New inground pool and pool house/pavilion build North Carolina

[PCR]

Wow - what an amazing build! I'm sorry you are having some delays and frustrations, but it is going to be so beautiful when you are done! I look forward to following along with the rest of the build. (Disney World - and especially Wilderness Lodge - fan here, too )

 

[jamjam]

This thread makes me want to move to greener pastures. I wish i had the opportunity to accidentally dump a backhoe into a pond. Well done, looks great so far.

 

[SouthVirginiaPool]

Very nice setup! I love the pool but would be the most excited about grilling and smoking in the pool house!

 

[bmoreswim]

Thanks for the beautiful updates. The ups and the downs. And about Tippy.

Glad they poured the pad after the building was started. Seems much better that way. So much good on this project. I guess hosting the church picnics may have to wait until next year, but you'll be ready!

 

[NCMike]

So after my last update the project manager for my pool quit the pool company. This put a hard stop on all his jobs until another project manager could come out and see where each project was and what needed to be done. The owner of the company, a new project manager, and my original sales/designer guy came to the house and we did a walk through. The left with a list of items that needed to be corrected and/or finished. They seem to be doing ok going down the punch list. My new project manager is definitely "in training" so my main line of communication with the pool builder is now with my sales guy/designer.

I do have 2 major issues we are trying to work out.

1 is the brushed concrete pool deck has cracked in several places. I know all concrete cracks but this is excessive. They are suppose to come out Saturday and "fix" the cracks. Not sure what that means. They do know I plan to put Sundek down but in my opinion that should be an excuse for an ugly patch/fix.

2. The stamped concrete under the pool house is low in the middle by 3/4 inches. After a hard rain, water will fill the middle of the pool house and have no way out. The pool builder has said they will pay to have Sundek installed under the pool house which can be applied thicker in the middle to help drain the water. If they do what they say they will do I will be ok with this fix. I'm just thinking they may walk this back.

With all that said, Plaster was scheduled for today, however they showed up early Monday morning and got started on installing Wet Edge Primera Stone Blue Ocean. Plaster was applied on Monday. Tuesday they started the polishing process with went into Wednesday. Water trucks arrive Wednesday afternoon and the pool was filled by 8:00pm that night. The startup guy came out Yesterday (Thursday) and got all the equipment up and running. He then added sequestrant, calcium, and muriatic acid. I basically had an all day pool school and got a nice sun burn in the process. We brushed the pool 3 times and vacuumed twice. He is suppose to be back this morning to test the water and probably add muriatic acid to bring the pH back down. He said typically he would come twice a day for the first week but since I am an hour away from his office he may try to work out with the pool builder a discount or something If I would take care of the daily stuff after today. I told him no problem, so I will probably start posting a lot more asking questions about chemicals in the coming days to make sure I am doing everything right. Here's a few progress pictures from the past few days.

 

[bmoreswim]

Looking good! Will be a beautiful setting. Am I missing something on the concrete cracks? They are going to something to "fix" them. What does it matter what it looks like as it will be 100% hidden? The goal is to get the best possible surface for the Sundek.

As with all promises, the Sundek under the pool house should be documented in writing, including the thicker Sundek in the middle. Walking back a written statement is much harder.

 

[NCMike]

Sundek is telling me that the if the concrete cracks after Sundek is applied then the Sundek will also crack. So the repairs to the pool deck that they are doing are suppose to prevent further cracking. They have already added additional saw cuts. I believe Saturday they are going to cut out 2 sections of concrete and re-pour them. My concrete pool deck was poured July 18th and temps were close to 100 degrees here. I believe the temp and also a lack of people here to "work" the concrete played a role in the excessive cracking that accrued immediately after.

The stamped concrete under the pool deck is in writing with the pool builder that they will pay for sundek there. Its actually on the pre-plaster walk through punch list that we both signed. I'm surprised they agreed to it so easily.

 

[jamjam]

i'd back drop that pool with a field of dreams, hope everything works out with the new PM, sucks you have to deal with that on top of the other stuff.

 

[NCMike]

I dreading the day they pick the corn. The house normally turns a shade of brown from all the dust. I need to pick up some hair nets for the skimmers i guess so I can keep most of it our of the filter.

 

[NCMike]

Quick question about chemistry, I am on day 2 of startup. My startup guy wants me to add liquid chlorine and trichlor tabs on day 4 (Sunday). Wet Edge startup guide says on days 1-7 "Use as little chlorine as possible to keep the pool from turning green". On day 7 it says to raise chlorine levels to 1-3ppm.

How should I interpret the "Use as little chlorine as possible to keep the pool from turning green" Right now I have 0 FC. none added at all yet. Should I wait until day 4 and hope nothing turns green or should I add a little to raise it to 1ppm? I know with fresh plaster your suppose to add FC gradually but i don't want to start off having to SLAM the pool next week because of no FC added this week.

 

[NCMike]

I ended up dropping one of the 3" trichlor tablets that the startup guy left in the skimmer. Pump is currently running 24/7. I figured it can't hurt and at best it if there is anything growing in the water this may at least slow it down. Brushed again this morning. Water was cloudy last night but not as cloudy this morning. Still seeing clouds of dust on the floor when I brush. I hope this is plaster dust and not algae. Also, They decided to start picking the corn today around the house so I put the pump on high speed so maybe it will skim the dust and debris off faster. I will vacuum tonight after the dust has settled.

