New Build... Watkinsville, GA.

[kimkats]

I would try to brush at least once a week and see what you see. Here is the reason:

My husband's ONLY pool job is to brush the sides of the pool. I take care of EVERYTHING else. Seems he got a little lazy for a little while and did not do it. I was swimming and enjoying the pool under the water................hummmm what is that I see??? I rub my hand on it and it was some algae "dust" How can that be??? My levels were purrfect..........."Hubby? When did you last brush the pool?" "It did not need it so I have not done it in a while." "Then what is THIS?" as I rubbed my hand on the wall by him and a puff of algae came off. You have never seen a man jump in a pool so fast with the brush in his hands!! So I know my pool needs to be brushed. You will find out if your does not the same way.

Kim

 

[mayberry32]

I would try to brush at least once a week and see what you see. Here is the reason:

My husband's ONLY pool job is to brush the sides of the pool. I take care of EVERYTHING else. Seems he got a little lazy for a little while and did not do it. I was swimming and enjoying the pool under the water................hummmm what is that I see??? I rub my hand on it and it was some algae "dust" How can that be??? My levels were purrfect..........."Hubby? When did you last brush the pool?" "It did not need it so I have not done it in a while." "Then what is THIS?" as I rubbed my hand on the wall by him and a puff of algae came off. You have never seen a man jump in a pool so fast with the brush in his hands!! So I know my pool needs to be brushed. You will find out if your does not the same way.

Kim

Good to know. Does your pool robot climb your walls fine? Mine climbs all the way to the waterline everywhere except the steps and scrubs in 2-4' sections. My only worry is that it's not hitting every inch of the walls regularly.

 

[kimkats]

No climbing for my robot. I have an above ground pool. That may make a huge difference for you but I would be on the look out for missed spots with your robot for sure.

 

[duraleigh]

Mine climbs all the way to the waterline everywhere except the steps and scrubs in 2-4' sections. My only worry is that it's not hitting every inch of the walls regularly.

They NEVER seem to do walls as advertised. I would follow Kim's regimen of brushing the walls manually. It's quick and much more thorough than any robot.

 

[davidgriffeth]

mayberry32, beautiful build!

We're close to you. We've got the same copperhead concerns. I do a daily snake check before the kids hit the water Here's a deck box that sits almost flush on the ground: Keter Rockwood 150-Gallon Outdoor Plastic Storage Box - Sam's Club. We've got three of them going on their 4th year of duty. The floor of the box sits about 1/2" off the pool deck. We see plenty of snakes around the pool, but we've never seen any under our deck boxes. The boxes look decent, they're very sturdy, and the kids often use them as benches to sit on.

Ya'll look like you have figured out how to have fun poolside! I know you've got to be dreading the end of the 90 degree days. In Athens, we use our pool 12 months out of the year thanks to the advice of our northern friends her on TFP. Search the TFP forums for advice on heating your pool and keeping it warm. It's fairly economical for us to heat our pool using the tips here in the forum. The best tip you'll find is get a good "blanket" to hold the heat in. We started covering our pool with its "blanket" a few weeks ago when the overnight temperatures started dragging the water temperature down. When the kids get home today and uncover it, the water will be a toasty 90+ degrees. The blanket usually keeps it warm enough to swim deep into October. We'll have to turn on the heater towards the end of October to maintain 90 (that's the temperature my wife likes to keep).

My heat "cheat sheet" is attached. Somewhere here in the forum I found the information to estimate how long I have to run my heater to get the pool to 90. This chart is pretty spot on for our 21,000 gallons and heater combo.

This thread may have just about run its course, but I want to add that we've been in the pool almost nonstop all weekend. My wife and I have been working around the pool deck: putting furniture together, putting deck boxes together, etc. Every time we get hot, we jump in the pool and cool off, and then get back to work. The kids have had a ton of friends over and we've had a great time. It was a headache to build, but it's worth it. I'm so glad we decided to do this.

As an aside, I got my first snake in the skimmer basket this morning. Opened it up and there was a small copperhead in there. Luckily, I bought a snake pole to grip them with. So, being a venomous snake, I pulled him out and chopped off his head with a shovel. I have a feeling we'll be getting quite a few of them, which stinks because they scare the Crud out of me. Now, I'm worried about the holes under my deck boxes. I might want to seal up the bottoms where they can't get inside them or underneath them.

 

[l1ltaral1l]

Love the finished product photos! Looks beautiful.

