DIY IG rehab, cement walls, vinyl liner - Pool Filled!!

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Thanks guys!

Now a week later, the pool is not losing any water at all. I know I have a couple of drips at the filter, but otherwise everything nice and sealed up.

We started pulling up the existing pavers, cleaning off the moss, and re-setting them in a new herringbone pattern. This requires an awful lot of cuts. Its a lot of hard labor, and it goes MUCH slower than I thought it would. I did install teh outdoor speakers over the weekend in order to make the repetitive task a little less painful.

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After using up 15 bags of store bought sand to regrade roughly 100 sq ft, I just ordered three more yards of sand to re-set the pavers in. The side shown above isn't so bad, but the other sides are much lower than the coping. Ill build it up against the pool coping, but keep the grade sloping away gently.
 
Thanks guys! Your comments sure give me a little extra drive to get through this. I appreciate it. Anyway, we got 4 tons of sand delivered last night. We had already pulled the pavers that went down in anticipation of the extra sand. Ill start grading the sand and laying pavers again tomorrow. I may also try to pour the cement collar around the steps, that way I can finish the coping up. I figure these pavers will take me pretty much the rest of the summer, so I'm not gonna kill myself to get them all done immediately. We still dont have the big picture figured out in our minds, so I'm sure the pavers are only a stop-gap measure until we design our final plan for the back yard hardscaping. Maybe we'll even put a little grass back in, though I don't mind the lack of mowing.
 
harleysilo said:
How are you transitioning the coping around the stairs?

Did everything work out okay with your liner?

Impressive amount of work you are doing, great job!
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The stairs are low cut for use with pavers as coping. The coping becomes the top stair tread so to speak. I will mitre cut the pavers much the same way I did the pool corners. I will pour a concrete collar around the stairs to teh same height as the fiberglass stair lip. Ill adhere the pavers with thinset over the concrete, and construction adhesive or caulk over the fiberglass.

The only remaining issue with teh liner is the wrinkles. I should have ordered it a little shorter than I did. Also, theres a little bunching in the deep right corner where I had the shop vac. I guess we didnt stretch this area as much as the others. Also, I could have done a better job grading the sand bottom. But these are minor issues considering the scope of the project. After all, we did the whole thing for 4500 bucks in parts, instead of 15K to 20K or more to have it done. Im more than willing to live with the problems, and I can always replace the liner after a few years if it bothers me that much. At least the masonry work and liner track looks perfectly straight and level.
 
I agree. Great job. Are you using screed rails for the paver sand or are you hand-troweling. Galvanized electrical conduit works great for the rails. Also, I guessed you noticed how much the brick settled once the sand underneath dried and the bricks had any weight put on them. Mine settled about 3/8" after compacting. Its a real pita when you are trying to match up the patio grade to the coping grade, but it looks like you got it figured out. Looking forward to more pics.
 
janthony said:
I agree. Great job. Are you using screed rails for the paver sand or are you hand-troweling. Galvanized electrical conduit works great for the rails. Also, I guessed you noticed how much the brick settled once the sand underneath dried and the bricks had any weight put on them. Mine settled about 3/8" after compacting. Its a real pita when you are trying to match up the patio grade to the coping grade, but it looks like you got it figured out. Looking forward to more pics.
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I was just going to hand trowel using a four ft 2x4. Ill constantly be matching things up, since I can only do six foot sections at a time. I'm starting with a 6 ft taper away from the pool. Then I will do the mid section, where I will keep the existing flat grade. Lastly I will add sand and taper six feet away from the house. The runoff will find its way to the flat, and run sideways in either direction towards the small strips of grass and greenery at the sides of the property. I dont expect much compacting on the side of the pool facing the house since its mostly existing old work, and Im mainly just re-setting the pavers. The other side may settle since I will be raising the grade over an inch with sand. Not ideal, but I don't want to start adding gravel bedding. Like I said, its a stop gap measure for now, until we decide what we ultimately want out of the yard.
 

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It doesn't looks like we got much done, but it was a lot of work to pull the pavers up again to regrade the new sand. They are definitely sitting much flatter and more even now.

