Dog's pool has begun!

[yellow12]

So the Dogs are more than ready. The dirt is driving me crazy and I worry about Valley Fever. So really they are just out to potty while I take some pics and they come back in. Thanks, I need help with tile. The back wall is about 18" with 3 sheer descents, so I see most people keep to a natural stone look, but will a shade of blue/brown look funny? My coping is just the cement. Nothing fancy. Tight budget stretched

See the larger shelf for the dogs with 3 bubblers. We pushed the pool back from the 5 ft minimum so there will be more decking @ $8 a sq ft for extra above the quote.

Lots of plumbing. I had no idea there would be so many lines.

Equipment to be tucked on side of house to shelter it from sun.

Looks like a mess, but making progress.

Hope the one LED light is enough.

seat at 6 ft end. Dog's being patient.

Here is the back end where the dirt has to be feathered back. The yard slopes up from house.

 

[yellow12]

We will see about the solar heater after this season. First we will get the thick bubble covering to put on at night. In Phoenix, we needed and had an aerator to cool the pool. Maybe a heater/cooler later?

I can't wait for the puppy to be introduced to the water. I have found that the salt system helps keep things more sanitary and the dog coats from drying out too much since the chlorine is not as strong and the water feels softer. I love labs of all colors I can't wait. They can't wait.

Going to try and save the tree. One big root had to come out. It's a survivor in this environment. If anyone sees something weird or wrong with this build, let me know.

I was wondering where the rebar wire was for the steps into the shallow end? Maybe those are formed when the gunite gets poured. I don't know.

I have to order the scupper header boxes soon for the roof drainage to redirect the flow away from the patio. Glad I didn't try to do this as an owner build with all the plumbing for 3 descents, 3 bubblers and 2 deck jets and the inline cleaning system. To find contractors for each area and keep it to a reasonable time line would have been a nightmare... Still seems slow.

I was shocked that the permit was such a struggle. The pool almost would have had to be relocated at the back wall to conform to the "Riparian Habitat C" restrictions. I can't stress enough how important it is to go downtown and have them pull up your property info, plot, maps, flood planes, etc... while planning, before submission of permit request. 2nd thing is not to give up and manage expectations with reality. (That's hard)lol.

 

[Isaac-1]

My only big red flag concern that stands out in those photos are the red common hardware store cut off ball valves in the lower right of photo number 4. That style of hardware store ball valve has a tendency to swell and stick after a few years of use on a pool. (the lower quality ones tend to fail in only a year or two, better ones may last 3-5 years) At a minimum I would have those replaced with the similar style Hayward ball valves which have a union fitting built in and can be disassembled and repaired in place or better do it right and use Jandy Neverlube style valves, sure they cost more, but you will be thanking yourself the first time to try to turn one of those valves and it is so stiff you break the handle off.

My only other concern is accessibility for that filter for cleaning, it looks very tight in there, but that may be just a trick of the camera.

Ike

p.s. I don't see any primer on those PVC pipes, just blue rain r shine cement, of course they may have used clear or UV visible primer not the more common purple primer.

 

[yellow12]

Thanks so much Ike... The space is a one man entry. It is small, but maybe a little larger than pic shows. Regarding the valves. I went outside since the boxes are still there and it's a Jandy Gold standard ball valve part # 6954. Do you think that will break? I will look at the Jandy Neverlube. I don't see the purple primer either. He is going to do a pressure test tomorrow I think.

