New pool build in Tampa Bay Area, Florida

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Have some extra time now! Lets pick apart that list:
-SWG-what size? The bigger the better. Please don't listen when they say "This one is fine for your size pool." We say to get one for twice the size of pool. This saves on your power bill and your cell life.
Everything else looks good!

That waterline tile-I have never see that one before and it has become one of my favs! Nice pick and SO funny the others looked around and came back to it!!

Now when that tile gets there go through the boxes. Make sure the colors are close or if there are different shades and such that they are all mixed up so all of the lighter ones are not all together. Mix and match

Will you be doing marker tiles on the benches and steps? You can have them cut the 6x6 into fourths and turn them on an angle to make a pretty marker.

Kim:kim:
 
The SWG is the Aquarite with T-Cell-15 -- the brochure says it generates 580 lbs of chlorine, it is for pools up to 40k gallons. Our pool is 11k, so I think its appropriately oversized? It is the biggest one of the Aquarite family. It is an upgrade that came with the automation package we went with. There is an extended life version (T15LL) that generates 710lbs, but I cannot confirm if we are getting that one, probably not, to be honest. Either way its bigger than the T-Cell-9 we were going to get standard. Is that good??

And as for marker tile, we hadn't really thought about that. I am sure we are not getting it as it is currently, because we did not discuss it and I doubt that's part of the standard tile package. I am not sure we would like it... does it interrupt the clean look of the pool? It would seem like it would make the sun shelf very visible and maybe make the pool look smaller? But on the other hand, a visible point where the drop off is would probably be safer. Not sure... probably need to talk about that pretty quickly. Any opinions??

I am glad you like the tile! It was a standard tile too... no cost... they had a cpl different shades that were lighter, or greener, but it looked a little washed out in the sun. The cobalt blue really popped.
 
Hey guys... finally some new work has been done, time for new pics! We got our equipment delivered, and they started the plumbing. I had no idea they had to dig up so much for the plumbing! And, I had no idea they had to dig up so much for the pad too. No one had told me that, so I did not have my sprinklers capped off on the side where the pad goes. Luckily it was easy to turn it off, and I was probably going to have to change that anyway so the equipment wasn't being sprayed every night. It took them hours to cut through the breezeway concrete. I can't believe how thick it was, and they had footers poured for the entire length. What a mess too... dust everywhere! Seems like they could wet it down to cut down on the mess. We are going to have to pressure wash the entire house after its done.

One little hiccup, the guy cut right through the control wiring for the sprinkler system while digging. I always knew this was a possibility, and the irrigation company had mentioned it along with some contingency plans if it were cut. My control box is in the garage, which never really made sense since the garage is as far away from the in-ground valve box as you can get. Probably because that is where they put the box when the garage is attached, and they did not plan for a different location when the garage is detached. We can re-run the line to the same location, but a better option is to relocate the control box closer to the valves. It will cost less to replace the box with an "outdoor grade" unit than to rerun the cable 150 ft or so.

There is also a water and sewer line running from the house to the garage apartment. When the house was being built, we told the builder that we planned for a pool, so he put those lines along side of the breezway, so they were not in the way of the pool itself. But we didn't really plan on the pool plumbing, and how much of it there is! Luckily, the line is deep enough that the pool piping can go over top of it, but I hope I never need to access the apartment pipes in that section, they will be impossible to work on. I am trying to document all of the pipe locations for future reference.

Fun fact... he let me take the digger for a spin... literally. Since I do not have much yard to drive around in, I got to go in circles, dig some holes with the mini backhoe, try out the mini bulldozer for pushing dirt around. My wife has blackmail videos for future use. :)

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Here is the equipment and the pads. He was careful to level them and make them straight. I am going to lay gravel all around them and maybe fence it off later on. It seemed like a lot of room, but between the panel (not here yet), the water heater already there, and the air gap requirements for the pool heater it is pretty tight. And we want to add a standby generator too, so I am currently trying to get some info on where they need to be placed and how far away from the electrical panel and fresh air vents they need to be. Looks like it will be next to the AC unit, on one side or the other of it.
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My broken sprinkler pipe and cable...
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Everything looks nice and heavy duty...
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Not very good efficiency rating here though:
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They are going to finish the plumbing today, and lay out all the equipment, so if anyone has any comments on what I need to look for, that would be appreciated. Next step for me is figuring out where I want to locate any extra electrical outlets, and figure out what I need to do for the gas hookup for the heater.
 

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Post the videos! Did you happen to catch the plumbers name?

If you need a sprinkler guy let me know. Reasonable and i have used him several times over the years, one time after our house got hit by lightning and torched the control cable. He just ran two new zones and re worked one of our sprinkler boxes. He was there from 9:30 to 5:30 and was only $750.
 
tampatommy said:
Post the videos! Did you happen to catch the plumbers name?

