New in-ground in swampy Louisiana. Build is ON!!!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Hey Eva, That's a tough one for me to answer because i really didn't research traditional pool tile since I knew I was going all glass at the waterline. As I'm sure you know, glass has some unique installation requirements, mainly because it's a hard/dense material. I would be most curious/concerned about how the PB plans to install your glass (what kind of moisture barrier, what kind of thinset) because that's the most troublesome.

But that's not your question, right. I looked at a few pools under construction trying to learn for mine. I don't recall those tile jobs looking different from yours as far as thinset coverage is concerned. In fact, I'm pretty sure a couple of them didn't even use thinset ... it looked like they went with their own mortar (portland and sand) to set the tile.

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience or basis for saying what will or won't hold. My recommendation would be to talk with your PB at length about it and maybe even an email to have some record. I'm sure they'll tell you that it's going to be rock solid and completely sealed with plaster/grout/caulk. I have many friends and family in the area with pools and I don't recall any of them having a tile pop off. Our mild climate probably helps with that.

CCIsotope had some of the exact same concerns. http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/70877-New-Pool-Cypress-TX-Pics/page3
 
Thanks imperator. I checked out that thread. I found my pools twin. Lol. Somehow I had not seen that thread and we have almost identical design choices in tile. Too funny.

I emailed my PB. That way it's on record. He didn't seem overly concerned when I talked to him. But he hadn't seen the pictures at that point. Since I haven't heard back I guess he is okay with it.

The tile guys definitely waterproofed it all first. They laid a healthy coat of plaster first. The thin set is some special pool brand. My PB said he's never had an issue with tiles popping off due to freezing and he uses the same tile guys for all the pools he does, so I'm guessing once its all grouted and plastered it will mostly fill the voids or at least not give water a way to get in them. To be safe I'm keeping my extra tiles. In case I have to fix anything down the road. I need to go snap pics of the thin set bags so I know what to use if it ever happens.

Anyway. Glad I got the grout as the tile crew showed up this am. Complete with the rest of my coping. They got the spa laid. All that's left is to replace the cut I didn't like. Most of the waterline tile is grouted as well as the coping save the spa and the repair to be part. I love how the spa coping has been done. I also have glass tile in the spa. It's so pretty :) He just has the spillover to finish and grout it.

On the grout front. It looks pretty good. Even in its darker wet form. My sample has lightened a lot but still isn't quite at its final color yet. It's going to be a dead match for the fake grout edges of my waterline tile. It's gonna look great.

Oh and. I'm told they just inlay the tiles into the plaster for the step markers. So no grout etc needed.

So, how about some pictures?

gUwjS9u.jpg

Owd7D3o.jpg


Here is my grout sample next to some almost freshly done grout lines. See how much lighter it already is. I'm not good with the wait and see part. Lol

Lnc0zmB.jpg

oyUcUlC.jpg

4j9UrZA.jpg


I think tomorrow they are coming to set forms for the deck and path. Then it's fixing to rain for a couple of days. I have no idea when the pour will happen. The ledger stone on the spa will happen after the deck is poured. I can't wait to see how that makes the spa look.

My day was full of excitement. I managed to break the washing machine faucet moving the washer to the corner where my old hot water tank lived in my utility room. Water spraying everywhere. Totally panicking because I thought there might be a plumbing inspector round to sign off the plumbing so I can close up the hole. Thank goodness he didn't show. I'm starting to think he has just signed off on it since my plumber seems to be both the most highly respected plumber in town and part of the good ol boy network in the small town I live in.
It would be nice to know if I can Sheetrock though. Still, I'll have you know I only had to make one trip to Lowes to fix my boo boo. A literal plumbing miracle.

I totally blame the pool guys for the whole fiasco though. If I hadn't been trying to distract myself from having a nervous breakdown about someone else doing work on my property and how it's going, I wouldn't have tried to busy myself moving it to see how it looks. So there. I'm going to play safe tomorrow and try cleaning instead. Or start drinking at 9 when they get here. I haven't decided yet. I do really hate cleaning...
 
I think it looks great. It's too easy to sit around and judge every move they make. Also a bit unfair to them. I'm trying real hard on my build to keep my nose out but like you, if you don't keep an eye on them they will definitely try to get away with stuff.
My advice, pick your battles. It's not a perfect world and they are not going to look at everyday so they just want to get it done get paid and go home.
As you mentioned, the little things that stick out now will be dwarfed by the enormity of the finished product.
Go ahead and enjoy that drink. Just not too much, you don't want to get too relaxed or you might really tell them how you feel. Lol
Best to keep the peace.
Peace.
 