 

[Isaac-1]

I would hope the Jandy valves are built to a higher standard than the common made in China valves, although looking online they seem to offer them in both a union and non union design, the non union ones appear to be what you have from what I can see in the photo, which means they would have to be cut out to be replaced. Given that they are already installed my feeling is you might as well keep them for now, but be aware of potential problems down the road and when the first one goes bad tear them all out and replace them with something better like the Never-Lube valves. As to the issue of primer, if you plan to keep that house for more than 10 years I would INSIST that all that plumbing be torn out and redone the right way with primer if none was used regardless if it passes pressure test now. The simple fact is if cleaner / primer is not used before cement is applied you will get an inferior bond which may work for a while, but will be much more likely to fail 5 - 10 years down the line when the pool warranty is gone and they are buried under concrete. In which case you can expect a repair cost of $1,000 - $1,500+ per leak (much more if it is in the floor of the pool). The place most prone to these blowout leaks to happen is at T's and elbow fittings, so count how many there are and do the math even assuming only 10% failure rate. Note my pool is 36 years old and in the last 15-20 years has had 3 failed underground elbows due to incorrect plumbing being used, and I have a fairly simple plumbing layout with only 2 returns and a skimmer and only 6 elbow fittings in the whole layout below ground level, most recently the elbow fitting on the bottom of the skimmer a year or so ago.

Ike

p.s. there is a reason primer is traditionally purple, it is so building plumbing inspectors can easily see it, the new UV glow stuff is great for worker clothing though as the purple stuff stains everything, but of course so does the blue rain r shine cement which makes me wonder if they used UV primer why use blue rain r shine instead of clear medium cement in your climate.

 

[yellow12]

Thanks so much Ike. They came today and I saw 2 cans in a carrier when they were adding the stubs for the 2 deck jets. They applied one and then another. I don't know why they are using the clear. The temps here get up to 110. Phoenix was higher at 120, but that is the max, not the norm. I tried the bake cookie in the car receipt and it works.

They did a pressure test also when I was sleeping (I work night shift). I think I am going to go with a paver section over where they dug the lines along the side to the concrete deck where the skimmer is will be only 2 ft to minimize tear up if a repair is needed down the road. Our driveway already has cracks and a broken section from the construction trucks which we knew was going to happen so that is why when we built the large gate, we are waiting to pour concrete for the car/toy (no RV) slab. Part of it will have to be paver because of a gas line access. It's always complicated.lol
I do like this contractor. He is the son of the founder and I did a lot of scouting around and always check references and ROC since we had a nightmare on another pool build years ago in PA and we had an issue with floor refinishing.
Ah, PA... It was a 16x43 fiberglass pool and we used the Waterworld recommendation for the dig, plumbing, electrical and it was beautiful, but we found our own decker and messed up royally!I think I still have some pictures. I will look. The concrete hardened too soon and it had a surface like lava rocks. Had to be jackhammered up by another contractor and redone. Out 6K on just that. The new guy did a great job though. If anyone in the PA area near Easton, Bangor is building a pool, I can find the good references.

 

[bmoreswim]

...It's always complicated.lol

Ain't that the truth. Or at least I try to make it that way!

 

[yellow12]

Yes, bmoreswim... it's complicated.lol So I wanted to pre plum for the heater (possible in future) is $225 too much or can that be done later for better? I am just too saturated for anymore decisions! And the dark tile we had before showed the white rim that had to be pumiced off, so thinking about Noble Hill Country Crystal Lake, but should I do darker step 2x2 tiles?

I just don't know what would match and look good with this.

 

[yellow12]

These are the 3 choices I am looking at for the 2x2 step and bench tiles. Maybe something solid? Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[Marlahoutex]

Are you wanting the whole step in tile or just a step marker?

 

[yellow12]

I found the PA pool pics of a bad decking job.

- - - Updated - - -

And here was the redu by a different contractor of course.

 

[yellow12]

It's just step markers unfortunately to fit the budget..

 

[azjoshers79]

Re: Got Quote: Please help. Advise. Newbe. New build. All welcome. No offense taken.

4 weeks later and this is where we are at. They dug the pool, installed the plumbing (It's not finished at the equipment side), put in the supports (I don't see it for 2 steps? below the lagoon) and getting ready for inspection. The pool was lucky to be out of the way of the septic system on the right and the gas line on the left. I purchased a salt system to be installed by builder and hope to get solar heat within a year.
*** I am agonizing now about the 6x6 tile and 2x2 accent tile choices... It needs to be standard. I was trying to find some forum pics of sheer descents and what would look good across that back wall. I like a blue and brown sparkly look like Aztec Cobalt or Coral Rustic or Fossil Blue or Verona Botica Green. I don't know. ugh. the 2 brochures given to me were from Noble and NPT. Any recommendations without upgrading? Thank you so much for any recommendations!

