New Build in NE FL

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Just to see how effective the water softener is (bc I have been complaining about the lack of softening for a few years and how the dishes look out of the dish washer and the crusty white stuff if we let dishes dry by hand and not to mention how dry my hair and skin is after a shower esp when 11 years ago when house was built the water was very soft) so tested our water straight out of the well. In the barn, we dont use the softener and I have no calcium scale or any issues in the barn. Our CH is 600 ppm before the water softener. So for it to only go to 500 ppm tells me it isn't working very efficiently. Time to get someone out to see what's going on with it.

Also, acid wash crew is here and just finished the acid and are now pressure washing. Fill will begin soon. 2 guys from the deck crew are here and are FINALLY extending the deck drain all the way across the deck (they wanted to follow the house but that would put the water washing out next to the foundation and equipment pad and also not address the water standing on the deck past the house) so they are working on that and we told them about the one door patio being too high so they took the pavers off to lower the base.

Construction manager also showed up and got the bulbs in the deck lights and asked the deck guys to pop 2 pieces of stair coping and get the lights installed.

Here are some pics after acid wash before pressure washing
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All the bright blue dots and brighter white dots are the iridescent mini glass beads
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Stone crew just showed up. They are marking the stone to removed so it can sit on top of the pavers. Also showed CM the pavers that need replacing esp since so many will be needed around the spa and wall to fix the stone area. More will need to be ordered but sorry I told PB that beforr he just ordered 1 to try to save the shipping cost. Oh well. It's getting done and if its only fixed half way, I'll make make its 100%.
 
No but the ground water has iron. This has turned into ANOTHER headache. Construction Manager called plaster guy. He comes out and is yelling and screaming bc we have a well and only 1 hose filling the pool even though the plaster crew who did the acid wash are the ones who started the fill and said it was ok. Now the pump is having issues and I called a well pump company and they insist we must stop filling from the softener bc it will blow it and kill the pump. So now we will have to have straight well water filling the pool. The plaster owner had a guy come out and he pulled the plug on the drain and had to do something to it and retighten and doing that allowed tons of mud and whatever else from the ground into the pool. Apparently they were supposed to clean out the returns before filling and they didn't and now the guy is pulling tons of pebbles out of the return. We had to stop filling for now and they are doing SOMETHING in the pool. Then we get to put high calcium, stinky sulphur water in our pool. I have called 3 water hauling companies and no one services us. They have known since Jan we were on a well and said it was no problem when apparently it was. We could have planned and figured out water service before this all happened. Plaster owner is saying pebble finishes need to be kept at like 6.8 ph esp when high calcium issues. I am so confused bc he is NPT certified and I saw his pools and they look amazing but his info is conflicting with TFP pool school of 7.2-7.8 ph.

Again, drama. Why can't anything go right? Plaster owner gets here and sees the stone and deck crew working to fix stuff and the dust and stuff is flying in the pool and he is chewing everyone out saying it will ruin the finish and he doesn't want to fork the bill for a warranty issue when the PB isn't making sure other subs actions arent ruining the pool. Sigh.....
 
So spa is done filling. Excuse the stuff in the water. Apparently the pipe for the drain was sticking out too far (notice a theme? Same guys put the fittings in for the spa jets and they stuck out 2 inches too far too and clearly didn't fix the drain. Thankfully the plaster guy had his worker fix it for us so that pvc shavings floating in the water). We now know the stuff turning the water colors in the actual pool was bc the acid wash crew didn't tighten the drain plug properly and it was leaking into the pool bc there is not a single bit of nasty, discolored water in the spa and it was filled with the same hose.

Also, the stone guys got all of the stone below the pavers cut and removed and 90% of the deck placed back under the stone and it looks much better - as in, the way it should have originally. Some areas couldn't be done but as long as its visually pleasing and not a huge gap with dirt and sand between the pavers and stone, that's fine. The one area that I want fixed but is in a difficult place is the edge of the step that is under the door frame support for the screen. It was where I saw ants building a nest bc there is so much sand there so yeah not sure about that. Also got the deck drain completed and mudded in the patios outside the doors after lowering the one that was too high. So even with all the crazy drama and all we actually got a good bit of progress today.