Grout looks great as for everything else. And I totally agree about the picking and choosing battles.... knowing when to stick your nose in and when to trust that they know what they are doing. There have been instances where I saw something I didn't think was right, almost said something, and then it was either corrected or I was wrong in the first place. However, they didn't come to double check the grout before they put it on, and thankfully my wife went outside and asked them to do a test area and we didn't like it. If she had not have been paying attention then they would have grouted everything and we wouldn't hated it.

Glad you are making progress and getting closer to the finish line!
 
I hear you on that rain. We're looking at Gunite hopefully early next week, but the weather gods are talking about putting that off a few extra days. Oh well, the lakes and rivers around here need the rain much more than we need to swim!
 
Okay, I'm extremely upset. Originally we weren't going to have any deck poured. Thats how it was quoted. They left it in the contract and I being the decent person I am pointed it out so they wouldn't be held to it.
Then we thought about it and decided to add a small sitting area and pathway to our house. The going rate for adding decks by almost every builder we looked at was $6 a sf. Well every time I mentioned it, I told him I wanted it with spray deck.
I kept asking for the price - well it came on gunite day in the form of an addition to the invoice I owed. It didn't stipulate on the invoice that it included spray deck, and I questioned this and he told he it didn't, but "not to worry about it, they'll add it at cost and it won't be much more", so being that I owed that payment I payed.

Well I've been asking over and over for the cost, because I need a dollar figure, and yesterday I finally weedle it out of him its going to be nearly $1000. What. The. Heck. That ain't no 'not much' amount. So I tell him I'm probably going to want a salt finish instead and he straight up said he doesn't do that. That they've never done it and wouldn't want to try in case they messed it up. They only do brushed. Which I do not want. Which is why I had asked for spray deck from the beginning. I pulled out the calculator and realized we'd been charged well over $8 a sf on the concrete. And now I'm livid.
I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if thats a good price for spray deck, and I'm not sure whether I could even tell them not to start on the deck and try and get my money back.

We can afford the spray deck, but we'd have to wait until after its all done and we get our insurance check reimbursed by our mortgage company (which is a long story). Of course they want to do the spray deck after its all plastered anyway. So at this point I'm guessing its fair game putting it out to bid at least on the spray deck.

EDIT: I just called a company who specializes in decorative concrete. They don't pour only decorate. Still their quote was $975. Ball park, but almost $100 cheaper for someone who specializes in this. The PB does it in house with guys that also plumb, tile and plaster, so they are a bit of a jack of all trades.
No brainer, if I have to have him pour a plain deck he sure ain't getting the spray deck business.
 
If it's not in the contract, I would definitely get some competitive bids and then see if the pool builder wants to beat it. Just make sure you're comparing apples to apples. I do think a PB who doesn't do salt finish is strange. It seems to be a very popular choice for pool decks.

Bob
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I've been making a few calls this morning. Its kind of hard to find a company you know will pour a concrete patio. So far of the 3 concrete pouring companies I've managed to find, none of them does a salt finish. I'm in Louisiana for goodness sake. It rarely freezes here. How does no one know how to do a salt finish. Not to mention, it looks easier than broomed. Jeez.
 
Anyone know anything about bonding pools?

So there is no evidence of a bonding wire visible at the stub out in the area of the future equipment pad. All the plumbing lines and electrical conduit are run and buried. Is there somewhere else it might be 'stashed' waiting to be connected. Is it maybe in one of the conduit lines? Should I be concerned there is no sign of it.

My pool passed bonding inspection before the walls washed out. In my area its just an inspection to see there is a wire connected. There is no requirement to have run the wire to the pad area nor plumbing or rebar like in so many other locales. Say "hypothetically" they managed to forget about it in the mess following the wall wash out. And it got lost somewhere beneath the gunite and never run to the pad area. Is it acceptable to tie a new #8 copper wire to a piece of rebar sticking out of the gunite and use that to run the bond wire to the pad?





BTW, I searched all day - there isn't anyone in the area that does salt finish concrete. I'm stuck with brushed. Then squeezing blood from a stone to find the money for the spray deck. The PB agreed to invoice me to give me 30 days to pay for the spray deck - that will give me time to get my mortgage company to release the insurance funds - which they won't do until the project is done and inspected by them. They are the stone from which blood will eventually flow. I'm unhappy about it because of the principle but I'm going to stick with the PB. If I change subs, I end up delaying the deck until after everything is done and I'll probably only save a few hundred bucks. Plus the added stress of trying to pick subs. I'm so over stress. So I'm picking my battles for the ones that are important. Like this bonding stuff. Now they are probably not coming back until Monday, because my PB is now terrified of sending a crew to my property if there is a greater than 20% chance of rain. Sigh.
 
Hmm, I'm not sure on the bonding issue. I watched them run the copper wire throughout the steel on our pool and had it tied up and fastened to about 2-3 pieces of rebar, and then continued on. At the far end, they coiled up probably 50 feet of it and its still there right by the skimmer. I don't remember seeing anything run over to the equipment pad though? Surely they have done what is proper on yours.

