O/B IN AZ VERY SOON....FINALLY STARTED 12/28

[kimkats]

I like your light, return, and skimmer set up. The only slight change I might make is moving the shallow end light closer to the shelf. Two reasons-it will light up the shelf to make night safer and not having it right in the middle of the wall will help with lap swimming and allow for flip turns if wanted.

Kim

 

[HermanTX]

I have a similar size pool and the light is on the side where you have "light?". It lights up the pool well (it is the older (non-LED ight). I do have a seat where your shelf is so it covers down into the shallow end. . You may consider putting the main light on the side and a smaller one on the shelf since that is where you step in.

I notice only 1 skimmer. Have you thought about putting a second skimmer in shallow end? It could be near where you have the current light denoted. Do you have a bottom drain?

One last item on returns. You may have a dead spot on that back wall (where you have the sheer). Possibly move the return that is currently in the deep end on the right up to the sheer wall so it shoots straight down to the shallow end.

 

[ajw22]

I would put in 2 skimmers, adjust the position of the returns, and put in 3 Microbrite lights or nicheless equivalents.

Is the left hand side of the pool facing the prevailing winds?

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

@kimkats thanks, i will have 2 steps off the shelf right there, its just not on that drawing but on my others, but could move it up to catch part of the shelf when on.

@HermanTX i am putting a main drain at the deep end, just didnt want to keep drawing everything on there haha. i did have that thought too, normal light in the deep end where the 2nd light is and a small light where the main light currently located, but still thinking i would need something on the shelf or light high enough to not be dark up there.

@ajw22 i havent really seen pools with 2 skimmers (unless very large), just 1 and main drain. the returns are def movable to better circulate, to the skimmer, but prefer the skimmer in the corner so its not in the main hang out spot. not opposed to the 2 microbrites on that side. are you suggesting only 2 returns or having 3 on that side or just moving them down more. when it comes to winds, they mainly go 2 directions here...in winter they are from the north and summer they are from the south, with the building on the west side, i figure that will block most the wind from W/SW and because the house on the E side is 5' above ours, its like a wind tunnel down that side. my thought is with the house and walls, itll cause the wind to push anything that direction towards the skimmer. luckily my neighbors dont have any plants in the backyards so im very lucky on that mess aspect.

any thoughts and opinions on sheers? we originally thought of a led bubbler on the shelf but keep reading the novelty aspect, we do have a 4 1/2 and 1 1/2yr old so just dont want to waste $1000 for a short time thing that doesnt get enjoyment after 6 months. we have friends with the shelf and they enjoy it as is so they dont know about bubblers yet haha.

thanks

 

[ajw22]

3 returns on the right side + 1 return by the steps.

A MD was not shown on the diagram. If you have one skimmer and it has a leak or other problem your pool will be shutdown or not run very well with just the main drain. If you have two skimmers + MD home run to the pool pad you just turn off the broken skimmer and your pool will function fine. In the 20+ year life of a pool you can have a skimmer problem at some time.

Sheers are an ecstatic item. I think it would be wise to spend money on a second skimmer before you spend it on sheers. Running the sheers will raise your pH and cause your pool to need more frequent dosing of acid. It can also be noisy. I would put the money for sheers into a good sound system around the pool. I like those sounds better and you can pipe in the sounds of water falling when you want.

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

thanks AJW. the wife wants a sheer but im torn on them, really just a toss up at this moment. we saw a friends pool today and she liked the sound he had, but its a spill spouts, not a sheer so the sound will be a bit different.

right now i am just glad to be getting to this point of digging, we cant wait (especially the kids). this will be the longest week, longer than the 12 weeks waiting for the wall to start.

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

Its been a couple days but they laid the first course today and rumor has it, they will finish the wall tomorrow.Here's where we stand tonight. Good thing we have our best supervisor on duty to make sure they are doing things right.
After tomorrow there will be big changes in the yard before Jan 1.

I think I might run 3 returns on the 1 side, 1 by the shelf on the short side and another halfway down the othe long side, unless that's too much or to weird ha.

Thanks for all the help

 

[kimkats]

Hand that little lady a bull horn to get the workers working! LOL On the Momma Bear side have the workers put protective caps on the steel ends. Sure don't want someone slipping and falling on them. Lowes and Home Depot sells them for fairly cheap.