I am testing now and logging it into Pool Math. pH was 7.5 this morning and alkalinity was 70ish. Wet edge recommends 80-100. Startup guy said don't add anything and test again this afternoon. Hes not coming any this weekend but he is responding to text messages which is nice. I think I am stuck with him for at least another week. I'm going to run to the store and get some baking soda now in case I need to bump up the alkalinity this afternoon.

If anyone has any thoughts on pool math logs so far or I should be doing anything different I would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Holy cow! Not sure how I missed this one but that is one amazing pool/pool house design! And your property is just amazing also!

So very sorry to hear about Tippy. They leave us way too soon.

Sucks that you are going through the issues with the PB, but it sounds as if they are very responsive and eager to correct things. Hopefully that continues.

I wish I could advise better on the the chems. Hopefully someone will be along soon to give some input. @mknauss or @kimkats? Trying to holler at someone to get you pointed in the right direction.

--Jeff

 

[mknauss]

Plaster Start-Up Guides - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

I would keep sufficient chlorine in the pool to keep from getting algae. It is not good to have to SLAM with fresh plaster.

Read the above for start up procedures.

 

[NCMike]

Thanks for the link. I have ready most of that and have been following the Wet Edge start up procedure while also trying to do what the startup guy says because he is reporting back to the pool builder and plaster installer.

I guess my question is what is a sufficient amount of chlorine? is it 1ppm? Wet Edge targets 1-3ppm after day 7 of startup. They don't give a range or target for the first week other than "Use as little chlorine as possible to keep the pool from turning green." I have 3" trichlor tabs and liquid chlorine that were given to me by the startup guy. Startup guy left instructions for tomorrow to add 3 tabs to one skimmer and 2 to the other and add 1 gallon of liquid chlorine. My plan is to use pool math to tell me how much liquid chlorine to add to get me to 2ppm and them use the tabs to maintain. Then on day 7 I will test CYA to see how much the tabs added and add whatever is necessary to get up to 30ppm per the startup guide.

 

[mknauss]

1-3 ppm FC without CYA is way above SLAM level FC with CYA. That is why trying to follow their convoluted view of water chemistry is impossible.

 

[NCMike]

Its been 1 week since plaster. Pool is looking good, water is clear. There has been a total of nine 3 inch trichlor tablets put in the pool, so using pool math I figured I needed to add 4 lbs of CYA to get up to 30ppm. Hopefully I did that math right. It finished dissolving in the sock over night. pH has stopped rising so fast. Its actually dropped some which I assume is from the trichlor and CYA additions. I am running the waterfall right now to try and get it back up some. Feel free to review my pool math logs and let me know if anything looks crazy. Haven't heard from the startup guy since last Friday so I guess I am on my own now which may not be a bad thing. I am still brushing twice a day but not seeing any plaster dust. Wetedge startup guide wants me to brush twice a day for the first 2 weeks but I may back down to 1 a day if I continue to not see any dust.

 

[NCMike]

Chemistry question, fall is approaching, I know what levels I should be targeting per pool math and the wet edge startup guide, but is that just for the summer swim season? I will be adding salt the first week of October and hopefully turning on the SWG shortly after that. Should I be bringing my CYA levels up to 70 or 80 ppm in anticipation of that per the FC/CYA chart? Or should they be lower due to going into fall and winter. I think I should get a month or 2 of SWG use before temps fall to low. I'm currently at 30ppm CYA. Couldn't find any trichlor tabs today at lowes or walmart, so I have liquid chlorine and a few 4lb bags or dry CYA that I will use until the SWG is turned on.

My current plan unless someone tells me different is to add another 4lbs of CYA this week, this should get me close to 50ppm. Then the first week of October when salt goes in add another 4lbs which should get me close to 70ppm. I will use liquid chlorine to keep FC at the proper levels per the FC/CYA chart. Once the SWG is turned on I will let FC drift down per the chart. I am currently keeping my pH around 7.8 and TA at 80 to 90 to keep my CSI slightly positive. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere on here that slightly positive was better for plaster curing.

Thanks!

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I am letting my CYA come back down for fall/winter. Depending upon your winter temps, the SWCG will not operate. Most shut off somewhere around 55F water temps. I ran my CYA at 70 all summer, and my last test it had dropped, and since the FC consumption is decreasing, and we are headed into the fall/winter, I am going to leave CYA alone and follow the non-SWCG FC/CYA chart for the winter, once the SWCG shuts down and I revert to LC additions.

--Jeff

 

[NCMike]

Well it got cool in central NC. I typically brush the pool after putting the kids to bed. After tonight I may have to do it while the sun is still up. Also can hear coyotes in the woods behind the house while brushing. They shouldn’t bother me but still a little un easy hearing them so close by.

The pool builder and concrete subcontractor are suppose to come by tomorrow and decide how to fix my concrete issues. I think they will be adding a drain between the pool and pool house to stop water from flowing under the pool house when it rains. They will also hopefully be cutting out some of the larger cracked areas around the steps. The final plan is to have Sundek everywhere.