Today, it rained LOL. It is frustrating trying to get the pool balanced when I had to drain 3 inches out of it. Chemicals in and out in hours lol. Will test again tomorrow and keep the battle going. I also didn't get a chance to mess with the actuator cam.
New Owner Build in FL near Orlando
- Thread starter bbqjosh
- Start date
How are you draining? Do you have an overflow built in?
There is a spigot sticking out of the top of the pump, before it goes into the filter. I hook a hose up and run it out to the street and open up the spigot while the pump is running. It is slow, but it got the job done over a few hours. I don't have an overflow in the pool. If the pool were to overflow, I have a nice slope to the street so the house would be ok.
Just a heads up I had Cliff plumb in a quick discharge port on mine that I can hook a flexible hose for if I ever need to drain it but we also do have the autodrain off one of the skimmers.
Today I adjusted the cam on my 3 way valve actuator so it only moves 90 degrees instead of 180. Now I can turn on my deck jets without the pool returns being off. I also renamed the feature 1 to "jets" in the easytouch so we will know what it is. Took a lunch break swim in the cool 83 degree water. We are also making progress on the pH. It was 8.5 Saturday when the pool was turned over to me. Been adding muriatic acid each day and we are now at 7.5 today. I also recalculated the volume of the pool since it seemed like the chemicals were making inch changes and now we went from 15k to a 17.3k water volume. I guess you can't trust other people to calculate it for you LOL. Working our way to that 7.2 mark as recommended by the plaster company.
Where did you buy the sleeves for the umbrella that are in your deck? Do you like them?
They are aquastar sleeves 7.5". So far I like them. They were supposed to be for 1.5 inch umbrellas but I believe they are a little bigger. I put them into concrete with a 4 inch pipe for support. They come with twist lock caps to keep water and dirt out of them. I ordered them online, but I'm pretty sure my plumber could have bought them for me from the wholesale supplier when he bought the equipment as they were a supplier for aquastar.
So you put them in concrete and then they place the sand and pavers around the sleeve?
No, I buried a 4 inch pipe 3 to 4 feet down. I put some quickrete in the pipe but left the top 6 inches open. Then cut the pipe at ground level once they compacted the paver base. They drilled the hole through the paver for the sleeves and we filled it in with wet concrete and then pushed the sleeve into the concrete. I was trying to create a weighted base for the umbrella as I didnt think the paver could take the wind forces from the umbrella.
Great write up! I'm in your boat with Pool contractor madness in CFL, and thus wanting to GC my own pool which has already been designed by a landscape architect. Would you mind sharing the companies you used for the project, it appears they all did a good job.
Thanks!
Thanks!
AquaBlu Mosaics. Shame on me. I see I haven't been on here since September! I have been enjoying the pool too much. But now that cool weather (70s for the people up north) has arrived, I will have more time to read the forums!
@bbqjosh What pool finish did you get. Is it Stonescapes. Aqua white? I am in Lake Mary and having a hard time picking a plaster color.
Love the write-up on every step and your pool looks amazing. Just moved to Oviedo Florida and we are looking to put a similar size pool and we are looking to go the owner builder route. Not to come off as a stalker but your neighborhood looks very similar to the Taylor Morrison neighborhood we moved into. It looks like the subs you used did a great job. If you don't mind, would you to be able to share their contact information in additionto the engineering company? I would really appreciate it.
I used the company Magic Marcite and the color was Aqua White. I'm not sure of the brand of pebble they use, but give them a call and you can find out.