New "Swimmer's" Pool in Houston Texas

[kimkats]

WHAT??? That IS fast!!! Buy that PB a steak!!

LOL on the blue smurf! YEAH it does! If you can find a "real" smurf you will see it is spot on!

Now go put socks on the ends of the hoses. This will help filter the water and keep the metal ends off that pretty plaster. Make sure the hoses are put at the lowest part of the pool.

Do NOT turn off the flow of water until it is filled to half way up the skimmer opening. If can cause a ring in the plaster.

 

[Dtkokay]

Thanks for the tips. I’ll make sure socks are used on the ends and keep it going until it’s filled.

One question: I’m supposed to brush the surface 3 times a day for the first few days. The email I received from my PB says to do this after startup. That is scheduled for Monday. However, I expect that the pool will be filled some time on Saturday, probably in the morning.

Should I brush on Saturday and Sunday, or wait until after the pump has been started on Monday?

 

[kimkats]

I would push for the pump to be turned on as soon as the pool is full AND you brushing. The reason being your new plaster will have "dust" after the water is put in it and you brush it. The pump/filter needs to be on so it can filter out the dust. Leaving it on 24/7 is best in the first couple of days. Once you stop seeing as much dust you can run the pump on a schedule. You really do not want the dust to just fall to the floor and sit there.

Now ask him what he means by "start up"......get as many details as you can. Here is something for you to read to help you gain a little fore knowledge: Startup New Plaster

 

[NCMike]

I'm jealous, my pool dig day was March 1st so I have been watching the other builds that started around that time to see how my pool builder was doing as far as scheduling goes. I think I am at least a month out from plaster if not more. Keep posting your experience with start up. It helps all the people behind you know what to expect. Pool looks great and decking look great!

 

[Dtkokay]

I would push for the pump to be turned on as soon as the pool is full AND you brushing. The reason being your new plaster will have "dust" after the water is put in it and you brush it. The pump/filter needs to be on so it can filter out the dust. Leaving it on 24/7 is best in the first couple of days. Once you stop seeing as much dust you can run the pump on a schedule. You really do not want the dust to just fall to the floor and sit there.

Now ask him what he means by "start up"......get as many details as you can. Here is something for you to read to help you gain a little fore knowledge: Startup New Plaster

I think I’m stuck with waiting until Monday for startup because my construction manager doesn’t work on the weekend. I may call Pebbletec tomorrow to get their recommendation.

If this was you, would you start brushing the pool before startup? It seems like I should wait so that the plaster dust doesn’t accumulate on the floor.

 

[kimkats]

rock and hard place If you don't brush then the plaster will start curing and the plaster will not come off as it will cure into the fresh plaster. If you do brush then.............the dust will come off but settle back down. Startup New Plaster Take a read over this.

 

[Dtkokay]

rock and hard place If you don't brush then the plaster will start curing and the plaster will not come off as it will cure into the fresh plaster. If you do brush then.............the dust will come off but settle back down. Startup New Plaster Take a read over this.

I called Pebbletec today and their tech person said I should start brushing after the pool is full, even if the pump hasn’t started. He didn’t think it would be a problem to wait a few days to turn on the pump. I may end up brushing 4 times a day this weekend just to help keep the plaster off the bottom. I guess it’s exercise...

 

[Dtkokay]

Yesterday was application of the Pebblesheen. Today was the acid wash and start of the fill process. The process was actually to pressure wash, acid wash with muriatic acid, pressure wash again, and then the water fill started. Below are a few pictures that show how the plaster looks through each step, in case anyone finds it useful.

The below picture was taken after the Pebblesheen was installed yesterday, so this is the look before today’s acid wash process. Very smurfy and uneven.



The picture below is after the walls have been acid washed. The color is still uneven but better, and the color isn’t as smurf blue.


The picture below is after the acid wash as the second pressure wash is happening. You can see the difference between just acid wash vs acid wash + 2nd pressure wash. The pressure washed area is lighter.


And finally: the picture below is after the acid wash / pressure wash process was finished and water is FINALLY being added. The color in person is actually more blue than shown below. It was full sun, which washed the photo out a bit.

 

[Casey]

Beautiful pool and finish.

 

[kimkats]

That is looking awesome!!! Get ready for some brushing!!! You and everyone in your family are going to be getting quite a work out just brushing that pretty thing!!

Kim

 

[Dtkokay]

She’s filled! Blue Surf is very turquoise under cloudy skies. The Pebble Sheen looks a little mottled and uneven (see photo of stairs below), but it’s not bad, and expected from what I understand.

I brushed the pool for the first time, whew what a workout. I didn‘t actually see any plaster dust though. It wasn’t sunny at the time, but I was expecting to see some cloudy water or residue as I was brushing.

 

[kimkats]

With the work they did to your pool I don't think you will see much dust. They took care of most of it already!!

Those posts. Brush them extra and really work on them. You might see a difference with the extra work on them. Keep taking pics so you can see if there is any difference.

I am LOVING that color and it will only get better as the water balances out!

Kim

 

[JJ_Tex]

Yes, we hated our Blue Surf Turquoise water. After a few days the smurfiness of the plaster went away and the water turned blue. Looks good.

 

[Dtkokay]

The pool has been up and running for 3 days. So far so good. I still can’t see any plaster dust when I brush, but I’m not complaining. My tap water’s pH is 7.8 and TA is 170, so I’ve been using muriatic acid to slowly bring the TA down, while keeping the pH between 7.0 - 7.4 as recommended by Pebbletec. I have the TA at 130 now.

My PB set my autofill too low, so unbeknownst to me the autofill was constantly adding a slow trickle of water that was draining through the overflow. Total waste of water but I noticed it today and adjusted the autofill bubble, so it’s all good now.

The water looks perfectly clear standing from the surface. When I swim underwater with goggles, the water looks hazy maybe 15 feet away. I’m guessing that’s plaster dust, but either way it’s only been 3 days so I imagine it’ll clear up. My cartridge filter PSI started at 8 psi and is now at 10, so it’s picking up something.

For those with new pools, how long did it take before the water was clear, when looking from underneath the water?

And for anyone who hasn’t used the Pool Math app, it is awesome and worth every penny of the $8 / year for the premium membership.

 

[kimkats]

I would go ahead a clean your filter just to see what it looks like.

To help get the rest of the dust and stuff out of the water you can put a skimmer sock in the skimmer basket. A lot of people use the hair net from Amazon. They are dirt cheap. For the plaster dust you can put a t-shirt in the skimmer basket making sure the water flow is still good. It will act as a pre-filter.

Kim

 

[Dtkokay]

Thanks for the tip on the skimmer socks. They pick up a of small debris that was getting shot back into the pool with my venturi skimmers. Which don’t seem to work that great unless I run the pump at a high speed and close the main drain.

Pool has been running for 3 weeks now. I did a salt test using the Taylor 1766 test kit and I got 800 ppm. I was really surprised the salt level is this high because I haven’t added any bagged salt yet. I’ve been running trichlor tablets, with an occasional extra does of liquid chlorine. Anyone have an idea as to where the salt came from?

 

[Dtkokay]

Update - landscaping is finally finished, so here’s what the pool looks like now. Our SWCG hasn’t been working correctly, which I’m still sorting out with the PB. I’ve been using liquid chlorine in the meantime.

Pool has been great. We use it pretty much every day.

 

[JJ_Tex]

Looks great.

I do have a stupid question. What is the point of the single swim lane rope (I'm sure there is a more technical term for it). I certainly remember them from my suburban Houston swim meets growing up, but I always thought they were just to keep each swimmer in their own swim lane. Maybe it is just easier to see than the wall?

 

[Flying Tivo]

As i understand, its to mitigate wakes generated by the swimmer. In this case, so the wakes dont bounce back from the sides of the pool.

 

[Dtkokay]

Looks great.

I do have a stupid question. What is the point of the single swim lane rope (I'm sure there is a more technical term for it). I certainly remember them from my suburban Houston swim meets growing up, but I always thought they were just to keep each swimmer in their own swim lane. Maybe it is just easier to see than the wall?

Not a dumb question at all. Like mentioned above, it’s to reduce the chop / waves from swimming. My wife and I both swim, often at the same time, and you end up swallowing a lot of water without the lane line. It eats up the chop like Pacman!