- - - Updated - - -

Do you think it's a bad idea to save the Mesquite Tree?

Get rid of that mesquite, it
Will play **** with your filter when it drops its leaves.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[yellow12]

As barren as the yard is I loath to cut it down yet. I have a chain saw ready to go and a fireplace. My husband says it should go too. The wind blows left. They call it "Vail Gail".... Something about mountain cross winds. I think I will wait to see if it would be a shedding problem and then you can say "I told you so!" The porch cushions and debris always end up left of the pool against the fence. This may not be enough to keep it clear since it will be my first summer here and I won't tolerate a continual issue. The dog hair will be enough. I may come home from work though and he has cut it down. He follows everyone's thoughts and answers even though he doesn't post.

 

[Isaac-1]

I am glad to here they were using clear primer, I can understand why the purple stuff stains everything. As to the tile I would pick the right most one for step markers as it seems to stand out the most. On your question about adding plumbing later for a heater it all depends on how tightly they plumb the pad. It seems many newbie pool owners and many pool builders feel smaller is better, to the point of plumbing it to take up as little space as possible and also make it impossible to add or replace any piece of equipment without ripping the whole thing out. You have owned pools before and have probably seen it.

Ike

 

[yellow12]

You are right. I am going to pay now. He certainly didn't leave me as much room as I would have liked. On the previous pool I had good long (extra pipe) installed. Even extra pvc buried for a "future rock waterfall that didn't happen because we had to move" and we installed salt systems on all the pools. I will go with the far right tiles, as long as it isn't a dreaded upgrade. Thank you IKE!

 

[kimkats]

You HAVE to know I am going to pick the BLING one (on the right)!

You mean to tell me someone poured and "finished" your patio like THAT on your last place? I thought it was dirt that had not been smoothed yet! OUCH!

Have you found the skimmer hair nets yet? There is some on Amazon that are very cheap. Something like 100 to a box for ? (cheap). They are food worker hair nets in "real life" that many here use for skimmers for dog hair and such.

Kim

 

[WASP]

The hair nets used as skimmer socks are wonderful. About $0.06 each. I change them daily. Lots of pollen and other fine stuff is captured before it ends up in the filter. Saves me back washing and dumping water into the sewer.

 

[bmoreswim]

Yes, I'd go darker on the step tiles. My waterline AND step tiles are similar to the Noble Hill Country Crystal Lake in color. And they could certainly stand to be darker on my steps. In less than bright light, they are not very visible, especially when swimming. I like the center of the three tiles (and pick the darkest ones among them) because they go well with the other tile. As a side note, for our step marker tiles, they just cut the 6x6 waterline tiles into quarters since they didn't sell them otherwise. It's not perfect since you see the cut edge on some versus the very slightly finished beveled edge, but no worries. No one but me would ever notice or care. Moral being that 3" square is also fine.

 

[yellow12]

I got so frustrated trying to pick tile online and went to the office. They have been around for over 30 years and have lots of tile and some discontinued. Down in the back corner under some stuff I found something that I really liked and it was not an upgrade! I paired it with a 1x1 upgrade tile (but only 6 1 ft packs were needed) for the steps which I asked to have rowed continuous in 2 lines together. I am not going with the white between the tile on the wall, but a light tan color to pop out the color on the tiles. These tiles remind me of geode rocks broken open. I like sparkles, but everything else was an upgrade and often 4x the base price. What do you think?

Curious how many will think it's butt ugly. I won't get offended. It's amusing. I often don't like what most people do and have reconciled my non conformity years ago to not fit into normal, but I will have to sell this house someday.lol