When our detached garage was built, I took hundreds of photos to document where things were located in the garage and underground around the garage. I told the guys that there would be a drainpipe and 2 conduits crossing the trench. Because I had photos from when the pipes were laid, I was able to let them know where they would find these pipes.
They got most of the plumbing of the spa done, and then they transported it to its permanent home.
The workers have gone home on Thurs. (after a very long day...they worked until about 7:00 pm). The spa is in place, partially filled with water, and the pump is circulating water. This will identify any leaks before they finalize the levelling and backfill around it.
For those who have been following this thread, you will notice in these pictures that the huge piles of dirt in earlier pictures are disappearing. The PB told me that our pool installation has generated more dirt than any other pool installation he has done (and he has been doing them for over 15 years). When everything is done, we will have a single dirt pile remaining. We have some future projects that will need some dirt, so we are justing hanging on to the dirt for now.
If anyone in the North Carolina area wants to buy some dirt cheap, let me know.
It's been a while since I posted pics of our progress.
On 9/13, the spillover from our spa to the pool was installed. The spillover and wall will be tiled....if I can get my better half to decide which tile.
The rains came on 9/18, and the mud came into the pool. Yuck! :grrrr:
With the slope where we have to install the pool, we need a retaining wall. They started the wall on 9/20 and have continued working on it up through today. It should be finished tomorrow.
Things were busy at our house today. We had 12 guys working.
They are scheduled to be at our house tomorrow (Weds) to put up all the forms, and Thursday should be concrete pour day.
Of course, after walking around the pool and marking where we want concrete, we went way over the amount that is specified in the contract...so we've got a change order coming.
But, it's cheaper and nicer-looking to pour it all at once rather than have them come back.
The guy who is doing the retaining wall will also be installing the fence. He measured how many linear feet we will need. It is about 50 feet more than we put in the contract. So, that's another change order.
On 9/13, the spillover from our spa to the pool was installed. The spillover and wall will be tiled....if I can get my better half to decide which tile.
The rains came on 9/18, and the mud came into the pool. Yuck! :grrrr:
With the slope where we have to install the pool, we need a retaining wall. They started the wall on 9/20 and have continued working on it up through today. It should be finished tomorrow.
Things were busy at our house today. We had 12 guys working.
They are scheduled to be at our house tomorrow (Weds) to put up all the forms, and Thursday should be concrete pour day.
Of course, after walking around the pool and marking where we want concrete, we went way over the amount that is specified in the contract...so we've got a change order coming.
But, it's cheaper and nicer-looking to pour it all at once rather than have them come back.The guy who is doing the retaining wall will also be installing the fence. He measured how many linear feet we will need. It is about 50 feet more than we put in the contract. So, that's another change order.
Glock
0
Wow, getting that mud out should be fun. How do you get mud out of a pool? vacuum and backwash alot?
- Jun 13, 2012
- 166
Interesting how your pool was filled with water, I wish our build process was like that! Will it be chlorine or salt?
Glock said:
I vacuumed the pool twice. Unfortunately, they haven't installed a valve to direct to waste, so all the crud went to the filter. I cleaned the 4 filter cartridges and they were an absolute mess...completely caked with dirt, sand, mud, you name it. The problem is that what is now left in the pool is very fine silt. I hate to clog up the filter again. The Polaris 9300xi won't catch this fine silt in its filter cartridge. So, I think I will wait until we get the valve to direct to waste and then vacuum.
arvven said:
With a fiberglass pool, they have to fill it as they backfill. If there is no water, the backfill can cause the walls to bow in. Filling it with water without backfilling can lead to the opposite problem.
As to your question, my answer is "both." We have an SWCG. So, we have salt water and the SWCG generates chlorine to sanitize the pool.
- Jun 13, 2012
- 166
I just realized I already asked you that question..duh Would love to see more pics! I noticed the rock they put right behind the wall, I think that will help with drainage..great idea. We did a small wall on the side of our house, mostly to repair the slope and loss of dirt. The rock might be a fine addition to our wall too.
Would love to see more pics! I noticed the rock they put right behind the wall, I think that will help with drainage..great idea. We did a small wall on the side of our house, mostly to repair the slope and loss of dirt. The rock might be a fine addition to our wall too.
arvven said:
They really did a lot to handle drainage. The stone wall sits on a 6" base of #57 stone. There is a French drain at the base of the rear of the wall. Then it is backfilled almost to the top of the wall with #57 stone. There is a berm right at the top of the slope, and when they are doing the final grading, they are going to build a smaller berm about 8 feet from the retaining wall. So, there won't be much water behind the wall. I think we should be good.
They put up the forms yesterday, and the concrete pour is scheduled for tomorrow.
Good-bye to walking through the mud to get to the pool.
We have concrete
We had 9 guys working on the concrete:
Just finishing up:
The sky just opened up with rain a little over an hour after they finished the last section of concrete. It's been raining on and off since then. I haven't had to hose down the concrete. :lol:
Tomorrow (Sunday) is supposed to be mostly sunny, but it's supposed to be back to rain on Monday. So, I don't know when they will be able start on the remaining work.
We had 9 guys working on the concrete:
Just finishing up:
The sky just opened up with rain a little over an hour after they finished the last section of concrete. It's been raining on and off since then. I haven't had to hose down the concrete. :lol:
Tomorrow (Sunday) is supposed to be mostly sunny, but it's supposed to be back to rain on Monday. So, I don't know when they will be able start on the remaining work.
We went through a few rainy days after they poured the concrete last Friday (9/28).
We're in the home stretch now:
The waterslide is installed...although no using it for a couple of weeks so the concrete can cure and securely hold the bolts in place.
With all the crazy slopes in our backyard, they have installed several drains and buried a lot of pipe to direct water away from the pool area and toward 2 large storm drains in our backyard.
Three big items left:
1. Waterline tile in pool/spa and tile for the wall supporting the raised decking where the spa is located.
2. Install the fence.
3. Fertilize, seed, and spread hay. We contracted for 10,000 square feet. This will do almost the entire backyard. The timing has worked out well. October is the best time of year to plant grass in this part of North Carolina.
We're in the home stretch now:
The waterslide is installed...although no using it for a couple of weeks so the concrete can cure and securely hold the bolts in place.
With all the crazy slopes in our backyard, they have installed several drains and buried a lot of pipe to direct water away from the pool area and toward 2 large storm drains in our backyard.
Three big items left:
1. Waterline tile in pool/spa and tile for the wall supporting the raised decking where the spa is located.
2. Install the fence.
3. Fertilize, seed, and spread hay. We contracted for 10,000 square feet. This will do almost the entire backyard. The timing has worked out well. October is the best time of year to plant grass in this part of North Carolina.
Glock
0
Are you going to sod all that red dirt or do stone? I have black clay so that red looks really cool to me. The pool looks amazing! :-D
Glock said:
Thanks for the compliment on the pool, Glock.
My goal is "no lawnmower inside the fence." So, from the decking to the fence (in most cases about 6-8 feet) will be river rock (TFP member tjwaggoner's arrangement of river rock around his pool was an inspiration). Outside the fence will be seeded...I've got no money left for sod.
At least it's the perfect time of year to be planting grass seed.Fence guys should be here Monday.
Glock
0
Glock said:
First a couple of treatments of weed killer. Then we will lay down landscape fabric. It allows the rain to flow through to the ground to avoid water build-up, but will keep the red dirt from getting all over the river rock.
I did read a post from someone "In the Industry" about cutting roofing paper into 12" wide strips and laying it lengthwise directly under the fence. It won't allow the water to pass through, but it is much tougher than landscape fabric and will probably last longer.