DIY Pool Build - Vinyl liner pool Ontario Canada

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B

BHorn

0
May 31, 2015
19
Barrie/Ontario
Hello!

This is a great forum and I am learning a lot about pools!

I just wanted to share our pool build experience. We built the pool ourselves. It is a traditional vinyl liner pool and is what is typical for our Northern Ontario location. It is a 36 x 18 foot L with a 10 x 14 shallow end. It was fun to build - mega work with the shovel and concrete....and we are still doing some work on it :).

After choosing the pool style, getting permits and planning for the dig it was go time in September last year. To rent the excavator was about $1200 for a week, plus fuel and float. My awesome wife made some calls and found a nice guy who wanted work and had done lots of pool digs - his cost all in was $1100 to dig the pool - done in a day. I did the lay out with my buddy and set up the grades - The Excavator brought his own guy to help on the dig - WOW and the assistant ran the transit I had set up - I was able to then co-ordinate a gravel delivery and moving the top soil.









Just finishing the hole. After the guy left it started raining - time to drop in gravel....

More to come......
 
The story continues....


We have a water problem in our area - high water table - so the hopper was dug 1 foot deeper than required. At the center a 2 foot hole was dug. I buried a submersible pump in the hole, back filled with gravel and ran the hose out to the back 40 (errr 1.5). The pump was on a timer and pumped out the bottom to keep the level just under the gravel. The pump is still there...entombed beneath our pool.....

The county is very picky about the fence...really annoyingly picky....more on that later, but the only injuries sustained on the build to my son and myself happened on the freaking Safety Fence....Arrrg.....

End of day one:



Things slowed quite a bit from here and we ran into some problems. The supplier for the pool parts kit wanted all the money up front, that was no problem, but I wanted a supply list for all that was included - pump model, filter model, plumbing fixtures, controller etc.....he never complied...i got cold feet and pulled the plug on him....a bit of stress and delay.....

Found other supplier who was able to get us the steel for our design and I had to whip up a new set of drawings and get them to him ASAP - he was better than his word and I got the steel and stairs in about 4 days...WOW....and not a bad price at about $6000 for the stairs, steel, bracing, skimmer and bottom drains and side returns.

My boys helped bring the steel around to the back and we made short work of getting the pieces installed:



After several days I was able to get some other assistance for dropping 9 cubic meters of concrete around the pool for bracing and in the pool for a side wall scratch coat. I also installed a 4" big O with the sock around the perimeter and covered with sand for improved drainage.



After this, there was a lot of grading and back filling to get in place. I did most of that by myself so it took a while. rain and clay do not mix so several days were lost to the mud factor.

After I had things graded OK, we got the finish coat going for the pool sides and shallow end bottom. This was the worst time of the entire build. The cement guy was to bring a reasonably dry mix so the troweling would be nice and smooth and we could add a bit of water if required. The A** brought soup...it was a mess. I phoned the company and complained, but basically as I am small potatoes, I would have to eat the mix or prove the slump was their fault and then it would be several days before they could get another load out.....UGH!!! 9 hours of troweling to get the stuff setting enough to stay on the walls.....


More to come....
 
Continued.....

So the house has a wrap around porch so I decided it would make a nice pool house/pump house and while cement was setting and grade was grading I framed in the underside of the porch and excavated the inside to prep for the pump pad.



You can also see that I ran all the piping back to the pump "room" and I also ran electrical back from the main panel and installed a wee sub panel under the porch and ran conduit for the pump and controller etc.

More gravel was brought in and I was able to build up the grade. One thing that killed me was the County requires the "permanent" fence to be installed before you can fill the pool.....so despite not being able to let my grading settle as much as possible.....in went the fence and out went $4500 in money for the pump and filter parts.....:(....

I borrowed my neighbours post hole digger and went at it after picking up the fence = 5 days delay.....liner on the way.....installed 29 posts in one day and the fence sections the next with one of my buddies.





Had to grind and make may repairs to the concrete in the pool due to the crappy cement delivery and the water problems....also had to get the fence passed by the county....turns out that is it for them....the rest of the pool they do not care about....just the fence.....