If you need a sprinkler guy let me know. Reasonable and i have used him several times over the years, one time after our house got hit by lightning and torched the control cable. He just ran two new zones and re worked one of our sprinkler boxes. He was there from 9:30 to 5:30 and was only $750.
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Thanks, sure I will post the video but I dont think its very good... my wife was taking it from inside LOL

Plumber's name was Mike, I don't know his last name. He seemed to be really good, took a lot of care making things look nice.
96507

96508

Our sprinklers were installed by Challenger, so I think we are just going to use them again. We have a warranty with them from this being a new construction, so its probably best to use the same company. They seem to know what they are doing when they come out here, and the price is pretty reasonable. He said it would be about $400 to fix the zones when the pool is done, and about $200 to replace the old box with an outdoor grade controller.
 
wakerider017 said:
Likewise if you need a gas guy, I'd definitely recommend the outfit that did my work. Very reasonable pricing and unbeatable customer service.
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We are kind of stuck using Gas Pros because our home builder uses them, and they owe us a gas drop they forgot to put in during construction. That being said, I will need at least one other gas drop run for the whole-home generator we are looking to install. Timing is tricky though, as the gas company said we will likely need a meter upgrade for both a pool heater and a generator. But they consider pool heaters to be a luxury item, and if we were to do them together, we would have to pay for the meter upgrade. However, if we do the pool heater first, the existing meter is sufficient. Then, when we add the generator, they will upgrade the meter for free, since generators are not considered a luxury for the homeowner. I disagree with that, but I am not going to complain about the policy that gets me something for free finally!

So I need to get the heater install done, hook it up, and then work on the generator. Do you guys know any good generator installers in the Tampa area? I am not looking for some big dollar install from Generac dealers. I was planning to get an estimate from Lowes, and a neighbor got a number for a company that sells and installs Briggs and Stratton generators. That is the brand I was planning to use... Lowes sells them with the interconnect switch for around $2700, and I get a 10% discount with them. If the neighbors contact cannot get close to that on the price, I will just buy it myself and hire an electrician to connect it.
 
mnm4ever said:
We are kind of stuck using Gas Pros because our home builder uses them, and they owe us a gas drop they forgot to put in during construction. That being said, I will need at least one other gas drop run for the whole-home generator we are looking to install. Timing is tricky though, as the gas company said we will likely need a meter upgrade for both a pool heater and a generator. But they consider pool heaters to be a luxury item, and if we were to do them together, we would have to pay for the meter upgrade. However, if we do the pool heater first, the existing meter is sufficient. Then, when we add the generator, they will upgrade the meter for free, since generators are not considered a luxury for the homeowner. I disagree with that, but I am not going to complain about the policy that gets me something for free finally!

So I need to get the heater install done, hook it up, and then work on the generator. Do you guys know any good generator installers in the Tampa area? I am not looking for some big dollar install from Generac dealers. I was planning to get an estimate from Lowes, and a neighbor got a number for a company that sells and installs Briggs and Stratton generators. That is the brand I was planning to use... Lowes sells them with the interconnect switch for around $2700, and I get a 10% discount with them. If the neighbors contact cannot get close to that on the price, I will just buy it myself and hire an electrician to connect it.
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Not sure about the gen. Please post what you end up doing as I'm curious myself.

Who is your gas utility company though? Natural gas? None of those games were played with my meter upgrade a few weeks ago. I have Clearwater Gas and it was a free upgrade to an AC-630 meter. They told me as long as your are upsizing, it is free.
 
We used gas pros to install a 500 gallon LP tank underground. They did a great job. It is currently piped to the heater but they added a stub for the generator which will come at a later date.

Have you gotten any install pricing? Last I checked, the whole house Generac (I think the 22kw one but I could be mistaken) was around 4300 or 4400 from build.com WITH the transfer switch.
 
wakerider017 said:
Not sure about the gen. Please post what you end up doing as I'm curious myself.

Who is your gas utility company though? Natural gas? None of those games were played with my meter upgrade a few weeks ago. I have Clearwater Gas and it was a free upgrade to an AC-630 meter. They told me as long as your are upsizing, it is free.
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We have Clearwater Gas too... they said it is only free if I get a generator, not a pool heater. Not sure why...
 
tampatommy said:
We used gas pros to install a 500 gallon LP tank underground. They did a great job. It is currently piped to the heater but they added a stub for the generator which will come at a later date.

Have you gotten any install pricing? Last I checked, the whole house Generac (I think the 22kw one but I could be mistaken) was around 4300 or 4400 from build.com WITH the transfer switch.
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I haven't gotten any prices yet. Is that price including the generator? Or just the install??

I dont want or need one that big. I am planning to get the small B&S 12kw one. It is enough to drive my AC and a few important appliances like the fridge... microwave too as long as I turn off the AC when I use it. That one is made to handle lower-pressure gas feeds, and can be located closer to the house, as we don't have a lot of side yard clearance. Price of the unit is about $2500 after my discount, also with the transfer switch. I figured on tops of $1000 to install it, but I was assuming way less. My dad and my neighbor both installed their own, it cannot be that difficult. Or I will get my brother-in-law, he was an electrician, pretty sure he can handle it.
 

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