New Build - North of Houston, TX - Current State: Fence Done & Landscaping In Progress

[KevMo]

My wife & I live north of Houston and will soon have a giant expensive mud hole in the backyard. We are hoping with some good fortune, it will turn into a swimming pool sometime in April. Our three adult children and seven grandchildren live in the nearby area. The grandchildren range in age from 18 years down to 8 months, three of which are toddlers. We are building the pool to entertain the family and have a place to hang out and enjoy the backyard.

We had a pool at a previous home, but this is our first build. The design process took a while as we thought through what we really wanted. I have learned a lot from reading through the treasure trove of information on TFP. The numerous build & maintain threads, with their constructive feedback and assistance from multiple members, convinced me to become a TFP supporter. TFP stands in a rare group of websites with valuable content and active forums with friendly and supportive members. The moderators and members are to be commended.

I have attached a few pictures to start a build thread. The conceptual rendering is very close to what we hope to achieve. One of the drawings shows the rough dimensions. The water depth profile has changed. A sketch shows the latest thoughts on water depth, but we have not finalized it yet. I also included a couple of pictures of our backyard. The pool will be placed away from the house to help with drainage issues - more on that later. The main part of the deck will start 25-30' off the covered back porch. The pool equipment will be located in the backyard beyond the pool.

I also attached some of the specifications. These are a couple of revisions back. Some things about the equipment have changed, but I do not have the new specs yet.

As many have noted, Texas pool builders are generally averse to saltwater pools. We will start off using liquid chlorine, but I anticipate adding SWCG within the 1st year.

The waterfall is designed to double as a jump rock with a platform area approximately 3.5' above the water. The water depth in front of the waterfall is a deep hole to accommodate diving.

The firepit will be wood burning. We had to take down a few nice trees, so we will have plenty of wood to burn next winter.

I would appreciate any feedback you have on the build. I look forward to sharing the build and learning along the way. I appreciate you for joining us in wishing for a trouble-free build.

 

[KevMo]

I wanted to add an entry about drainage and the location of the pool. The backyard slopes a lot from left to right. The elevation difference between the planned left edge of the deck and the right edge is close to 3'. The yard also slopes back to the front. A nearly 20' wide and up to 18" deep swale runs left to right much of the backyard. The house is elevated above the swale. Around 60' from the house, the elevation returns to the same height as the back porch. The yard continues a steeper slope as you move further back. We would have a serious drainage challenge if we put the pool where the back porch and deck area join.

Rain tends to come in bunches here in the Houston area. We have had at least six times in the seven years we have lived here that rain has turned the swale into a rushing river. Below is a blurry picture of one time early in the flood stage. The level of water in that picture has happened dozens of times. The picture may also give you an idea of the slope in the backyard.

We plan to have the walkway from the porch out to the pool go through the swale and allow the water to flow over it naturally. You may be able to tell from the earlier pictures that I posted that the back portion of the deck, where the spa and firepit area is elevated 12" above the front deck. There will be a drainage design that shunts the water from the left and back around the pool area to flow down to the drainage ditch that is on the right side of the property. Much of this will be accomplished with proper grading. A retaining wall and/or culverts may be necessary, but that design is pending.

 

[KevMo]

They were due to dig the pool today (1/25/23), but we got 5" of rain yesterday. Now we wait for it to dry out and hope for a forecast of 3-4 days with little or no rain.

 

[ttonn]

We were about to get concrete decking this week but that rain held us up as well. Rain is forecasted all through next week so that may delay the dig for you unfortunately

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Can you provide a picture of the steel engineering plans? 3/8“ on 8” centers with with #4 bar on 12” box, 14 tons of boulders on or near the edge of the B/B may have special requirements.

 

[agjr85]

Get rid of the flagstone coping, you will thank me later.
Spray deck jets are also cheap and the small kiddos love to play with the shooting water.
14 tons is a Crud load of stone, that feature is going to be huge.

Ditch the suction cleaner and get a robot.

 

[KevMo]

Get rid of the flagstone coping, you will thank me later.

The list I posted is out of date. We are going to have matching travertine coping.