More to come in the saga later today......will we get a liner???....tune in and find out...:rolleyes:
 
It looks like it's going to be great! We are also considering doing a vinyl L shaped pool. I'm curious as to how your shallow to deep end transition is going to work. From the pictures it looks to be a 90 degree drop off? Is that right?

I'll be looking forward to following your progress. Keep those pictures coming!

Jamie

PS: Although I now live in Texas, I'm a fellow Canuck... Born and raised in Vancouver, BC :)
 
Back after pool-pular demand....

Believe it or not I work on a ship and see (sea) enough water to last a life time...but a pool is just so cool and I get water front property for far less. Some of you guys with the Gunnite pools are unbelievable with what your pool can do. My brother put in a negative or disappearing edge at his old place....way cool...my budget allows for not quite the design…but still cool J

As I type this I am heading across Georgian Bay in Lake Huron....so I digress to the pool saga....

So with the liner we checked out a couple things, the guy who was helping me along suggested I not go for a border as the pool is on the south side of the house, liner border will fade odd and may look crappy in a few years....ok.....so we check out some solid colors and there is a dark blue shimmer pattern and a light blue shimmer that looks good. My awesome wife says Dark blue- looks great and if it fades...it will just look like the lighter blue which is also nice!
Liner ordered and the long wait.....a month...and another week.... November is upon us and I can start to see Santa landing his sleigh in the pool hole and suing me…..the boys see a hockey rink coming on fast……my worry is that with the ground freezing and heaving I’ll have a bigger cement job in the spring – provided the side don’t all collapse in…..
During this time, when I was home, I was getting the grading set better- it is a lot of dirt - a lot...but since the lot drops towards the back the pool was actually sitting close to original grade at the back and I needed a lot of fill. So I ran all the excavated material and then the top soil back around the outside of the fence area and dumped about 80 tons of sand and gravel around the pool area in total.
The pool is 8 foot 7 in the deep end. There is not much of a transition from the shallow end as is the typical hopper style "it is the biggest hopper I ever dug" said the excavator man.
My kids are nuts like their old man and we jump and dive and flip and such into the pool. I wanted it to be safe for lots of that activity. The pool drops from the shallow end and around the perimeter about 5 feet over 4 feet. It is pretty steep on the sides. Youngest Boy is 10 and older guys are 15 and 17 so my poor wife is subjected to a lot of testosterone…

The pool house framing and covering was coming together and I finally got the fence passed by the township to allow water into the pool. The township inspector actually brought back-up, I think he figured he was a dead man if he told me my uber expensive fence, permanently installed as required, did not pass. This was now November of last year and it was getting some crazy weather happening.

I spent 3 days grinding and re-coating bad areas of the cement surface and went through 4 pails of hydraulic cement to get the seeping stopped - the little pump that could (buried now under stone and cement) kept chugging along. Then, after waiting an eternity, the liner came...and on the only nice day in November...Plus 63F degrees and sunny....it was liner time baby!!







You should be able to see the drop off from the deep to shallow end. At the point the deep end is widest it is 18’ across. The bottom is about 10 feet across.
The stairs are fitted with two massage jets at the bottom stair, either side.
Pool guy helping me forgot his shoe under the liner....that was funny...took a while to figure out what the strange lump was after the vacuum went on...then we had to pull a corner and lower him under the liner to retrieve his shoe!

Started to fill the pool and.............:-(
 

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Yeah, hasn't he heard about the old drop and suck trick? Makes for a great conversation piece.
 
LOL about the back up if he had to fail your fence!

How do you "forget" a shoe?

Your poor wife! 4 males at one time in a house! Give her a bottle of wine for me please! She deserves it!

Dang man you stopped again and with a :( What???????? What happened????

You are a wonderful story writer!

Kim
 
LOL...Yes the shoe was pretty funny and it took quite the effort to get him out after the retrieval of the shoe.

So once the water started to fill the pool....

No freaking way……my well just spootied a half a bag of sand out into the pool and the water got all grey and filled with a very fine clay. This was crappy…..I hooked hose up on the tree and let it run….this had never happened before, my well is 217 feet of pure and applied expensive to install and we can easily pump 10 GPM of crystal clear water….but not right then…nope…
Took a good hour and a half of running and the water cleared up…..whew….the vacuum was screaming this whole time and the 10 year old asking when the pool would be ready and me sitting there contemplating hauling up the well tip 217 feet down…..lots of stress…several “adult beverages” to quote a few of you on here….