That really stinks about the decking issue. I can't believe you can't find some one to do a salt finish in LA!

I really feel for you with the weather issue. We've lucked out SO much with weather on our build (that big line of storms came through after everyone was gone and then left in time for work to resume today). BUT, when we built our house 4 years ago...it was never....ending....rain. We didn't pour our slab for like 3 months after we signed our contract. So frustrating.

You'll be done soon, hang in there!
 
Okay I have to give a shout to Jimbo for being super super helpful with the bonding thing. He directed me to the information I needed. I honestly think I could now recite word for word section 680.26(B) of the NEC 2011 :-| I'm considering running for TFP forum expert on the issue. LOL. I could have sworn I used to have a life.

I have totally figured out - by myself I might add that we shouldn't have any bonding issues if I'm correct in thinking they bond the equipment to the perimeter bonding loop and that is bonded in at least 4 places around the pool. They can correctly use structural rebar from the shell to tie into to bond, and we have a slight issue in that the gunite company, for reasons I don't understand completely cut off a bunch of the rebar pieces the rebar crew left long for tie in. Only in the deep end. I don't know if thats standard because they have to shape the walls from behind (being the deep end) or whether its because we had wash outs and it caused an issue. After the gunite walls were done they added some rebar sticking out of the shell, presumably to tie in to a deck - at least for structure, because it would not conform to code to provide equipotential bonding continuity. (I learned me some BIG words y'all). My worry was really that unless you knew those pieces weren't capable of being used in compliance for bonding, you wouldn't know just by looking at the rebar sticking out, especially now there is coping down. So as long as the bonding connections are not to the rebar in the deep end we are all good.

I've had several emails back and forth with my PB, I honestly just don't think he understands what I was getting worried about. I can see there are several ways to comply with code requirements. I have no idea what they normally do and if they'd tell me that, I'd know for sure if there was an issue. That or he his incapable of giving me an explanation that includes details. Of course he might not really understand how its done either. He does seem to be more of a business GC than one with hands on experience. So far he's just sent me replies telling me not to worry its all done to code. I can't believe at this point he'd underestimate how knowledgeable I am, even if he has no idea just how quick of a study I can be when I need to.

So now I've now sent him pretty annotated photos and my last email I got snotty and actually referenced sections of the NEC. Sigh. I'm sure he hates me now LOL. Well, there's pretty much no excuse for not understanding my concern now.

If I wasn't so curious and nosy and well informed I wouldn't have a clue about any of this. I then wouldn't be worried and I'd have lower blood pressure and more Xanax left in my pill bottle. There's a good chance its a non issue, but without a detailed explanation from the PB I'm just running on second guesses and imagining worst case scenarios.

While I'm piling it on my PB. I also decided to query him on how they plan to lay the step marker tile. I was told they inlay that. I'm not sure I'm happy with that. Most builds I've seen on here that have lines of mosaic glass liner have it done first and grouted. I sent him pictures. Plus I'm having difficulty imagining how they do it when the tile is film faced and make sure either the gaps are even and filled evenly, and the front is wiped clean before the plaster sets on it, without removing the tiles when they pull the film. So I've shot him an email about it and I've not heard anything about that yet. I sent that one before the bonding thing came up. So I'm guessing he's going to love seeing me first thing Monday am when they come to set forms for the deck. He told me he's going to be there to make sure I'm happy with the tie in the patio. Uh huh. We got a nice long list of stuff we are going to be discussing, I hope he has had his coffee. My type A, detail orientated and nit-picky personality has been triggered by frustration and is currently running at DEFCON 4.9

Right I'm off to go snoop in other peoples build threads....
 
I am laughing - I know it's not funny but I would bet most of us having pools built are Type A's with attention to detail characteristics. And apparently Pool Builders are NOT. I used to have this idea for people going through divorces - where they could turn in their wedding/engagement rings and then when they were ready to get married again they could pull from the collection of rings (and not have to buy new ones but have something different). I think we may have to try this idea with the pool builds. Perhaps we each can start pinging the other's pool builders and then we can cc' a "Jury of our Peers" from this forum. Wouldn't that be interesting?

Great research by the way. Both on the bonding issue and finding the million dollar pool! - Karen
 
I think the defining characteristic that shows we are all type A, is that we were all motivated to find this forum. I'm guessing the vast majority of folks who build a pool have no idea and don't search out detailed information online. They probably take design suggestions from the PB's and let the project run without interference. They probably have a lot less stress levels. LOL. Shoot where's the fun in that. Or the excuse to drink heavily by the pool at the end of all this. Pfft. Amateurs.

The words "I'm a member of TFP" should probably strike terror in the hearts of pool builders everywhere!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply