New Member, First Build...What have we gotten into?

[RangerBob]

Hi everyone, I'm Bob. At the urging of my wife, I have joined this forum to get help and insight from those who have gone before us. My wife and I both grew up with pools, her in Florida and me in Arizona. My grandfather was actually a pool builder in southern California when I was a kid. Sure could use his help now.

Some background. We live on ten acres about an hour to the north of Dallas-Ft. Worth. We have and frequently ride and compete dressage horses. We also have two Doberman Pincers who love to swim in our stock tank (pond). We have been talking about building a pool for several years and about three years ago, after a lot of research, we contacted a builder out of Argyle, Outdoor Signature. We met with one of their designers and gave him a long list (including pictures) of what we wanted and also communicated a lot of what we didn't want. After several weeks of back-and-forth, we had a plan that everyone was excited about.

POOL-PLAN by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Unfortunately, we had to put this project on hold for a while so we could focus our resources in other directions. The PB was really good about it and said that it often takes several years to get from design to building a project. This year, things came together and we decided to move forward with the project.

We are about two months into the build and currently have gunite and second stage of plumbing complete. Here are some progression pictures.

Excavation complete.

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Rebar complete.

Pool rebar 1 by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Lounging area.

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Spa and light.

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Gunite going in.

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr


To be continued...

Bob

 

[Casey]

Welcome! You're the second pool I've seen with an open corner seating area like that this year! The other pool is in Florida!

Can not wait to go on this journey with you and your wife! Please keep posting pics and add your equipment so we can have a look see at what you're getting.

 

[Waldog]

Yeah I like the idea of a chill out spot where you can sit down and drink yourself a nice cold beer IN THE WATER!

 

[daytimedrama]

Beautiful. I was going to say I'm admiring your barn and pastures too. But the pool is going to be gorgeous. Can't wait to see more as it progresses!

(I have two HJ show horses, and know very well how the money can go elsewhere.)

 

[RangerBob]

More pics.

Gunite complete.

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Second stage of plumbing going in.

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

And this is where we are now. We had a lot of issues with waterline tile selection. We had an upgrade in out contract but the first tile we chose was a $2800 upgrade beyond what was already budgeted for. We went back and picked a different tile and still had to cough up more money but I got three brass scuppers included so we felt that was fair. If it doesn't rain tonight, we should have a crew out here tomorrow to start installing flagstone coping, drystack, and tile.

Thanks for the warm welcome,

Bob

 

[martinkennedy]

This looks like a great project. This size of project will test your patience and sanity. Take whatever time the PB said the project would take and double it

 

[denaw]

I cannot wait to see it come together with the water. I really like the adult time out space...Great Idea!

 

[RangerBob]

Beautiful. I was going to say I'm admiring your barn and pastures too. But the pool is going to be gorgeous. Can't wait to see more as it progresses!

(I have two HJ show horses, and know very well how the money can go elsewhere.)

My wife and I both ride so it does get expensive. Two years ago my wife said, "Choose between a new horse or a pool". I chose the fancy FEI horse and he made me regret it almost every day for two years. Now were getting the pool!

This looks like a great project. This size of project will test your patience and sanity. Take whatever time the PB said the project would take and double it

So far, I think your time estimation is conservative. You're spot on about the patience and sanity though!

I cannot wait to see it come together with the water. I really like the adult time out space...Great Idea!

This entire pool design was developed for mature adults to enjoy. Not that kids aren't allowed, we just don't know any.

Bob

 

[grgood]

Bob, I am here in flower mound but my kids ride out there in Argyle. We just got through this process, it does take some patience. We almost used the same builder but chose a different one just based on the design. I have heard good things about signature, so you are in good hands. I like your design and your space out there.

Greg

 

[Casey]

This entire pool design was developed for mature adults to enjoy. Not that kids aren't allowed, we just don't know any.

Bob

Does that mean we can come over? I promise I'll be good! :angel: Uh.... I'll bring my own towel and beer!

 

[jro33176]

I love your design and hope everything goes well with the build! I love your "lounging space" ! We also have one, but we called it a "cozy corner". Most people here are calling it an "open spa." ;-)

Looking forward to watching your progress.

 

[RangerBob]

The question was asked about the pool equipment. Honestly I have no idea about the quality of the equipment that was selected. We spent so much time obsessing over the appearance of the pool and left the selection of the equipment totally up to our builder. Our PB told us that it would all be very high quality but looking at the spec sheet, I can't even determine what specific models they're using on some of this stuff. It says;

-Jandy 2" flow through valves
-Pentair 48" cartridge filtration system
-Pentair Intelliflo variable speed pump system
-Pentair Minitemp 400,000btu heater system
-Pentair Intellibrite color changing LED lights pool x 2, spa x 1
-Pentair Intellitouch 4 controller system w/ hand held wireless
-2hp Quiet System blower pump
-Polaris pool cleaner

Is this stuff any good? Any red flags here or additional detail that I need?

