My deck will be poured concrete base, upon which my "boulder" guys will add 1.5" of colored, tinted, & textured finish to match the rest of my fake rocks. I'll also have a floating sidewalk from my deck over to the front gate, also finished with the boulder material.
New Pool Construction Project in Houston: 2nd Time is a Charm
- Thread starter JayBauman
- Start date
My deck will be poured concrete base, upon which my "boulder" guys will add 1.5" of colored, tinted, & textured finish to match the rest of my fake rocks. I'll also have a floating sidewalk from my deck over to the front gate, also finished with the boulder material.
That's assuming you had changes and upcharges. Mine were only $100 -- actually a mistake of my PB. He told me I could put an outlet "anywhere" in my yard.. said 2 were included in my contract.. but the locations weren't marked.. and electricians wanted to charge $200 to put it where I wanted (all the way in the corner of the yard). After much arguing , PB agreed to split the cost!!!! 
So here's the latest crazy update. On Monday, I didn't pass city inspection for my drainage line. The plumbers did some stuff yesterday. Inspector came back again today. I was expecting a new green tag in my permit pack. Instead, I came home to this:
and this
From these pics, you might surmise that they ripped out all of the 4" PVC drain line and replaced it. Yep. All of it. Apparently, the city inspector didn't like the first attempt, since all the pipe markings were on the bottom side making it impossible for him to verify what was installed. The plumbers came back this afternoon and replaced it all, making sure that the right side was up.
I can't believe I lost 3 days to this. I've never heard of a "right side up" for plumbing before. If my inspectors are this crazed about the small details, I'm hoping the things that matter will be perfect!
There is one ray of light in all of this. When they originally put the drain line through my front yard, they cut my irrigation lines in 4 or 5 places. Last week, I gave them a bit of a guilt trip about this. Today, when they re-ran everything, I noticed that they repaired the damaged irrigation lines!
and this
From these pics, you might surmise that they ripped out all of the 4" PVC drain line and replaced it. Yep. All of it. Apparently, the city inspector didn't like the first attempt, since all the pipe markings were on the bottom side making it impossible for him to verify what was installed. The plumbers came back this afternoon and replaced it all, making sure that the right side was up.
I can't believe I lost 3 days to this. I've never heard of a "right side up" for plumbing before. If my inspectors are this crazed about the small details, I'm hoping the things that matter will be perfect!
There is one ray of light in all of this. When they originally put the drain line through my front yard, they cut my irrigation lines in 4 or 5 places. Last week, I gave them a bit of a guilt trip about this. Today, when they re-ran everything, I noticed that they repaired the damaged irrigation lines!
Wow......I have never heard of such a thing. I bet your PB doesn't like paying for that labor twice.
Still care to place your bet on the race to the finish line?
Still care to place your bet on the race to the finish line?
Still care to place your bet on the race to the finish line?
Not likely. These days, when your PB mentions the "P Word", he's referring to plaster; the current "P Word" my PB is saying right now is plumbing. A week after being told I should be filling water in 3 weeks, I think I'm still 3 weeks out.
You win this time, double-dog....but I shall get my revenge. Oh yes, I shall get my revenge. :tongue:
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I cannot believe the inspectors insisted on them "turning the pipes". That is absolutely ridiculous!!!! I am willing to bet you would win a court case against them for that. Was sprinkler repair part of your pool build? Usually they make it pretty darn clear they are going to tear up the sprinklers and that you will need to pay for repairs (or have it bid into the contract). My sprinkler repairs cost $1700... and that's after the plumbers , electricians and gas line guy all told me they supposedly repaired whatever sprinkler lines were damaged during trenching (because none of it actually worked even after they "repaired" it)
Wow - I guess I should have been more specific when I said I expected work to be done while I was in Puerto Rico...it does seem your PB reacted quickly to the issue though. here is to perfect workmanship and flying color inspections going forward - Karen
WOW! I guess he has a point. If ALL of the pipes were turned in such a way they could not be read than he would have to GUESS that something was being hidden so...........
At least you got your other system worked on. I am not going to say "fixed" though until you know it does work.
Kim
At least you got your other system worked on. I am not going to say "fixed" though until you know it does work.
Kim
n240sxguy
Well-known member
Does the pipe have to be turned so he can verify the type of pipe used or the size? I could see having the label up to verify that all the pipe was pressure rated and not drain or vent pipe.
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My supposition is (and I do have to guess with this, since I don't habla Espanol very well) is that the inspector needed to be able to easily confirm the pipe schedule. Clearly, anyone could look at see that it's 4" PVC. A quick snap of a tape measure would confirm the wall thickness. Another advantage: The orignal installation had a pop-up drain at the curve. The current incarnation has the pipe punched through the curb, so I don't have to worry about 6" of water head (aka mosquito breeding ground) in my front yard.
Who am I suing, Zethakitty? And why? This issue isn't costing me anything except time, and I have no timing deliverables in my contract. Besides, it's frickin' November...it's not like I'm waiting to get finished so we can start swimming.
At contract signing, I opted to "roll my own" irrigation repair, since PB was not offering competitive pricing. My house is only 6 months old, so I reached out to the original irrigation installation company who was working next door. The owner gave me one of his guys to handle my repairs "on the side". I had him over on Saturday for an estimate. Before pool, I had 11 zones. Currently, I only have 3 functional zones. After irrigation repair, I shall have 13 zones. My irrigation guy has assessmed my damage and is charging me about half of what you paid to get everything back to "good as new".
I guess it pays to shop around. During my last pool build, I did not shop around and ended up paying $800 per zone to have my irrigation fixed. I figured this was the going rate, so I tried to save what I could and minimize damage on current pool build. My irrigation repair is so inexpensive, it wasn't worth trying to save anything or trying to get the PB to minimize damage.
In the immortal words of Harry Caray: "Ho-ly Cow".
When I came home from work today, there was a cement truck in front of the house and an army of guys-n-wheelbarrows hauling concrete to the back yard. Notice the new, bright green inspection "pass" card on the permit in the background?!!!
Next steps: Finish off the decking with the boulder impression facade. Then clean up and plaster!
When I came home from work today, there was a cement truck in front of the house and an army of guys-n-wheelbarrows hauling concrete to the back yard. Notice the new, bright green inspection "pass" card on the permit in the background?!!!
Next steps: Finish off the decking with the boulder impression facade. Then clean up and plaster!
Awesome! Amazing that unexpected workers makes you feel like a kid coming around the corner on Christmas morning and seeing the tree.
I'm surprised they are doing this today with the rain forecast and all. I hope it comes out perfect
This is just base layer. The boulder layer goes on top, so it doesn't matter what the base looks like.
The boulder guys are decidedly not working on my pool today. The rain is reality, not just forecasted!
From the latest photos, your yard still look relatively intact. I can't wait to see the decking with the boulder layer - this entire design is so unique (at least to me) and I love that about it and it's going to look really natural. -Karen
Hi Karen
I'm really impressed by how undamaged my yard is....so far. If this holds, I won't even need any sod to fix things when we are all done. When the warm rain comes in March/April, my St. Augustine will take off and fill in the bare spots. I wish the hair on my head could regenerate so easily.
More progress. The fire pit structure has been poured and they're starting the top layer of decking.
