Need advice on new build

[beckytess]

Hi everyone. I need some serious advice!!
My name is Becky and I live in CA. After debating for years, I decided to put in a pool!

I chose to go with a smaller pool company, as opposed to the bigger local companies. I loved their family-owned feel and the fact that things felt more personal.
I cannot say for sure, but we are now 2 1/2 months into our build, and I feel I am discovering the downsides of a smaller company, especially during/post Covid and all of the resulting supply chain and labor shortage issues.

Progress after excavation has been slow and frustrating. We have gunite, waterline tile, our water feature/ wall, plumbing, and some equipment in place. Next up is decking prep and concrete pour. After that, we still need solar, pool pump/ equipment, and of course the pebble finish...
This leads me to a couple important questions that I need help on:

1 - Our contract includes Wet Edge Signature Matrix , and I spent MANY hours choosing a color - Cadet Blue with abalone.
Due to a supposed labor shortages in the area, the sub-contractor company that does the pebble finish for our pool company has apparently made it clear that there are big delays and they are not offering firm dates at the moment (they are giving set dates to the customers of the larger companies however).
The woman I am working with has avoided guessing (this may not be in her control and I get that), but last we talked she thought we could be waiting until late September, as opposed to early August. Soooo, she suggested that we go with their backup (I hear lower quality??), company and use the product they are contracted with - Finest Finishes, instead of Wet Edge. Included in our contract would be the "Island Series", but I had hoped to upgrade to their "Universal Mini Pebble" and would need to pick a color yet again.

So, do we agree to change companies, and therefore use a different product? Do we opt to wait for the original product/company/color, or do we switch over to get it done faster? Anyone have insights that could help me on this?

2 - Please help me understand the pros/cons of salt water. Currently we are signed up for it, but I recently heard that it could be a mistake. Thoughts? Does it in fact ruin concrete decking?

3 - Lastly, can someone help me understand drainage? Again, I thought it was included in our contract, but apparently we will have to pay more if we opt to go with a strip drain (which I think we may need). I'd hate to have water pooling up on the deck by the house...

Thanks in advance - I'm feeling overwhelmed!
-Becky

 

[gingrbredman]

Welcome Becky, and glad to see you've taking the plunge on the pool. Not sure I can help with 1 and 3, but my take on....

Please help me understand the pros/cons of salt water. Currently we are signed up for it, but I recently heard that it could be a mistake

My guess is you have not heard that it could be a mistake here, but either from your builder, or others who may not be well informed on pool chemistry. A SWCG is not a mistake at all, but a great way to chlorinate your pool and avoid lugging jugs of liquid chlorine, or worse adding tabs which will result in high CYA and eventually draining and replacing the water. Not an easy thing to do in California I would guess.

You can not use if for about 30 days after you start up, due to the plaster process, but once you get it going, you couldn't imagine not having it. Also, a pool without a SWCG will eventually get salt levels just as high as a pool with one. So is it the SWCG that actually "ruined" anything? Anyone is blaming a SWCG for ruining anything, they just don't understand the chemistry, and this "Vudu" device must be the cause of the problems.

Simply put, no, it is not a mistake to add the SWCG, just make sure the one you are getting is rated for at least 2x your pool volume for it to work its best.

 

[bertschb]

Welcome to the forum Becky!

In most parts of the country, it's taking 18 months to get pools completed. Although it sounds like your pool is moving along nicely compared to most we see, I'd be really surprised if yours was completed by this winter. Sooooo, I would stick with the Wet Edge finish you really like from your pool builder. It would be painful to settle for a lesser finish from a lesser company only to find out in the end the rest of the pool still wasn't ready even though you got the finish done sooner.

As for salt water pools - there are people out there (who have no experience with salt water pools) who think salt ruins concrete or travertine stone or pool equipment or whatever. That's false. There are thousands of pool owners here on the forum with salt water pools. I've never heard any of them talk about problems with their salt pools. The salt level in a salt water pool is about the same as your tears. It's 1/10 that of sea water.