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Stone on TOP
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You can see on the left how the coping isn't under the stone. I WANT it under the stone but scared to open a can of worms popping coping off
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Get what in writing? The spa finished well after the plaster guy left and he was making a fuss and blaming it on the well water. He says he doesnt know if the plug needed to be re tightened but did it "just in case". He also videoed and took pics of the stone guys working and getting debris into the pool bc he said he wanted proof so the PB couldn't use that as a warranty issue when someone else caused it. He said he's had 2 warranty calls today from our PB for tiny little spots that he says werent his issues but another sub did something. As I said a oage or 2 back, this is the aggressive plaster guy that I wasnt backing down to when I kept questioning the plaster process.
 
We turned the pool down to 1 hose when we went to bed at midnight last night. It was about half way full. At 11am, it was about 6" from mid tile line. By 1 pm, it was full.

The 2 deck guys were back this morning, leveling the deck and they replaced the damaged coping they cut with the saw. I stood there and watched the guy remove the coping and then use his hand to brush all the sand and dry mortar into the pool. It is just sitting on the sun shelf. Ugh.

Chemical guys were supposed to be here today but now are coming tomorrow with the Hayward rep to get everything started up. The pool itself is more green but I think that's bc of the mud and iron water leaked in front the drain plug. The spa is not the same color.

We did add a bottle of Jax Magic (magenta) per plaster company recommendations to remove metals and such from the water.

The deck is better since leveling but there is nothing left paver wise to replace the damaged ones from install (all the scratches). So guess they need to order more but will have to have that discussion. Also need deck lights installed. CM asked deck crew to do that yesterday and still didn't as of today. Also need coping on spa, wall, and columns fixed.

Water softener guy came out today and fixed the electronic part of the softener and made sure the water was going into the salt like it should. Also found out you have to clean the aerator tank at least once a year. I know my dad did not do that when he was in charge of it. So 11 years of nasty in there. Ew. No wonder its not working. He has the system regenerating tonight while we sleep and the numbers should be better once hubby cleans the aerator.

I took new readings of tap water tonight and also did the pool readings after filled and Jax Magic added to it.

Tap ........................... Pool
FC, CC - 0 ................. FC, CC - 0
PH - 7.6/7.7 ............. PH - 7.5
TA - 120 ................... TA - 100
CH - 475 .................. CH - 500

So the tap water ph went up a tiny bit but dropped 25 ppm on CH with just getting water running into the softwner for a few mins. The pool went down on TA 30 points and with mostly all straight well water filling it, which was 600 ppm CH, it is at 500 CH which I know is high but seems that Jax Magic helped a little bit and hopefully the work on our system will give us softer water that we can add in to bring the CH down.

Can't wait to get in. Hopefully they don't have to do too much to it tomorrow. I also wonder if anyone can chime in about plaster guy wanting ph at 6.8? I read on the "Bad acid wash?" Thread that lower ph could be a hot start up? Wonder if that's what he meant? He can be so aggressive and wound up that it was not possible to talk back and forth and explain WHY. It just IS. His way or that's it.

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You can see the sand piled on the shelf
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Chances are he is doing an acid startup and if so a pH of 6.8 really isn't that low compared to what most do. Brush the pool as often as possible especially in the rough areas and where there may still plaster cream hiding the aggregate.

What you are seeing is a very common startup for pebble finishes.
 
bdavis466 said:
Chances are he is doing an acid startup and if so a pH of 6.8 really isn't that low compared to what most do. Brush the pool as often as possible especially in the rough areas and where there may still plaster cream hiding the aggregate.

What you are seeing is a very common startup for pebble finishes.
Click to expand...

