Another update! Yard destruction/pool construction has officially begun.
Spent yesterday prepping for today's excavation, Thanks to great advice from my consultant, I moved the decomposed granite in the access route off to the side so it wouldn't be worked into the dirt. I tied the tree back in order to avoid removing it, but I had to remove a few bushes and ornamental grasses that were in the path. Also tried to protect the sprinkler box using another tip, but that didn't work well for me.
Excavation crew showed up right before 7 and broke down the block wall for access. I watched them do their test dig and breathed a little easier every time I watched that bucket sink a little lower per dig. I lucked out, because they were able to get down 5 feet before hitting rock (in that spot), so it was only going to be considered a 2 foot hard dig (most of the pool owners I spoke with around me had a hard dig starting around a foot deep).
The crew was friendly and helpful. They pulled out some good sized boulders that looked pretty good and asked if I wanted to keep them (makes it easier for them if I keep it) and spent a bit of time moving them into good places.
I think the crew did a good job with the ground they had to work with. The grotto bench area looks strange as I am pretty sure one of the boulders popped out of the ground there. Also, while the test dig went to 5 feet, you can see where the rock starts at around 2 feet by my ledge and they never mentioned it. The crew stayed completely off my paver driveway, which was greatly appreciated as other neighbors have had to repair popped border pavers from their excavations. At the end of the dig, the crew actually tried to level out the dirt in the front yard to make it easier for me to fix. It was nice that they were finished in 7 hours, as the last pool near me was 5 days of jackhammering (I work from home most days).
Lastly, my one piece of advice (as I combined a few different ideas around here) would be to print out your design plans to the correct scale (required 11x17 for me) at a print store with lamination (great price for 3 pages for me at Staples) and leave them somewhere that your subs can view them. I ended up buying an Ikea MALA easel for this purpose (couldn't beat the price) using binder clips to attach the pages and left it on my patio with a cooler of water and Powerades and snacks for the crew. I was surprised how many times I watched them go up to it and look at it as a reference point.
Now time to go measure. Could someone point me to the right offsets for depth and sides? I believe 16" side to side and water depth is 11"...
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. It never crossed my mind something might happen. It‘s not all of them and I know I’m the only one who notices, but I AM the one who notices. No problems with normal use and brushing but a sander is a whole different ball game.
. We just added a spa this time.