Spray deck jets are also cheap and the small kiddos love to play with the shooting water.

We considered but ultimately decided we didn't want them.

14 tons is a Crud load of stone, that feature is going to be huge.

Agreed. Part of the 14 tons will be used on the spa. The current plan is to have 2 pumps dedicated to the waterfall.

Ditch the suction cleaner and get a robot.

There will not be a suction cleaner. I do plan to get a robot, but not through my PB.

 

[KevMo]

Can you provide a picture of the steel engineering plans? 3/8“ on 8” centers with with #4 bar on 12” box, 14 tons of boulders on or near the edge of the B/B may have special requirements.

The plans are being revised. I will post when I get them.

 

[agjr85]

The list I posted is out of date. We are going to have matching travertine coping.

We considered but ultimately decided we didn't want them.

Agreed. Part of the 14 tons will be used on the spa. The current plan is to have 2 pumps dedicated to the waterfall.

There will not be a suction cleaner. I do plan to get a robot, but not through my PB.

 

[KevMo]

The yard finally dried out enough for the dig yesterday. The steel was completed this morning.

I will update my signature soon, but most of the details are at the beginning of this thread.

I am also capturing timelapse videos of each day. I will post periodically.

 

[KevMo]

Can you provide a picture of the steel engineering plans? 3/8“ on 8” centers with with #4 bar on 12” box, 14 tons of boulders on or near the edge of the B/B may have special requirements.

I cannot find a picture of the steel engineering plans, but this picture shows what they did for steel where the waterfall is going. They added 2' behind the bond beam with double-stacked rebar. They also cut four 3' deep piers with rebar down into the red clay.

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Cage looks good and over engineered, if you have the time tap down towards the dirt all the pig tails (wire tie ends) to insure they are as far as possible from the surface of the future Shotcrete.

 

[kimkats]

Let the MUD begin!!! FUN times ahead!

 

[KevMo]

Rough-in plumbing was done yesterday. They started shooting the gunite early this morning. Around mid-afternoon, their compressor broke down, so they are returning tomorrow to finish up. Long plumbing is currently scheduled for Monday.

Here are a few pictures of the roughed-in plumbing.

 

[KevMo]

The sun shelf looks a little shallower than we asked for. How much should I take off the depth from the top of the beam to the top of the gunite?

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

Middle of skimmer to rebar on the shelf minus a minimum of 3”. I typically like to see a total of 9” of Shotcrete on the shelf.
Picture is of a shelf shot for 8” of water that can be adjusted between 6” and 11” as desired.

 

[KevMo]

They finished the gunite yesterday (day 2). I am now watering it several times a day. Plumbing & electrical are planned for next week.

 

[KevMo]

The equipment is all installed and the plumbing and electrical trenches are now filled. Dirt work grading, forms setting and hopefully deck pour scheduled for this week.

Here are some pictures of the equipment, plumbing, and electrical. There is a tablet feeder which will be replaced by an SWG later this year. Even though there is a pressure side cleaner, I will likely add a robot this year.

The equipment pad has room for and has been pre-plumbed for a chiller. I am going to wait to see how the water temperature is this summer before buying one.

I had them add power outlets and water spigots just off the deck area in a couple places. I ran extra conduit for landscape lighting, speaker wires, and for future needs.

The equipment pad is 4'x14'. I will be adding a fence around it and landscaping in front.

 

[KevMo]

My PB installed the power center with the i8PS personality card. After looking at the install and adding up the extra things I want to control, I wish I had gotten the i10PS so I would have two more relays. It would have been a relatively small incremental small cost. It does not look like Pentair provides the ability to add the two relays without buying a new i10PS personality card for $2K+ and replacing my i8PS personality card. Am I missing an alternative solution?

The Intellicenter power center has not been energized yet, but holes have been punched for the conduit entry. I assume it is not returnable because of this.

I am waiting to see what my PB has to say. In the meantime, I wanted to see what the experts here have to offer.

 

[mknauss]

What items do you believe all need relays? I see three pumps, your booster pump for cleaning, and your blower. I would assume lights. How many transformers do you have?