The HUGE advantage of a salt water pool is that chlorine is being added to the pool gradually all day long (whenever the pump is running). Not only does that keep your chlorine level more constant (rather than dumping half a jug of chlorine in once a day) but it also eliminates the need to constantly go to the store to grab multiple gallons of chlorine. It allows you to leave the house for extended periods without worrying about your chlorine levels.

Chlorine pucks do work in that they add chlorine to your pool BUT they also add CYA. Eventually, the CYA level will rise to the point that your chlorine is no longer effective and you'll need to drain and replace your water - usually each year. Not a good thing living in CA! Sooooo, you can either lug chlorine jugs around and pour chlorine in the pool every day or get a salt water chlorine generator and let it add the chlorine for you while you sit on the deck enjoying a cold beverage.

If you haven't already, I strongly urge you to get your own test kit so you can accurately test your water. Don't rely on pool store testing! It's not accurate. You can find test kits compared here- Pool test kits:

I would also encourage you to spend some time reading up in Pool school If you take the time to do this, you will be waaaay ahead of the game once your pool is completed.

Finally, in order to track your water testing I would recommend getting the Pool Math app. This comes in really handy as you manage your own pool. You will find as I did that taking care of your own pool is really simple and only takes a few minutes each week.

There are TONS of super helpful people here on the forum so don't hesitate to ask questions and if you have time, share some picture of your pool build. We love following along as people build their new pools!

-Brian

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

The supply chain delay is real with plaster materials. One plaster company I use has advised me that they actually drive to Arizona to pick up the product directly from the manufacturer to guarantee to have the product so they can schedule correctly for customers.
They only travel as far north as LA CO but if you would like to talk to them about your concerns with the other products PM me and I’ll send you their business info, also if you have any concerns during the construction process possibly I can help.

 

[beckytess]

Welcome Becky, and glad to see you've taking the plunge on the pool. Not sure I can help with 1 and 3, but my take on....


My guess is you have not heard that it could be a mistake here, but either from your builder, or others who may not be well informed on pool chemistry. A SWCG is not a mistake at all, but a great way to chlorinate your pool and avoid lugging jugs of liquid chlorine, or worse adding tabs which will result in high CYA and eventually draining and replacing the water. Not an easy thing to do in California I would guess.

You can not use if for about 30 days after you start up, due to the plaster process, but once you get it going, you couldn't imagine not having it. Also, a pool without a SWCG will eventually get salt levels just as high as a pool with one. So is it the SWCG that actually "ruined" anything? Anyone is blaming a SWCG for ruining anything, they just don't understand the chemistry, and this "Vudu" device must be the cause of the problems.

Simply put, no, it is not a mistake to add the SWCG, just make sure the one you are getting is rated for at least 2x your pool volume for it to work its best.

Thank you very much for your reply. I feel pretty in over my head as far as understanding all of this, so I appreciate your insight. Sounds like a good idea to keep the salt system in our plan! I am doing the Intellichem system as well, and hoping that the combination will help/ pay off as far as maintenance goes.
Now on to the drainage and plaster issues : )
Thanks again!

 

[HermanTX]

3 - Lastly, can someone help me understand drainage? Again, I thought it was included in our contract, but apparently we will have to pay more if we opt to go with a strip drain (which I think we may need). I'd hate to have water pooling up on the deck by the house...

Drainage of your deck is something a PB can do but not all PB's do it. It just depends if decking and drainage was part of your original contract. Is there any layout or list of items that were defined in the contract? That is where you start.

If it was missed or not included, then you can ask the PB for a quote or go to a 3rd party landscape company for a quote.

 

[TampaKathy]

Pool builds are taking forever...yours sounds like it's flying along compared to a lot of people, lol. I would think you would at least need a strip drain on the deck and you're not going to want to do that after the fact...but that's coming from me in FL and we probably get a lot more rain than you so maybe the PB thinks it's not necessary. +1 on the vote for salt water

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Can you provide the pool drawing layout with the structures that will impact the decking? This would help in determining where, how many and type of deck drains would be needed. Type of finish and direction of slopes also needs to be decided prior to Installation.