Bob

 

[RangerBob]

Hi Everyone,
This is Bob's wife - Karen . In addition to any insight on the pool equipment Bob listed in his post above, I would also love to know if anyone else besides the Baytown, TX pool build I saw on this site has used Diamond Brite Verde? We loved her photos and the color, and if she's still on this site would love to know if she still is glad she chose that color and how does it do in TX heat? I had my heart set on Pebble Tec but our PB only offers the Diamond Brite so I've adjusted my thought process. Our PB did say we will wait until all the tile, decking and coping is down to select the final color in case we change our mind and that makes sense to me. Hopefully, the tile and coping (flagstone) go in this week. I need to confirm with my husband that we didn't change it , but I'm pretty sure we went with the 6" Noble Tile Mariana Green out of the River series for the pool and the 1" matching tiles for the spa.

 

[BuckeyeChris]

that design is cool, but it will not be fun to brush all those angles and steps

 

[RangerBob]

I spent a good deal of time doing research today and I feel pretty good that the PB specified good equipment for the project. No work getting done today. We had a brief but significant rain yesterday afternoon. I have been assured that the stonemasons will be out tomorrow so I cancelled my Saturday plans to be here. My pool designer is adamant that the crew he is putting on my stonework is led by a true artist.

I did some calculations and I'm coming up with about 17-18,000 gallons for our pool capacity. Anyone want to take a look at the plan and double check for me? I'm finding it interesting that the capacity is so low and yet it took six trucks for gunite. Thick shell I guess.

Bob

 

[RangerBob]

The tile guys are here! Should have photos ready by end of day. They only brought the 6" and 1x1" waterline tile. The good news is that I still like the tile seeing it for the first time in person - whew. Coping and dry stack are left for another day....(Bob's wife)

 

[RangerBob]

Like my wife said, the stonemasons showed up today...without any stone. Although, I thought I had made it clear to my PB that I wasn't going to be available next week and I wanted to see what they were doing with the stone or they would have to wait until the following week; somehow the message was lost in translation at the crew level. After some discussion with the builder (on the phone) he sent one of the guys back to the yard to bring some stone out to do a sample run. I think we got everything cleared up but I do have some trepidation about them working without me to supervise next week, especially since I had to stop them from putting the 6" tile into the spa where the 1x1" tile is supposed to go (which they forgot to bring). On a positive note, I do really like the tile and the sample of the stacked stone. The stonemasons did a quality job and were very careful to hide cut ends and put full tiles next to skimmer openings etc. Here are some photos of today's progress.

6 inch Noble Mariana Green from River collection

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

Sample of stacked stone that will wrap the spa and the raised wall

Untitled by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr

 

[Casey]

Very nice and natural colors. I like it!!!

Welcome Karen.

 

[Divin Dave]

The equipment list ROCKS for the most part! Pentair is Top of The Line pool equipement. Even though a bit overkill, you are going to LOVE that variable speed pump!

Polaris makes good cleaners for the most part. Is the one on your spec sheet a pressure side cleaner or a robot? There are lots of them, so model number would help in giving any detailed advice.

The Polaris perssure side cleaners are work horses and do a good job.
Not so much the Polaris Robots. They are subject to breaking down too often to suit me.

If your cleaner is a robot, maybe your PB can substitue an eqauvalent Maytroncs Dolphin for it... ?
The Maytronics robots are top of the line with excellent qualities and rave reviews. Love mine!

The question was asked about the pool equipment. Honestly I have no idea about the quality of the equipment that was selected. We spent so much time obsessing over the appearance of the pool and left the selection of the equipment totally up to our builder. Our PB told us that it would all be very high quality but looking at the spec sheet, I can't even determine what specific models they're using on some of this stuff. It says;

-Jandy 2" flow through valves
-Pentair 48" cartridge filtration system
-Pentair Intelliflo variable speed pump system
-Pentair Minitemp 400,000btu heater system
-Pentair Intellibrite color changing LED lights pool x 2, spa x 1
-Pentair Intellitouch 4 controller system w/ hand held wireless
-2hp Quiet System blower pump
-Polaris pool cleaner

Is this stuff any good? Any red flags here or additional detail that I need?

Bob

 

[jro33176]

Your tile and stone look great together! Looking forward to seeing the progress and how it all comes together.