DIY PA - Paver time is coming!

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C

ckwinters

0
May 29, 2018
68
Carlisle, PA
Hello TFP - We took a long, much needed break over the winter and in about a month hope to be start back working on our pool. The construction team is my husband and I. We got as far as back filling the pool, filling it and testing it out!. Our yard is a crazy disaster but hopefully we can finish up this spring. Our next step is to get the bonding done, electrical inspection, pour concrete in some areas and paver the rest. We bought 900 sq ft of pavers over the winter and they'll be delivered when we are ready for them. I have a couple of questions regarding opening the pool and bonding. We want to get started early as possible and the pool is just tarped for the winter. Is it ever too early to uncover the pool? We can get snow storms into March but for the most part this area of PA is done with snow Mid-march. I imagine we'd have to keep the pump running for any late freezes but other than that do we need to do anything else?

Pavers....we are doing something odd here but it's a hind sight is 20/20 situation. We bought the pool with bullnose coping but we're not happy with a plain concrete look and stamped prices were astronomical. We really like pavers and the idea of being able to more easily fix issues down the road if needed. The bullnose coping is not designed for being used with pavers so hubby had a brainstorm of running 7 inches concrete up into the bullnose and behind that running pavers for the rest of the decking.

Back fill is 2b stone and sloping, depth of the base(s), and which layer does the bonding wire go is what we are trying to figure out. Would the layers be: 2b backfill, landscape clothe (to stop sand from filtering down thru the 2b stone), bonding wire, sand base and finally pavers be correct? I can't find information on how deep the bonding wire needs to be underneath the pavers and I'm concerned about placing it underneath the landscape fabric.
 
U want separation fabric over ur clean gravel then a base of at least 4" of crusher run or DGA or QP whatever they call it by u. U bed ur bond wire in that then get that base super close to finish paver base grade and screed a maximum of 1" concrete sand and lay it pavers. Compact rly well b4 sand make sure it's concrete sand not Mason's sand. If urr renting a compactor get largest they have a reversible model is best they r heavy and pack great but we use skidsteer to unload it weighs 300pds
 
I have a couple of questions regarding opening the pool and bonding. We want to get started early as possible and the pool is just tarped for the winter. Is it ever too early to uncover the pool? We can get snow storms into March but for the most part this area of PA is done with snow Mid-march. I imagine we'd have to keep the pump running for any late freezes but other than that do we need to do anything else?
Click to expand...

I think your thinking is all valid. Just have some contingency plans if you lose power or your pump fails during a freeze. Weather is unpredictable and weird lately.

Read The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection
 
if you uncover the pool you DONT need to have the pumps running or do anything to the pool water wise. you wont have a problem with any algae or water quality for a while yet, water has to get into upper 50s/60 to start doing anything. uncover it, do your work, and start up pool when the time is right. mine isnt finished either and is uncovered w snow on top of ice. covering it keeps the leaves out, I have no trees left lol
 
Thanks for the info everyone! We got 13 tons of crusher run and are working on framing the pavers and wheel barreling all that stone. I'm not complaining though cause it'll help with that winter layer I put on. I hadn't thought of coloring the concrete so I'm glad you mentioned it. The pavers are EP Henry Bristol's and the color is Dakota so we'll try and get something to match.
The pool is up and running! The water was clear and looking good but leaves immediately started rolling across the yard right into it....like a magnet.
For other diy folks out there....I'm rather regretting not building in the auto overflow....I can see where pumping this pool out is going to get old quickly. I don't mind putting the hose in to add a couple inches but having to dig out the pump, connect a hose and drag the hose down to the garden in bad weather is not much fun. (I won't make that mistake again because this is the first and last pool I build ?).
We plan on using the concrete sand between the pavers as well rather than the polymeric. We tried polymeric on another project and didn't have much luck with it, plus we want to be able to easily pick these up to fix problems down the road.
We are borrowing a tamper for going over the crusher run. I'm getting mixed info on whether to tamp the pavers because they're pretty big and they're textured. . The largest is 16x20. Had one brave little man go in up to his waste for about 30 seconds this weekend!
 

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Only 13 tons? I'm on 120 and still going lol. But I have a bobcat I'm cheating. Compact in 2" lifts and wet it lightly. Get your sub base super close dont use more than an inch of concrete sand ONLY no stone dust etc. Dont compact the pavers with a bare plate use an old carpet or wrap a floormats on the plate so you dont scratch pavers. You compact any paver when laid this locks them into the sand from below and vibrates the sand down from the top. I would use poly sand get better quality and when you get to that point I'll explain the right way to do it. Regular sand stinks you get weeds and ant holes and needs maintenence. Use 3/4 steel pipe for your screed rails and use sand no thicker than the pipe.
 
Hi, just want to give some picts and an update on our diy build. We had our first pool party yesterday! The water is 81 degrees already with no heater which I didn't expect. Our pump failed a couple of weeks ago but luckily was still under Hayward warranty so it took about two weeks to get up and running. The pavers still need polymeric sand and tamped and that's next on the list. Then come fencing, retaining wall and lots of grass seed!

One interesting thing is the pavers get pretty warm on a sunny day but surprisingly the concrete coping has stayed cool. It is a lighter brick color but I didn't expect such a difference.

Thanks to this forum for so much information along the way.
 

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I work in Harrisburg so very close neighbors!
So you asked if we would do it again? I would do it ONCE but I would not be willing to put my family thru that twice :). It really did consume almost a year of our time with planning, building and cleanup. The pattern was go to work, get home, change into work clothes, go outside and work on the pool until dark. Some where in that time, throw on some grilled cheese or order pizza for dinner. We discovered Uber eats around this time! It took both my husband and I working on it, so the house was a mess, laundry was behind, kids played too many video games but the end result was amazing and we are so proud of what we accomplished.
Financially it was well worth the DIY. We got much more pool for our $ than having a builder do the install. We started looking at pools and had several quotes from builders that were higher than we were willing to spend.
As many have said on here, the work is overall not technically difficult but it is very labor intensive and time consuming for DIY.
Getting the dig dimensions right is so important. We dug our deep end wall slopes too shallow and it made for a lot of hand digging and wheelbarrows. Expect blisters if this happens...actually expect blisters period. Good luck on your decision! If you have talent in your family, i.e. electricians, plumbers, excavators, that would be very helpful :).

Attached is our end result with fencing and the start of green grass.
 

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You can also do both. Find a PB that's willing to do the pool and finish the rest yourself. You can save alot doing the decking electric plumbing landscaping fencing etc. And leave the grunt to someone else. It's a tremendous amount of work you cant even begin to count the hundreds of hours.......basically what is your time worth?
 
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