New Build...1st Timer...Houston, TX - Deck and Pool School Complete

[swansonite]

Found the forums a few months ago and have been reading non-stop learning everything I can. We are finally ready to sign a contract this week. Received 3 quotes and felt this one was the best overall on top of they were most responsive and easiest to work with during bidding. They also completed a friend’s pool earlier this year and they had nothing but great things to say.

Below are the pool specs but some other things we have confirmed with the builder:

• Drains and skimmers will all be independently plumbed to pump with a valve on each line
• Heater will have a plumbing bypass
• Equipment pad oversized and pre-plumbed for chiller

PB quoted inline chlorinator but I finally have my wife on board with SWG so we will be making the change to SWG. I assume I should request the W3T-Cell-15 due to the size of our pool and to stay in the Hayward family?

Pending HOA approvals, PB said we could break ground in January.

This will be our first pool and appreciate feedback on anything I may have missed.

Pool Specifications

• Dimensions: 35' x 16', 540 sq.ft, Perimeter: 113', 16127 gal
• Depth: 3'6" x 5'6" x 3'6" (Most likely going to make shallow ends 4’)
• Finish: WetEdge Signature Matrix Lvl. 1
• Lighting: (4) Hayward Colorlogic 320 LED
• Fill Line: Autofill

Pool & Spa Structure

• Steel (Beam): #3 Rebar Continuous
• Steel (Walls & Floors): #3 Rebar Continuous Matt
• Gunite: 6:1 Cement (sx) : Sand (yrd)
• Gunite (Beam): 12" pneumatically applied;
• Gunite (Walls & Floors): 8" pneumatically applied;
• Deck Dowels: 3/8" rebar deck tie-in every 4 ft
• Warranty: 10 years pool shell and pebble finish
• Pool Plumbing: Schedule 40 PVC, 2" plumbing suction and return
• Pump Connections: Schedule 80 PVC

Pool Equipment

• Filter: Hayward Swimclear 425 sq.ft
• Filter Pump: Hayward Tristar VS900 Omni
• Heater: Hayward H-Series 400KBTU Low NOX
• Main Drain: Pentair AVSC Main Drain (x1 in pool, x1 in spa)
• Skimmers: Hayward Autoskim Square (x2)
• Chlorinator: Pentair Rainbow 300C
• Transformer: Hayward 300W
• Controller: Omni Logic with App.
• Warranty: 3-year manufacturer warranty on all Hayward equipment unless noted

Spa Specifications

• Dimensions: 10 x 6 raised with single spillover per drawing, 60 sq.ft, Perimeter: 32', Depth: 36", 850 gal
• Finish: WetEdge Signature Matrix Lvl. 1
• Lighting: (1) Hayward Colorlogic 320 LED
• Spillway: 16' perimeter overflow

Spa Equipment

• Main Pump: Primary filter pump above
• Air Blower: Hayward Blower 1.5HP, 1-year warranty
• Heater: Primary pool heater above
• Drain: Pentair AVSC (x1)
• Controller: Primary Pool Controller

Features

• Feature #1: Integrated fire pit, filled with black lava rock
• Plumbing: Gas line from heater to column
• Feature #2: (1) Bubbler on sun deck(s), non-lit 1/2" orfice
• Pump: Hayward Tristar VS500
• Plumbing: Plumbed to feature 2 pump
• Feature #3: Water shear in column
• Pump: Feature 2 pump above
• Plumbing: Plumbed to feature 2 pump

Decking

• Material: New concrete base with cool deck coating, includes existing patio, 850 sq.ft new;

Maintenance Equipment

• Pool Cleaner: Hayward Sharkvac; Polaris connection plumbed, booster pump not quoted.

Payment

• Deposit: $1500
• 30%: Day of Excavation
• 30%: Day of Gunite
• 30%: Day of Decking
• 10%: Day of Project Finish

 

[Megsyperk]

Hello fellow Houstonian! Pool design looks beautiful!

 

[swansonite]

Hello fellow Houstonian! Pool design looks beautiful!

Thank you. We are excited, we first put this on our radar on 2019 with the intention of building this winter. Wish things didn't cost as much as they do now but is what it is.

 

[mknauss]

PB quoted inline chlorinator but I finally have my wife on board with SWG so we will be making the change to SWG. I assume I should request the W3T-Cell-15 due to the size of our pool and to stay in the Hayward family?

Correct. The PB will likely insist in leaving the puck thing. Only in Texas.

 

[swansonite]

Correct. The PB will likely insist in leaving the puck thing. Only in Texas.

Thanks....that was one thing we loved about this builder, there has been zero push back to anything. The other two when I mentioned SWG were already pushing back like everyone else from Texas seem to experience.

 

[TKpoolOH]

Congrats! I won't make any comments on the pool because I don't know much about gunite and less about spas. This may be my cynical nature because of dealing I have with my PB, but just because they were responsive during the bidding, you can't always count on that being the case during the build or the wait to the build. My PB was great during the bidding/design phase, signed a contract, and nothing but crickets and delays. I don't think I'd hear from the PB at all if I wasn't contacting them. Hopefully you have a better experience which it sounds like you may from your friend's referral.

 

[swansonite]

Received HOA approvals just before Christmas and just got done marking the yard with the PB this morning. On schedule to start dig Monday with gunite schedule for Thursday. Weather is looking perfect next week so here is to hoping.