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We also poured the concrete collar around the lip of the stairs, and we test fit the coping pavers around the stairs dry before more rain threatened. Tomorrow will have let the concrete cure for 3 days, so I will set the coping pavers in thinset against the concrete, and polyurethane construction adhesive against the fiberglass steps. After it all sets up, I will caulk the bottom.
 
Wow, I am completely impressed! We're contemplating a reno of our 40-year-old gunite pool and have had terrible time getting anyone out to even come out to give us quotes. I've been scouring the web for info and had begun negotiations with DH to at least attempt the 800sf of concrete decking replacement as DIY with pavers. You are obviously much more skilled than us (is construction your day job?) but seeing how much you have accomplished gives me hope! I'm going to share this thread with him tonight. Good luck and please keep posting as you finish up. That is an amazing transformation!
 
MiaOKC said:
Wow, I am completely impressed! We're contemplating a reno of our 40-year-old gunite pool and have had terrible time getting anyone out to even come out to give us quotes. I've been scouring the web for info and had begun negotiations with DH to at least attempt the 800sf of concrete decking replacement as DIY with pavers. You are obviously much more skilled than us (is construction your day job?) but seeing how much you have accomplished gives me hope! I'm going to share this thread with him tonight. Good luck and please keep posting as you finish up. That is an amazing transformation!
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Ha ha, Thanks! My occupation is actually computer networking, but after recently purchasing my first home with my wife, we have caught the DIY bug pretty bad. I really think the largest hurdle is always mental, so if you have any inclination to do the job yourself, go for it! Read, read, read, ask questions, and read some more. With every DIY task we accomplish, the fear an intimidation melts away. But I guess after replacing 16 feet of load bearing wall with a 3 ply LVL beam, nothing else seems to have nearly as much at risk. Knocking out studs that you know are supporting untold tons and tons of house above you head has quite the pucker factor. But I digress. Start with a small and more forgiving job yourself and take it from there. If you're not happy with the outcome, do it over. Once you realize that seemingly permanent work can always be redone, it puts you a little more at ease. And even if you cant do the whole pool reno yourself, doing just the bits you feel confident in can still save you thousands. For me, its a no brainer, as having anything done is simply not in the budget. So if I couldn't rebuild a pool, then we simply dont have a pool. But if you're teetering on the fence about giving it a shot yourself, JUST DO IT. Even if its not perfect, youll have the pride of having done it yourself. And 98% of the imperfections will be unnoticeable by anyone except for you.
 
Thanks so much for the words of encouragement! We're actually pretty intrepid DIYers but the pool seems like such a foreign animal that it's hard to wrap my mind around it. I need to start thinking "if you can demo and retile a bathroom, you can demo and retile the pool." "If you can build a patio, you can re-deck the pool." "If you can dig a hole, you can trench a drain pipe." "If you can knock a wall down, you can demo the retaining wall." Gotta get my head in the game!
 
MiaOKC said:
Thanks so much for the words of encouragement! We're actually pretty intrepid DIYers but the pool seems like such a foreign animal that it's hard to wrap my mind around it. I need to start thinking "if you can demo and retile a bathroom, you can demo and retile the pool." "If you can build a patio, you can re-deck the pool." "If you can dig a hole, you can trench a drain pipe." "If you can knock a wall down, you can demo the retaining wall." Gotta get my head in the game!
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Sounds like you've got it well in hand. If youre comfortable with the aforementioned, then all thats left is actually doing it. Just do some reading and ask questions online, as there are undoubtedly some subtleties that come with an outdoor chlorine or salt water environment. Best of luck, Ill keep an eye out for your progress thread.
 
Signed up b/c i wanted to thank the OP for giving me some extra motivation and confidence to make my pool renovation a DIY... :) and all i can say is WOW... im sooo pumped seeing these pics. I too live on Long Island and my pool is a total disaster. But i tell ya he hit nail on head when talking about DIY projects. Its more mental than anything. If you have the correct tools and time to spare you can accomplish alot more than you realize. I redid most of my house over the last 1/2 year but every time i stare at the pool i get stage freight.. however, seeing these pics etc gave me a kick start.. thanks
 
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