 

[beckytess]

Thank you all for your responses.
I was on vacation and could not figure out how to get into this forum.
The concrete/ decking went in today and we are getting the pool equipment installed later next week.
I have yet to decide on what to do with the pebble finish - do I stay with the Wet edge product and wait 6-8 weeks, or do I switch to Finest Finishes and wait 2-3 weeks... but pay 3.5K more???
So many choices, but I believe this is the hardest one!!!

 

[samsoccer7]

Welcome to the forum Becky!

In most parts of the country, it's taking 18 months to get pools completed. Although it sounds like your pool is moving along nicely compared to most we see, I'd be really surprised if yours was completed by this winter. Sooooo, I would stick with the Wet Edge finish you really like from your pool builder. It would be painful to settle for a lesser finish from a lesser company only to find out in the end the rest of the pool still wasn't ready even though you got the finish done sooner.

As for salt water pools - there are people out there (who have no experience with salt water pools) who think salt ruins concrete or travertine stone or pool equipment or whatever. That's false. There are thousands of pool owners here on the forum with salt water pools. I've never heard any of them talk about problems with their salt pools. The salt level in a salt water pool is about the same as your tears. It's 1/10 that of sea water.

The HUGE advantage of a salt water pool is that chlorine is being added to the pool gradually all day long (whenever the pump is running). Not only does that keep your chlorine level more constant (rather than dumping half a jug of chlorine in once a day) but it also eliminates the need to constantly go to the store to grab multiple gallons of chlorine. It allows you to leave the house for extended periods without worrying about your chlorine levels.

Chlorine pucks do work in that they add chlorine to your pool BUT they also add CYA. Eventually, the CYA level will rise to the point that your chlorine is no longer effective and you'll need to drain and replace your water - usually each year. Not a good thing living in CA! Sooooo, you can either lug chlorine jugs around and pour chlorine in the pool every day or get a salt water chlorine generator and let it add the chlorine for you while you sit on the deck enjoying a cold beverage.

If you haven't already, I strongly urge you to get your own test kit so you can accurately test your water. Don't rely on pool store testing! It's not accurate. You can find test kits compared here- Pool test kits:

I would also encourage you to spend some time reading up in Pool school If you take the time to do this, you will be waaaay ahead of the game once your pool is completed.

Finally, in order to track your water testing I would recommend getting the Pool Math app. This comes in really handy as you manage your own pool. You will find as I did that taking care of your own pool is really simple and only takes a few minutes each week.

There are TONS of super helpful people here on the forum so don't hesitate to ask questions and if you have time, share some picture of your pool build. We love following along as people build their new pools!

-Brian

Would you recommend the same for Chicago suburbs as well? Also is there anything a salt water pool CAN degrade? Limestone? Furniture? Auto cover?

 

[Cena_sea]

We also had delays on wet edge (might even be same area installers) but luckily it wasn't as long a wait as originally estimated. Our builder advised us not to switch plaster companies as he felt long term we would be unhappy. But during that wait we felt ready to switch to anybody available. Based on what info I had been given it should not cost thousands more for finest finish vs wet edge (maybe it depends on the colors though).

As far as swg, in California that seems to definitely be the route to go. No issues with swg so far and am so pleased to not have to worry about liquid chlorine at all this season. When we went out of town I used pucks and kept the swg on.

 

[guinness]

I am doing the Intellichem system as well, and hoping that the combination will help/ pay off as far as maintenance goes.

I think people here would recommend the IntelliPH over the IntelliChem as the ORP sensor can't be relied upon.

Intellichem with Intellichlor

Moved from here. My experience is that the IntelliChem does not work with the IntelliChlor In my case the ORP reads totally wrong and drops as the total chlorine is rising as a result it leaves the IC40 on at 100 percent constantly. I’ve had chlorine readings of 30 plus. I have configured the...

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