Finally got the wife on board with SWG so will be going that route instead.

Will be purchasing this Test Kit shortly. Already got the pool math app downloaded so will begin playing with it and practice taking readings.

Attached are our selections for water line tile, coping and veneer for pillars. We chose the Cadet Blue from WetEdge for the plaster color. Excited to get this project started.

 

[Mbb04]

Received HOA approvals just before Christmas and just got done marking the yard with the PB this morning. On schedule to start dig Monday with gunite schedule for Thursday. Weather is looking perfect next week so here is to hoping.

Finally got the wife on board with SWG so will be going that route instead.

Will be purchasing this Test Kit shortly. Already got the pool math app downloaded so will begin playing with it and practice taking readings.

Attached are our selections for water line tile, coping and veneer for pillars. We chose the Cadet Blue from WetEdge for the plaster color. Excited to get this project started.

Is that the Philadelphia travertine and splitface? If so, that’s what we chose for our pool for decking, coping and wall.

We are considering the cadet blue as well, along with the cerulean blue

 

[swansonite]

Is that the Philadelphia travertine and splitface? If so, that’s what we chose for our pool for decking, coping and wall.

We are considering the cadet blue as well, along with the cerulean blue

The coping is called Marine Fantasy and the split face is Silver. We are doing a cool deck spray product for the decking.

Cadet blue was within included budget and while we liked a couple other colors more we didn't want to pay any more.

 

[swansonite]

Dig was completed Monday and steel yesterday. I was amazed how accurate they could dig with the bobcat. Only collateral damage was the xfinity cable to the house which ran right across where the stairs go. That should be fixed today.

Gunite scheduled for Thursday which is good since we have quite a bit of rain coming this weekend. So far amazed how efficient they've been.

 

[joel98z]

Received HOA approvals just before Christmas and just got done marking the yard with the PB this morning. On schedule to start dig Monday with gunite schedule for Thursday. Weather is looking perfect next week so here is to hoping.

Finally got the wife on board with SWG so will be going that route instead.

Will be purchasing this Test Kit shortly. Already got the pool math app downloaded so will begin playing with it and practice taking readings.

Attached are our selections for water line tile, coping and veneer for pillars. We chose the Cadet Blue from WetEdge for the plaster color. Excited to get this project started.

We have the style of tile, just a little bit different shade. You will love it. Check build thread in my signature if you want to see what it looks like.

 

[swansonite]

We have the style of tile, just a little bit different shade. You will love it. Check build thread in my signature if you want to see what it looks like.

Appreciate it. I really like your design, can't wait to see it completed.

 

[swansonite]

Gunite finished yesterday. Potential for a couple inches of rain this weekend which will ease my watering requirements. After a hectic week we get some quiet this weekend. Plumbing and equipment planned for Monday pending how much rain we actually get.

Ordered my test kit this morning and will be testing fill water once it arrives.

 

[swansonite]

After 3.5" of rain Saturday night our ground was still dry enough to get plumbing and most equipment completed yesterday. I did ask for the equipment to be spaced out to make it easy to work on in the future but with the giant pad they poured they went really spaced out. They also left a space to the right of the heater for a chiller should we decide we want one in the future. They included the heater bypass as well as there is plenty of space to install the SWG after startup.

We did run into our first supply issue with our waterline tile. When our PB went to get our tile, their supplier had sold their stock from under them. Apparently the supplier never got charged it to the PB's account after our selection in early December, so it never officially got allocated to us. PB said this has been a somewhat common issue with this supplier in the last year. With that said, PB showed up to the house with 4 or 5 other samples on Friday evening of similar designs/color of tile that was confirmed in stock. We ended up with the 1"x1" Imperial from NPT (naturally the only sample board in that color was the mosaic pattern). Ultimately it worked out because we both like this one a little more than our original choice.

Electric is today and tile and coping is scheduled to start later this week.

 

[TampaKathy]

Do those windows open? Heater looks pretty close to them.

 

[swansonite]

Do those windows open? Heater looks pretty close to them.

Windows don't open. Equipment is placed behind kitchen / dining nook wall. Maybe not the most ideal location but allowed for the view to not be obstructed if we ever place a chiller.

 

[swansonite]

Waterline tile and coping finished yesterday, really starting to look like a pool. They are coming back to do toe tile after decking and before plaster.

Glad for the tile supply issue because we like this tile more than our first selection and really like the way it turned out.

 

[.ben]

Waterline tile looks great. Just curious, do you like coping used at the bottom of the skimmer?
My pool has tile but I’ve seen both tile and coping used. Just asking because if you have a preference for tile now would be the time to speak to your PB.

 

[HermanTX]

Waterline tile and coping finished yesterday, really starting to look like a pool. They are coming back to do toe tile after decking and before plaster.

Glad for the tile supply issue because we like this tile more than our first selection and really like the way it turned out.

Looking great. Are you on the Brazos river I see in the background or a man-made waterway?

 

[swansonite]

Waterline tile looks great. Just curious, do you like coping used at the bottom of the skimmer?
My pool has tile but I’ve seen both tile and coping used. Just asking because if you have a preference for tile now would be the time to speak to your PB.

Thanks. I'd never seen it this way before with coping but I kind of like the look. Talking to the wife last night she likes it as well so looks like it's a keeper.