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

thanks kim...they got the wall finished up today, so no worries on that...atleast for the wall haha.

so i have the next few steps lined up, but the area i cant seem to find any good videos on is...waterline tile install. we havent looked at much tile yet because of time, but im just trying to save some cash, since the shotcrete, labor and plaster is most the budget. i had some ball park numbers in my head but i was way off, rookie mistake, but now the budget jumped 5k just so we can actually finish ha.

i know the next few days are going to fly by, but when the pool is dug, what is the most common thickness for the shotcrete on the walls, 8", 10", or 12" per sides. i will be laying out on sunday and was curious, where to put the lines to dig the proper size? same with the depth.

thanks

 

[Nikilyn]

Our shotcrete is supposed to be 6”. When the guy did the layout he drew it at waterline. I questioned him about it and he said to tell the excavator it was waterline. Before digging they put forms up the correct distance from the outline.

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

thanks for the help. im going to do layout myself so i want to make sure we get it right. i tried calling the shotcrete company yesterday, but they were closed, hopefully they call back before they dig on monday, if not ill call first thing in hopes of getting an answer. to be safe i might set the forms 8" off waterline that way i dont get too big and keep my decking to the size i want. id rather the pool be a few inches smaller and the deck be bigger because my OCD/design cant have it wider than the patio and that is outside of the decking.

thanks and tomorrow will be a long impatient day ha

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

Dig day planned to start tomorrow....I have to work, so fingers crossed it ends up how I am planning on it. We laid it out tonight and its definitely going to be large in the backyard, but oh well anything smaller, would be too small.

I'm having trouble loading pictures right now so maybe tomorrow after dig starts.

 

[Nikilyn]

That's going to be a long day at work while you're thinking about how the dig is going. Do you live close enough so you can go home at lunch?

If your pictures are too big, try taking a screen shot of them. I've done that before.

 

[ajw22]

Turn off HDR on your cell phone camera app. HDR makes the files too big for TFP server.

 

[Nikilyn]

Turn off HDR on your cell phone camera app. HDR makes the files too big for TFP server.

I’ve been trying that and still can’t get them small enough. At least I think I have. I finally tried the screenshot and it worked.

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

so after "checking" the cameras only a "few" times he finally showed up around 1pm. he got about half dug today and will be back on monday to finish. we SOAKED the ground last night and it absorbed down about 4 feet so the next few feet were a bit more difficult. I can try again tomorrow to load some pictures of prep, layout and dig. its going to be a mess for a few but worth it. I talked to him about digging a few more inches deeper to try and hit 7ft deep instead of 6.5 ft, so more water this weekend. im sure 6.5 will be fine, but i think 7 would be better ha....unless 6.5 is fine (any input?)...

thanks

 

[Nikilyn]

We're doing 7'. There's probably not much difference but I think 7' sounds safer for jumping. Plus, the more water the cooler it should stay, in theory.

That's interesting that your ground is staying hard. Our top layer was like concrete and the rest crumbled easily. It looked like he was cutting thru cocoa powder . Our guys were on the same schedule as yours. Got there about 1 and finished the next day in the afternoon sometime. Can't wait to see pics.

 

[kimkats]

Get as close to 7' (or more) as you can! That will make for some great cannon balls!

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

We talked about it and if he can get the 7ft, we are doing it. Not going to go much deeper because going from 3.5-7+ft will be a real drastic slope in about 22ft. Our pool is going to be 30ft long but planning on about 8 feet at 3.5ft to stand and hang out so you are not standing on a slope to talk. We have been debating on lights still, 2 or 3 and placement. I dont want over the top bight, but trying not to have many dark spots.

The guy that will be doing the rebar is coming by tomorrow to go over a few things and hopefully will let me know a schedule of when he is planning on starting ours. If i can pick up his list over the next few days maybe he can start around the 7th, then we just wait to get on the schedule for shotcrete (several weeks).

And then more waiting....

 

[BUT ITS A DRY HEAT]

needing some help on light placement...thinking about 2 lights, either one large and 1 micro or 2 micro bright. one micro bright right where the shelf ends, in hopes of getting the shelf and steps/shallow end light and then one in the deep end on one of the walls. if i put on the east wall, im afraid itll shine into the building/patio. curious if put on that east wall, how low can i place the light (1-2feet off the bottom)? im not sure how much light they put off and cant find anything to understand the watts to light length or lighting angle. we are leaning towards the west wall/shelf side but the opposite side might get better light carry into the shallow end.

also on the pictures, the green dots are return/skimmer location. we will have a main drain at the bottom.

any lighting experts out there that might be able to help me with this dilema?

thanks