Bottom suctions cut in and the covers installed.

Hose finally in the pool and the fill began….the next day, hose still running…and the next…Blizzard conditions and things just getting colder and colder.
After pool filled to just below the jets, we cut those out and then secured the face plates and I blew all the lines and we plugged everything. I added one jug of chlorine, one jug of algaecide and one jug of anti-stain.

My 10 year old decided he was going to be the legacy…the first one in, so on a balmy 30 degree day he leapt forth into the tepid 36 degree water, emerged screaming that his man hood had fallen out and dropped to the bottom – he was escorted back into a hot shower and I promptly covered the pool for the winter. My 15 year old caught the scene on his phone, however, images are too graphic to post.



Spring brings a new season and a desire to get this pool in action. Still need a pump, filter etc plus a pad and cement around the coping and …and….and…
Pad poured under the porch for the pump etc….



The door to the pool house:



This was required by the crazy township to seal up everything like Alcatraz. Double doors on the other side to prevent entry that way. The day of the fence inspection my neighbour’s pool had all the gates open and no one there. I get it being safe, but they measured to make sure my gravel was no more than 4” from the bottom of the fence, despite the fact that its gravel and can be brushed aside….



Concrete around the pool!!! Its almost go time….just a bit of clean up to take care of- you can sorta see water is a bit off…the story: so pulling off the pool cover was going well, kids decided to let it go and the old man could just bring it all the way out. Well….not so good…my back gives out and cover goes in and leaves etc all pile out of the thing….kids think it is funny….dad laid up for 4 days on pain killers and still trying to get pool going…..yep, deep end may have another purpose…grrrr

After recovery from the back thing we moved the concrete by wheel barrow in and around the pool. I formed up the pool perimeter concrete while on meds so that was fun. We poured the pool house floor and the pool perimeter and also a small pad up by my shop for a wee out building. That also allowed for some compensation if I messed up my required concrete amount. 5 meters of concrete in total.
Ladders installed as per the picture.

Pump house got things installed the day after the cement cured and the first test was vacuuming out all the leaves to waste.



Some of the system will be coming apart for a solar panel install at the end of this week. (yes, almost into real time...)



After getting pool scrubbed and chemicals balanced we have some crystal clear water at a balmy 64 degrees.

Then ….after all that….we still have the “feats of Strength”…..
 
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All righty, now! Where'd he go? You'd think he has a job or something. There he was gathering all us little kids around him to hear his story, and then he left.

I may take my dolly and go home! But someone let me know when he comes back! Suz.

- - - Updated - - -

Oops! I almost left too soon!
 
Just to let "Ya-all" know - yes I have been reading all those Texas pool builds too Suz - total amazing stuff.....I am currently on board a ship so the internet is dicy and my story has been lost to the eternal depths of the internet.....somewhere out there some forum just received a pool build story from some crazy guy...hahaha

Writing as fast as I can.....good thing Captain is busy :rolleyes:
 
The feats of Strength,

Within every man is a boy and with in every boy is a man, occasionally we feel a need to prove we are more one than the other.

My wife has always been a huge support, love her to the ends of the world and she has amazing patience....so i suggested we install a dive rock for the sheer thrill of leaping from a higher platform into the massive end of deepness.

Well, there was a issue on the rock- where to get this, who would move it and why do we need this mini mountain near the pool she asked.....well...:D says I ...we men/boys are a bit :crazy: and the lads have been asking how far the pool is from the porch overhang for some reason:confused: so I figure I can bring them a safer alternative to what their brains are trying to figure out and it also will be "aesthetically" pleasing. So that was a kick butt word to use and my suggestion made to the next days conversations.

Turns out my cross road neighbour has a pile of rocks he got delivered several years ago when his wife had a weak moment about one of his crazy ideas. The idea failed to materialize and I could have a rock- if I could move it?!?

