Anyone wondering what the guiding vision is, here is an example of me being very bored on work calls over the past couple of months...
Gratuitous Pool Construction Pics
- Thread starter GaryParr
- Start date
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
I just found your build thread.. NICE! and what a wild journey with with a wonderful end. Your patio plans look sweet! I like your vision!.. Now I have to go back through and reread the part of about the valves.. I missed where they got swapped! I'm still chuckling at the shear descent on the jack stands! 
We've had rain, a heat wave, and two members of the mason crew call out with injury so progress is going slowly, but it is progress!
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Oh, and anecdotally, if I ever want to wreak havoc on someone's DE filter I'm just showing up with a big bag of stone dust.
Please ignore the garage... cleaning that out is a project for this coming fall. We plan to put a little white fence along the side of the house to hide the propane tanks and make a home for the trash and recycle bins.
I wanted to do a fire pit built into that circular area, but the wife said she wanted to do a propane fire table instead. Her logic was "that way I can turn it on myself without having you come light a fire every night." I could find no fault in her logic.
I wanted to do a fire pit built into that circular area, but the wife said she wanted to do a propane fire table instead. Her logic was "that way I can turn it on myself without having you come light a fire every night." I could find no fault in her logic.
Yesterday we noticed the mortar joint between the top of the steps and bullnose coping is crumbling a bit. No where else, just there. I'm going to ask my guys about that, but wanted to ask here if anyone might have an explanation.
My first thought is that the stairs are flexing a bit. But, this crumbling is happening even at the outside corners where the steps meet the pool wall where flex should be almost nonexistent. That makes me wonder if it's just normal expansion/contraction differences between the steel wall and the fiberglass.
Either way, are there any quick and easy remedies?
My first thought is that the stairs are flexing a bit. But, this crumbling is happening even at the outside corners where the steps meet the pool wall where flex should be almost nonexistent. That makes me wonder if it's just normal expansion/contraction differences between the steel wall and the fiberglass.
Either way, are there any quick and easy remedies?
For clarity, the mortar is fine on the left side of this picture, but gets crumbly exactly where the stairs begin.
Wolfepack88
Gold Supporter
- Jun 21, 2020
- 759
- Pool Size
- 17690
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
What are your pavers (Style and size)? Everything looks very nice. Like the vision drawing, nice fire pit (wood?) too!
Thanks! I'd have preferred a nice big wood fire pit, but instead the wife wanted to just do an inlay and will be purchasing one of those propane fire table things... something about convenience. The pavers are Nicolock Stone Ridge XL in the South Bay color.
What kind of base did they prep for the coping? That's a wierd angle amd space, not a great spot to get a good looking joint easily
They poured a concrete collar around the pool, so those coping pavers are sitting directly on a pretty secure mortar base. Behind the collar they used crushed fill and then sand. We've been keeping an eye on this and it looks like the crumbling has stopped... it was only the outer layer that had this problem and, in most places, only the "bottom portion" of the joint sitting directly on the steps. The leading theory is that they might have had a little bit too much water in this joint mix. Over the concrete base that was fine since the concrete absorbed the water, but over the steps the water had no where to go and caused the mortar to set wrong. They are going to clean that out and re-do it with a drier mix, but also add a flex additive just in case there is some contraction/expansion issue going on that would make this reappear down the line.
Oh, on another note, I had a question about securing skimmer collars at the right height. I'm not sure what I was thinking (meaning that I wasn't thinking) but I posted that questions in a different forum instead of asking it here in my build thread where it would have gotten more eyeballs.
www.troublefreepool.com
Secure Skimmer Collar
Hey, might be a silly question... but how does everyone secure the skimmer collar at the right height so it doesn't "sink" below the deck level when someone steps on it? I think someone recommended silicone but wasn't sure if that was the best way.
www.troublefreepool.com
I drill them and pop rivet them with stainless rivets. Need a small compact drill to get in there