 

[mayberry32]

mayberry32, beautiful build!

We're close to you. We've got the same copperhead concerns. I do a daily snake check before the kids hit the water Here's a deck box that sits almost flush on the ground: Keter Rockwood 150-Gallon Outdoor Plastic Storage Box - Sam's Club. We've got three of them going on their 4th year of duty. The floor of the box sits about 1/2" off the pool deck. We see plenty of snakes around the pool, but we've never seen any under our deck boxes. The boxes look decent, they're very sturdy, and the kids often use them as benches to sit on.

Ya'll look like you have figured out how to have fun poolside! I know you've got to be dreading the end of the 90 degree days. In Athens, we use our pool 12 months out of the year thanks to the advice of our northern friends her on TFP. Search the TFP forums for advice on heating your pool and keeping it warm. It's fairly economical for us to heat our pool using the tips here in the forum. The best tip you'll find is get a good "blanket" to hold the heat in. We started covering our pool with its "blanket" a few weeks ago when the overnight temperatures started dragging the water temperature down. When the kids get home today and uncover it, the water will be a toasty 90+ degrees. The blanket usually keeps it warm enough to swim deep into October. We'll have to turn on the heater towards the end of October to maintain 90 (that's the temperature my wife likes to keep).

My heat "cheat sheet" is attached. Somewhere here in the forum I found the information to estimate how long I have to run my heater to get the pool to 90. This chart is pretty spot on for our 21,000 gallons and heater combo.

Thanks for the cheat sheet. That will come in handy. I'm "testing" the heater now, as temps are below water temperatures at night. Temps are dropping to 79 overnight and getting back up to 82 on their own right now. Next week, we are back in the 90's, so we should have a few more weeks of unheated swimming left. After that, I'll play with the heater throughout October to extend the season.

As for deck boxes, the one you posted is the exact deck box I have. I just have it overlapping from the concrete over into my pea gravel, which creates a small gap. I've found nothing so far, but still worries me. I've only found one copperhead in the pool. Otherwise, I've just been chasing large frogs off the bottom in the mornings. This morning, I found about 10 caterpillar type things in my pool robot basket. So, something is hatching and they all like water.

As for enjoying the pool, I've watched all 3 UGA home games from the pool, so far. I NEVER miss going to home games, but I hate these crappy nonconference games. So, I used the pool as a reason to not go to Murray State and Arkansas State. Tomorrow is a different story. I won't be missing Notre Dame tomorrow night, though. Go Dawgs!

 

[Love2Fly]

Your pool is beautiful!

 

[Love2Fly]

View attachment 118012View attachment 118013View attachment 118014View attachment 118015View attachment 118016View attachment 118017Sorry to revive this thread, but I never posted pictures of the final product. This weekend, we had 11 adults and 11 kids over to watch the UGA game. Many spent the night and we had an awesome weekend. We watched our kids play and laugh. We hung out with friends and had dinner and a few drinks. We saw our dreams for why we built the pool come to life. We had a great time and all the headaches, problems, money spent and broken things are worth it. View attachment 118012View attachment 118013View attachment 118014

Mayberry32 with your liner color would you be able to see any creature (snakes and etc) inside the pool?

 

[mayberry32]

Mayberry32 with your liner color would you be able to see any creature (snakes and etc) inside the pool?

Yes. I can see frogs clearly on the bottom of the pool. Leaves are very visible. I'm sure any other animal would be, too. Luckily, I've only found one small copperhead in the skimmer basket, but no other snakes so far.

I worried about the same with the slightly darker color. But, the water is extremely clear and beautiful.

 

[l1ltaral1l]

@Love2Fly - make a poll and let TFP members decide

But seriously...I get it. Deciding on a liner is brutal. I suffer from paralysis by analysis when I get heavy into these type of choices!

 

[kimkats]

make a poll and let TFP members decide

I will find one sparkles in it to vote on!!!

 

[Love2Fly]

They saw cut control joints yesterday morning and vermiculite and liner were added yesterday. Water is filling and is up to the shallow end already. Waiting on electrician tomorrow and some backfilling/grading around the deck. Gas line going in later this week for the heater hookup. Almost there. I think it’s looking really good. And our pool builder has been awesome to work with.

Mayberry32,

Do you have some tanning ledge ? Please if so may I see pictures of the area but filled already? Thank you very much.

 

[mayberry32]

I don't have a tanning ledge. With 3 small kids, I wanted as much pool as possible and didn't want the tanning ledge. Sorry.