So the rock was free - big word use and the free rock sold it to my skeptical partner, but there was zero faith in me moving the rock. It is about 6 feet, by 3 feet by about 2 feet high, cool fossils in it and no sharp edges.

Just before putting back to sea last month I decided to tempt my injured back and move the stone. My wife came over to lend moral support and eventually laugh at my neighbours and my attempts and she was politely asked to leave.

I grabbed the boys- yes the back breaking laughing ones and set them to work clearing an old trailer I have. Over the course of several hours, a 1 ton come along, several chains and straps, my neighbour and I made out like the Egyptians building the pyramids and we got the stone onto the trailer.

I then scotch tapped the trailer to my excavator (its just a small one...no stone lifting..:() and towed it across the street to the pool.



Using grunt force, 4 beers and my son on the excavator pulling the stone onto the deck, I was able to position the stone at the mid point of the deep end in prime jump zone. In case you are wondering the beer was used for lubrication and pain numbing :cool:



The rock is sitting quite proudly! It still needs some cement to establish it permanently, but it is not going anywhere!!

THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT BABY!!:



Shortly after this insane front flip/back smacker performed by the wee lad, my wife dove in from the rock that "couldn't be moved" - yes she was semi guilted into it

The water was a beautiful 69 degrees. The young arctic boy was in over and over again and yep....I did a big banana and A/C off the rock and promptly indulged in more lubrication.

I had to report for duty shortly after the jumping so the story is on hold for a while.....when I get back on Wednesday I will be onto the solar panel install and pump controller and a bunch of other stuff.....

The fence killed my budget but I will be getting the stone ready for pavers and I have some stairs to build....maybe a slide.....water fall...lights still need to go in....and you'll have to come back for the rest of the story.....

If there are any questions about stuff I possibly messed up or if something looks cool and you wish to know how you go about something let me know :)
 
Hey Y'all can you just see the waterfall this CRAZY man will build????????????? I bet it will have a grotto and fire in the middle to warm everyone up!

You are a man after my own heart. You sound SO much like my hubby! He will try anything twice. Once to try it and the next to make it purrfect! He has been in a wheelchair 3 times over our 30 year marriage. They use words like pulverize and shatter when they look at the x rays LOL. When I am asked why I did not stop him I have to say "then I would have to stop as I was right behind him"! LOL His family does not like to hear what we are up to.

I love how you write. It is very engrossing and paints a picture! Too bad you cannot share the pic after the little one jumped in the first time! BURRRRRRRRRR LOL

What kind of boat as in what do you do on it?

Kim
 
Hey Kim,

I am flattered, thanks for the compliments! I will try most things to see how it goes, sometimes 3 or more times...LOL....

I have a video of the young lad becoming a very high soprano and some panic on the middle boys behalf as the cold water jump was supposed to be more adequately thought out - as in don't aim for the center of the deep end!!! LOL

I work on a large ice breaker - position of Chief Engineer- so I dabble in all the trades - although we don't do concrete....that is a personal torture I subject myself to to stay humbled ....haha

My wife is right in there too- lots of support - I built the house behind the pool too....that took a few years and it is still on going....of course ya gotta do a pool at some point? right? who needs finished trim...its over rated :)

The waterfall would need a slide or some form of leaping station.......hmmmm....now you have me thinking......

First thing I have to do is get the pool warmer...running the gas line is way too much money - tie in to the street and about 150 feet - then the heater - I would drop 8 grand and then have a monthly bill - no college for two of the lads at least. I am trying the solar - a buddy gave me 7 glazed panels and it may add some BTU's to the pool. If it adds even a degree or two I'll look to expand the system.

I have to take the lads to Pool School as well, when I am away things fall apart a bit, however, the middle guy is getting it so the younger guy is in all the time- 71 degrees today....he is a goalie in hockey....maybe a puck in the head?....maybe just loves the cold....not sure....I have to get the pool to 80 + and then Momma will be in!! then it will be AWESOME!! :)
 
Pool warmer-ahhhhhhh yes. I do not get in when it is cool. My husband on the other hand--------MEN! At least we live in Florida so it is not like where you live.

You know that pool will help Mom out! A tired boy or 3 is a sleeping boy or 3!

Kim
 

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