Ok that makes sense. We havent heard what exactly is going to happen tomorrow or what kind of start up and when doing my test with the TFP kit, it said ph should be between 7.2-7.8 and when I mentioned that, he said absolutely not to ALWAYS keep the ph on these pebble finishes below neutral.
 
Shantellace I remember that our pb told us that green is normal for the first few days and it will clear up so hang in there[emoji2]
 
ShantellyLace said:
Ok that makes sense. We havent heard what exactly is going to happen tomorrow or what kind of start up and when doing my test with the TFP kit, it said ph should be between 7.2-7.8 and when I mentioned that, he said absolutely not to ALWAYS keep the ph on these pebble finishes below neutral.
Click to expand...
The NPT website lists the proper range as 7.4-7.6...
FAQ | National Pool Tile Group
 
The insert in their test kit says ph should be between 7.2-7.8. And it says lower will burn your eyes.

Yes know the green is normal until it gets running and balanced. Interesting to see the pool has more green and really none in spa but we did have that ground water emptied into the pool.

Hayward rep and start up crew will be here tomorrow at 10 am and should have more answers as to what kind of start up is happening.
 
Forgot! Since we still don't have a spillway - we were watching Pool Kings on DIY and I saw a store that had this unique stone that they used for an outdoor table. I contacted the store and she found out it can be used as a spillway in a salt water pool. She is contacting the company to find out a price quote. It is called volcanic stone from Italy. Some pieces have lots of color like red, yellow, and blue but other pieces had just blue and greys and that would look lovely. I am afraid it is going to be too expensive but doesn't hurt to ask right?

Here are 2 screen grabs from the Pool Kings show. Again, no reds in the piece we want
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That is a neat looking piece of stone! When I did a search about it most of them talked about hand painting it. Can't wait to see what you find out.

Hayward rep? Nice! I wonder how much the start up crew will know about the chemical balance of the water. This should be interesting!

Kim:kim:
 
We will use granite if this stone is too expensive. But granite is common and when I saw the stone on TV, it grabbed my attention. I have a very good feeling the stone will be $$$$$$ but only will find out if we ask.

My mom and I got into the pool for about 30 mins before storms rolled in this evening. The water was cool but very nice. I do miss the accent tiles on the steps as in the shade or lower light, you do lose the steps in the water. Oh well. It was lovely to swim if only for a few mins.

I am not exactly sure what all was done today other than starting the pumps and a guy came out to add acid ans chlorine and then brushed the plaster. He said we could swim a few hours after adding everything.

I also found out they are doing an acid start up which is why they want the ph at 6.8-7.0 for now. After 30 days, they want the ph between 7.4-7.6 which matches TFP.

Hubby and I noticed today that the area on the sun shelf where water was left sitting while it filled up left a circle on the plaster. When the plaster owner was out here when we had the issues with filling, he was spraying the plaster down to get it wet and stop it from drying out and also rinse the dust from the deck being cut. The shelf clearly isnt level and it was holding a puddle of water that is approx 6 feet long by 8 inches wide. My hubby even asked the plaster guy if he needed to sweep or blow that water off the shelf and plaster owner said no. Well now we have a very noticeable ring on the shelf floor. Will the acid in the start up and lots of brushing remove that? I did not get a pic but can tomorrow.

The water did lose a lot of the green not long after the chemicals were added to it. The chemical guy did a quick test and I forget what he said the results were. I will test the pool and also tap water again tomorrow to see where it all is. The CM was here this AM with the Hayward rep and someone (I was resting as I am having a back flare up) said we may have to drain half the pool and put water in that is not so hard. Not sure how to do that though bc I called 3 companies and no one services water delivery out here. And soeaking with my firefighter friend, she said they don't allow people to get water from their trucks but we wouldn't want it anyway bc it's nasty water anyway.

Hayward rep did say we should love the automation as this is the top of the line automation that they make. Though he did not believe it would talk to our LED sheer decent. I know its not Hayward but when ordering it, we were told it would work and be controlled by it.. Guess we will see.

Maiden swim
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Patches was a little brave checking the pool out
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