Dog Diggin' it today in TEXAS

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Mar 10, 2012
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The beginning:Our German Shepherd, Greta, would travel many times daily between our garage and back patio. Over time, she wore a nice trail between the two. It drove my wifey crazy :grrrr: . Not only the trail itself, but the mud that Greta would bring to the sidewalks as she crossed them. At first, after I recovered from making the mistake of offering to get rid of the dog, the solution was to build a pathway of concrete or stone between the garage and back porch. This issue of keeping Greta from wearing down a path has now evolved to a slightly larger project. Apparently, a pool is needed along with the new walkway, decking and spa to keep Greta from making a mess (the kids and wife tell me) :whip: . I'm finding out that dogs are very expensive pets.

Fast forward: Today the digging has started on our new pool. It's the first one for both of us so we are entrusting the builder to do a quality job.

Here are the basics:total water: 640 sq ft
total perimeter: 113 ft
total volume: 22,000
size: 38'x19'
2 skimmers
light niche
separate main drain
3/8" rebar on 6" centers
4 1/2" rebar in top beam
3/8" deck steel @ 1'
2 level spa seating with step
spa raised 12"
56' of raised beam
basic 2" system
7 return inlets, 5 spa jets
4 main drains, 2 spa drains
60 sq ft DE filter
2 hp whisperflo 2 speed
jandy pda6
chlorinator 320
1 pool light, 1 spa light
pad light
polaris 380
400,000 btu gas heater
1 1/1 hp air blower
2100 sq ft pea gravel (2455 total deck)
tile: 6" waterline, 2" tile trim & benches
2.5" chiseled face flagstone coping
spray deck back of raised beam
deck 115' flagstone trim
177' of 1.5"x6" flagstone steps
80' of 4" drain
pebble tec or sheen
5 volleyball anchors
depth 3.5'-6'

I am looking forward to any feedback you may offer. We still have time to avoid any mistakes if we need to. Draft attached. As you can see in the pics (in next post), the pool is being built into a serious elevation change, abour 6' front to back, so the back will be a wall instead of being built into the ground. We are semi-nervous about this but are hoping for the best and that it will look good. Thanks for your thoughts and / or input!
 

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Looks and sounds really nice.

My thoughts:
1. I would re-consider is the chlorinator 320 as using trichlor tablets generally just leads to problems down the road. Read How to Chlorinate Your Pool. I would suggest a saltwater chlorine generator (although that could affect your flagstone in the long run is not sealed) or just committing to using liquid chlorine.

2. 38' is pretty long for a single light (especially if you go with color LEDs ... the reds do not travel far in water). I would consider adding a second light straight left of the VE in the written "overflow" in the drawing. Easiest to do now during construction.

3. I have Pebblesheen and it kind of feels like a smooth sandpaper. Some people here have mentioned it seems rougher than the original Pebbletec because the Tec rocks are bigger and feel more rounded than in the sheen. See if you can feel them both in an actual pool. In either case, if you bump your knee or elbow it will scrap you up.
 
Looks good so far! Are you going for the infinity edge look? I would put 2 lights in the pool like Jason said. And I would deep six the chlorinator and put in a Aqualogic SWG. And being a new install I would go with a variable speed pump. Just me though!
 

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jblizzle said:
Looks and sounds really nice.

My thoughts:
1. I would re-consider is the chlorinator 320 as using trichlor tablets generally just leads to problems down the road. Read How to Chlorinate Your Pool. I would suggest a saltwater chlorine generator (although that could affect your flagstone in the long run is not sealed) or just committing to using liquid chlorine.
Thanks but I'm scared of the corrosion to the flagstone. Should I not be concerned?
2. 38' is pretty long for a single light (especially if you go with color LEDs ... the reds do not travel far in water). I would consider adding a second light straight left of the VE in the written "overflow" in the drawing. Easiest to do now during construction.
Thanks, I will get a price on a second light.
3. I have Pebblesheen and it kind of feels like a smooth sandpaper. Some people here have mentioned it seems rougher than the original Pebbletec because the Tec rocks are bigger and feel more rounded than in the sheen. See if you can feel them both in an actual pool. In either case, if you bump your knee or elbow it will scrap you up.
Click to expand...
We are planning on looking at both in person next week. It looks like the tec gives a more natural look, which I like.
 
maxepr1 said:
Looks good so far! Are you going for the infinity edge look? I would put 2 lights in the pool like Jason said. And I would deep six the chlorinator and put in a Aqualogic SWG. And being a new install I would go with a variable speed pump. Just me though!
Click to expand...

It's not an infinity look, just a raised wall. The pump is a 2 stage, same as variable right?
 
There is a slightly elevated risk to the flagstone with a SWG if it is not properly sealed. If you do not go SWG, I would still nix the 320 and use liquid chlorine to avoid the pitfalls of skyrocketing CYA ... there are systems that automatically add liquid chlorine to the pool ... see the Liquidator.

EDIT: Wanted to expand on the elevated risk ... SWG require salt around 3200ppm. None SWG pools can end up with salt upwards of 1000ppm just from using liquid chlorine. The ocean is 32,000ppm salt. So does increasing the salt from <1000 to 3200ppm cause the problems with natural stone ... or was the stone in danger just from repeated exposure to water anyways when not sealed ... some people have no problems, others do, maybe it is just the make up of the different stones. I had flagstone at my last house for a walkway ... most were fine, but some flaked and fell apart all the time.
 
The steel was put in yesterday. I'm concerned about the huge retaining wall on the bottom end of the pool. I'd sure appreciate any comments on this and any other thoughts. Gunite tomorrow! Thank You!!
 

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